Eco-Friendly Digital Marketing Internship

It’s that time of year again – the annual rite of passage when new graduates begin to lose their minds because they’ve entered into one of life’s no-man’s lands – the time between the end of college and the beginning of a career.

This time in one’s life can best be described as being somewhat like purgatory. You know you’re not quite in Hell because you’re relieved from the stresses of finals, proud of yourself for getting that degree, and happy to return back to Ma and Pa’s for a bit once the lease is over to hang with all your leftover high school friends while you search for gainful employment (true story).

But about one month in you realize something isn’t right, you can’t shake this gnawing feeling, and you finally realize what it is – you don’t get to go back to school in the fall.  “There are no more excuses.”  “This is your life.”  “A new chapter is about to begin.” A dozen other clichés. You have no answer for everyone when they ask that unbelievably annoying and patronizing question, “So what’s next?”  It’s even worse when you realize that employers aren’t just going to knock on your door because of your fantastic college resumé and that the job market is way down due to the recession. To be honest, it sorta feels like this:

So what’s a college grad to do, short of searching for Mrs. Robinson?  Well the answer for some may be right in front of them.  Just as graduates are beginning to look for jobs, current college matriculators (is that a word?) are also beginning another rite of passage – the summer internship (or their third or fourth such position for the ambitious).  The internship used to be seen as a way for college students to get experience and credit while employers scout the talent and take advantage of inexpensive labor.

Not anymore, my friends.  The internship is now for everyone.  With the current job market as tight as it is, an internship can be the cure for the occupational blues.  For current students, it’s still the tried and true way to get a leg up on your peers while putting to use what you’re learning in the classroom.  For the newly graduated, it provides a plethora of positives.  For starters, it’s a morale boost for those who haven’t yet found the career their looking for.  It’s also another notch on the resumé belt and an opportunity to show your stuff to an employer for when they eventually (and hopefully) resume the hiring process.  And, perhaps most importantly, it can serve as a bridge over troubled water stirred up by the recession.

An especially beneficial opportunity is that of the digital internship. The digital internship (especially the Eco-Friendly Internship – no hyperlink necessary.  You’re already here!) combines the best of traditional internships past and the necessary skills of the future (which is really now).  With the digital internship, you still head down to the office once in awhile, so your office social skills remain primed, but a lot of what you do can be virtually accomplished (and you save gas, which is Eco-Friendly).

In a digital internship (yes, I realize I’ve said “digital internship” quite a bit, but it’s important) (and I’ve used an abundance of parentheses, but I like them) you learn the crafts of blogging, social media as a business tool, podcasting, Google, and the innumerable other spheres of the Internet that are being introduced to the lexicon of businesses on a daily basis.  Becoming versed in these techniques will give you a leg up on the competition for jobs over those who don’t possess the requisite technical abilities of the future.  Not to mention you can deepen your writing and communications skills, which has been a growing complaint of employers regarding the lack thereof amongst college students and recent graduates.  Oh and so as not to end this paragraph on a boring note like writing skills, digital internships are super cool and fun.

The bottom line? Digital internships are where it’s at!  Fun times, job skills, way of the future, resume placeholder, occupational peace of mind…whatever you’re looking for, they fit the bill.  So quit sitting on the couch, playing PS3 and Wii (guilty) or acting like mowing the lawn is grounds for a successful day (again, guilty), and start scouring the Internet for one.  Oh yeah, and as this blog entry began, a regular internship is cool too…just not as cool.

Or Both.  For those of you unfamiliar with the latest foray into digital reading devices, Amazon has provided us with the Kindle DX.  The major difference being the larger screen it offers from its predecessors.  The finer details, however, being, according to Amazon (because who can say it better, right?):

“At Amazon, we’ve always been obsessed with having every book ever printed, and we know that even the best reading device would be useless without a massive selection of books you want to read. Today, the Kindle Store has more than 275,000 books available, plus top newspapers, magazines, and blogs. This is just the beginning. Our vision is every book ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds. We won’t stop until we get there.

Whether you prefer biographies, classics, investment guides, thrillers, or sci-fi, thousands of your favorite books are available, including 107 of 112 books currently found on the New York Times® Best Seller list. New York Times Best Sellers and most new releases are $9.99, and you’ll find many books for less.”

Now, on the surface of things, you may ask yourself, what in that description warrants such a doomsday title to this blog entry?  Well, hold on a sec, first let’s look at the good that it brings.  For starters, everything previously mentioned – books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs on-demand and at your fingertips.  You can carry an entire library in your bag, purse, or briefcase.  Not to mention, it has 3G Wireless, text-to-speech (in other words, it reads to you), and supports PDF.  Beneath the surface, there’s the Eco-Friendly benefits, as well.  The first thing that comes to mind, while simple, is it saves trees.  No more paper, no more chopping down trees, right?  Environment – 1, End of the World – 0 in that regard.  It also decreases pollution caused by the production of books, magazines, and newspapers, and eliminates the damage done to the environment throughout the distribution channels, mainly the carbon footprint left by shipping.  All in all it sounds like a pretty great product…but wait…

There has to be something wrong with it.  Well, let’s start with the hefty price tag.  The original Kindle 2.0 can be had for $359, with the Kindle DX being available for pre-order at $489.  But in the end, the price is only a barrier to entry for those that can’t afford it…like interns or college students.  So say you can afford it, is that the only drawback? No, for starters, when a date comes over, you can’t leave random copies of classic novels and famous treatises lying around to impress them if they’re all on your Kindle.  You could also lose it and there goes your library in one fell swoop.  However, most importantly, what about the demise of the publishing industry as we know it? If everything becomes digital, then what’s the point of actual newspapers, books, or magazines?  If more and more people are simply downloading their reading material, then the printed word will cease to exist because 1) advertisers don’t want to advertise in a medium that doesn’t reach anyone, 2) there’s no point in printing them if no one is buying them.

For some of us, that’s just not something we want to see.  What about curling up with nice, big hardcover novel on a cold winter’s night?  Or bending the hell out of a paperback on the train home from work?  What about spreading the Sunday newspaper out in front of you at the kitchen table while sipping a cup of hot coffee?  Or rolling up last week’s edition of Entertainment Weekly or the Economist to kill a pesky fly (or shoo it out the window for you bug activists)?  Heck, some people will even miss the ink stains that begin on your fingers and somehow end up on your face, furniture, and clothes when reading the New York Times.  The point being, that innovation often spells the demise of something in favor of another.  Horse-n-buggy? Automobile.  VCR? DVD.  Knowing stuff? Google.

In the end, though, it’s all up to the Invisible Hand…of the Almighty?  No, of Adam Smith.  In other words, it’s up to all of you.  If enough consumers want it, then the Kindle will thrive.  If everyone wants it, then the Kindle and other products like it will replace our ink and paper past.  However, hopefully the Kindle becomes what it should be, a way to get people to read again and read more.  Not a replacement for books or newspapers, but a bridge between nothing and something…a complement to one’s library and subscriptions as a convenient way to read while traveling or commuting or a way get a book right away rather than having to drive to the bookstore or wait days for your Amazon order to arrive.

For someone who considers themselves a traditionalist, your humble blogger here sees the Kindle as a hopeful good-natured cousin to the printed word that will peacefully coexist and grow the world of literature rather than destroy it.  Always a fan of new gadgets, as long I can have my cake (the traditional book, magazine, and newspaper) and eat it too (the Kindle), I won’t complain.  And finally, a note to Amazon: If you would like to send the Eco-Friendly Interns a Kindle or two to test for ourselves, this blog entry can easily be edited to remove any and all elements deemed to cast the Kindle in a negative light.  Thank you.

Well let me start out by saying HELLO PEOPLE! My name is Matthew Doyle and I being brought aboard as one of the new interns for the summer 2009 class of the Eco-Friendly Digital Marketing Internship. I had the pleasure of having Derek Mehraban as my professor for the inaugural running of Michigan State’s New Media Drivers License course, a class that focused on using social networks, blogs, and other new social media mediums such as Twitter to generate buzz and publicity. Coming from a my two previous positions with cutting edge tech based companies, I  thought I was Mr. Know-it-all in the Web 2.0 realm, boy was I wrong. Derek opened the doors and showed me that there was so much more to learn about the world of digital marketing which is what brings me here today writing for you all.

Although my fellow interns will be meeting weekly at the Ingenex Digital headquarters in Ann Arbor, I will be joining my teammates virtually through a web cam across the Atlantic Ocean in Spain. It will be very interesting to see how the whole 6 hour time change thing plays out over the course of the summer. Regardless of the time change, I am looking forward to making a real impact at Ingenex by showing our clients how digital marketing techniques can grant them a huge return on their investment. In addition to blogging here on the Eco-Friendly blog about current events in the world of digital marketing and social media, I will be keeping my own personal travel blog of my travels throughout the Europe, The Adventures of Mattador.

More and more corporations are starting to combine their advertising efforts with the trend to go eco-friendly, a relationship known to some as eco-advertising or eco-vertising.  This relationship allows corporations to benefit from advertising about their attitude and interventions in regard to eco-friendly business. 

Despite the message the eco-friendly ads these corporations are sending  many are forgetting that the means through which they are sending them are far from eco-friendly.  Using mass print media such as magazines or newspapers, fliers or billboards all of which require paper, printing, transportation, and numerouse other un-natural and environmentally deterring resources to create.  The big question is, is it the profit margin of this new niche market they are trying to capitalize on or are they really hoping to make a difference? 

Although some corporations unfortunately might be making the choice for the wrong reasons there are many out there that are leading the way in eco-vertising. 

For starters Toyota known today for being one of the leaders in Hybrid cars took their eco-friendly outreach to a whole new level when introducing their 3rd generation Prius at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.  Instead of handing out glossy brochures inside large plastic bags to be carried around the show by as many people as they can get their hands on, they chose to continue to make positive changes by handing out paper cards in the shape of their new car with seeds embedded in them.  When placed in soil and given water and light the seeds in these cards provided beautiful flowers for their audience to remember them by all summer long.  Stepping out of the box and into an eco-friendly mindset Toyota not only lead the way with their eco-friendly car but also stood as one of the eco-vertising leaders at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show!

So how many other ways can a company eco-vertise? 

Curb, a natural media company based in London, UK has answered this question with their unique eco-vertising concepts.  Clean advertising and snow tagging are two out of the many I found interesting in their bag of tricks.

• Clean advertising: laser cut stencils are put on surfaces like a pavement and the surface is then cleaned to let the message shine through the dirt and grime.
• Snow tagging: company logos/messages are branded into the snow for a winter advertising.

Despite the out of the box thinking and unique eco-vertising techniques being developed there are other ways to go green which can start sooner than you think.  One niche that I personally have become a big fan of that is growing exponentially is the use of digital media as a platform for advertising.  It requires nothing but the power of technology that is already on the desktops and palms of your target audience.  Digital media eliminates the need for most (or at least some to start with) print material and provides mass outreach like never before, best of all this method of going green saves you some green at the same time!

Derek Mehraban (CEO, Ingenex Digital Marketing) continues to develop the digital media presence for individuals and businesses so they can eco-vertise to reach their audience.  Mehraban is not only focused on providing an eco-friendly service but like Toyota, he supports this green initiative through other parts of his company.  In Mehraban’s case it is not an eco-friendly pamphlet but a unique eco-friendly internship program that helps interns like myself reduce the carbon footprint on the world.  

Deepti Dewan Chowdhry

Obviously technology has played a ubiquitous roll on this very long and daunting path towards the White House. As we speak, I am glued to CNN on my TV, Huffington Post on my computer as the poll results continue to trickle in from precinct to precinct, state to state. Technology and digital media’s pogressive evolution has made this election unlike any election in history. It truly blows my mind that I have access to up-to-the-second poll results. However, access to this technology on Election Eve has become more like an addiction. And I’m enjoying every second of it.

Perhaps one of the most revolutionary and beneficial uses of technology was seen in Barack Obama’s campaign efforts. Obama and his organizers were able to assemble an email and text messaging campaign that seemingly amassed millions of foot soldiers. Not only did these digital campaigns provide subscribers with the latest information on Obama’s live and televised appearances, they provided volunteer opportunities and donation opportunities. This is a ground breaking and strategy and clearly it worked for Obama. This campaign resulted in a super wealthy campaign that was able to advertise on many media outlets across the nation. McCain’s campaign, on the other hand, was substantially poorer. Was this a result of Obama’s utilization digital resources? Perhaps.

No doubt Obama picked up where Howard Dean left. Dean’s campaign manager, Joe Trippi. An article on GovTech discusses the way that Trippi was able to utilize the internet and create a grassroots organization to take what was an obscure candidate with very little campaign money and turn him into a legitimate contender for the Democratic ticket. By taking the campaign online, they were able to cut campaign costs while simultaneously gaining access new forms of fundraising. Previously, the internet had only been used to make in-person campaign easier and more organized (think listings of mass-mailings). Until 2004, no one had taken campaigns online.

Obama’s digital campaign literacy has revolutionized the way people access political information. Obama has appealed to the Google and Facebook generation, which no doubt resulted in astronomical figures in the polls. Last night we watched history in the making- a revolutionary campaign has made way for a revolutionary Presidential candidate.

I’m sure most of you have been fighting gas prices throughout the year. Despite the fact that most of us are trying to be more eco-friendly the constant increase in the price of oil has made it extremely tough. In recent weeks however, gas stations have surprised us all and have actually lowered their prices. We’ll see how long that actually lasts though. Hopefully it won’t be short-lived. In the mean time, here are some tips to help make your automobile more fuel efficient:

• Slow down your acceleration time (accelerate 0 to 60 mph in about 15 seconds). The average improvement in fuel economy is about 31%
• For all you speed racers out there, try driving the speed limit. You’ll save on average 12%.
• Try using your cruise control more frequently, it can save you an average of 7%
• If you end up being stuck in traffic or idle for more than one minute turn off your car, it will save you an average of 14%
• Refuel your vehicle during the evening hours to cut down on the amount of pollution created
• Try combining your daily errands and activities to the shortest route possible. The heaviest car emissions occur during the first two miles that your car is being driven since the engine is still warming up
• Keep your tires inflated at the maximum recommended pressure and get your car alignment checked about every 5,000 miles
• Keep up on your car maintenance, especially ignition timing, spark plugs and wiring, and idle speed settings
• Purchas long-lasting, fuel-efficient radial tires
• Avoid quick starts and stops
• Use anti-freeze that doesn’t contain ethylene glycol
• Avoid idling your car for more than 30 seconds
• Keep the air and fuel filters clean

In addition to these check out the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Vehicle Guide. All you have to do is fill in your car make, model, year and state and it will show you your cars fuel efficiency, air pollution score, greenhouse gas score and more. You can also look up and compare what the “greenest” vehicles are.

Driving is an essential part of most of our daily lives. Although it is hard to cut back on our daily activities, we must come to realize that when there is an opportunity for us to take public transportation or ride a bike we should use it. Although we rely on cars to fulfill a majority of our needs, we also rely on the environment to survive. Without the environment, we are non-existent thus making cars un-important.

Our Human brains tend to operate in dichotomies: good and bad, man and woman, Obama and McCain and… nature and technology?! Humanity, or more specifically our advances in technology, have largely been responsible for the degradation of ecosystems, exhaustion of resources and extinction of species. Technology is therefore intrinsically in opposition to nature… or is it?

Ok, so our societal advancements have not always treaded lightly on our Mother Earth. It cannot be denied that we have done some irreversible damage. That being said, we are still a part of these integral ecosystems and what is done has been done. It is then, perhaps the most beneficial to utilize our technological advancements to help preserve, conserve and reduce what damage has been done (when possible). Yes, this is a rather large task, and one may ask simply how can you even begin to approach this? Well…

With the advent and ubiquity (literally) of the internet, solutions may be as simple as running a Google search. I recently stumbled upon a website boasting the ‘30 Best Eco Sites.’ As is turns out I hit the green goldmine of eco-sites! This site features a list of some of the best green internet resources. These top 30 sites include everything from environmental blogging, eco-clothing and products and day-to-day living tips. Each and every site serves as an excellent educational green resource, and I highly recommend that you check it out.

On site on this list that caught my eye in particular was EcoGeek. EcoGeek focuses on the connection between nature and technology and aims to prove that green gadgets can be good. Ah ha! Just what I was looking for- people are actually synthesizing these two concepts that until recently (and I mean recently) were definitively at odds. Maybe, just maybe, we can use this internet thing as a platform for a universal green movement…? Sure, technology has been bad for our planet. But it’s time to realize that technology may also have the power to begin to heal the environment. Shunning or ignoring the omnipresence of modern day technology will do nothing to save the planet. We must accept the reality of this situation and begin to use the tools we have at hand to begin to work towards a more sustainable future.

In the past several years, the hideous truth about plastic bags has been gaining more and more media attention. People are beginning to realize what these bags are made from (petroleum) and how long it takes them to disintegrate in landfills (a long time, should they make it there). 

I began to realize this anti-plastic bag mass movement has trickled down to a variety of large chain stores in the local Ann Arbor area. Although perhaps this is an attempt to tap into the ‘green niche’ rather than operating out of eco-consciousness, I feel optimistic none-the-less that environmental stewardship is beginning to be addressed on a larger scale level.

Last night I was shopping for various toiletries at my local Rite-Aid. I noticed that even they carried cloth bags emblazoned with their logo! I was a initially a little shocked, and proceeded to the cash register where I told the clerk that I didn’t need a plastic bag. He seemed amazed at my ability to carry my three items by hand out to my car. He proceeded to let me know that some of his regular patrons will ask to double bag unnecessary items (such as a gallon of milk).

Wasteful behavior such as this makes me feel fortunate that many stores are beginning to add additional taxes when you use plastic bags. Additionally, many cities and states are beginning to propose an all-together ban on plastic bags. Both measures have proven to be very successful. In fact, China’s ban on plastic bags will save an estimated 37 million barrels of oil! This ban extends to the free bags distributed to customers. 

Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to ban plastic bags or even to tax them. The city of Dallas’s local council recently stated that banning plastic bags and food containers would have a “negative impact on the local environment, the economy and the school system.” They went on to say they believe in educating people about what is responsible behavior and simply “not to litter…” a preventative measure that works oh so well…

All in all I am totally in favor of bans or taxes on plastic bags. I think that this is absolutely a step in the right direction; if people are more aware of their conspicuous consumption, then they are forced to take a step back and reevaluate their behavior. This increase in environmental awareness in recent years has spurred many programs that adress the urgent need for stewardship and sustainability. 

Recently, Ingenex has begun to research Michigan State University’s Be Spartan Green program. As discussed in my recent blog post, we hope to bring our eco-friendly internship program to help bring digital and environmental education to East Lansing. It is through awareness and education made possible largely due to digital technologies that we can work and strive towards a more sustainable future.

There are literally hundreds of social media networking tools available on the web, many of which are free and fairly simple to figure out. While it is debatable which is the ‘best’ utility (as this is fairly opinion based), there is no doubt in my mind that Twitter offers something distinctive in the realm of digital technologies. Twitter can be used as a social networking tool through short, 140 ‘micro-blogs’ or ‘tweets’ as they’re called, that serve as status updates for an individual, organization or company. You can choose whose updates you receive and similarly people can add you and follow your updates. Here is one of the coolest features of the site: the ability to receive updates from your contacts via the Twitter webpage, through Facebook, as an RSS feed, SMS text message or via Instant Messages. Additionally, you can have your Twitter account automatically publish a link to your latest blog posts. You also can control your privacy settings and restrict who receives your tweets.

Twitter allows you to create your own personal profile complete with biography and links to any personal webpages that you may have. You can search all other Twitter profiles to find people in close proximity to you and with similar backgrounds and interests. Twitter is straight to the point; it allows for you to share instant information with a network of contacts in a concise manner.

This image is known as the Fail Whale, an iconic aspect of Twitter.

Many businesses and business-minded individuals alike have put this Web 2.0 tool to good use. Companies such as Whole Foods, CNN and JetBlue all have accounts that provide consumers with relevant-up-to-date information in their respective industry. You can also follow both Democratic and Republican Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates on Twitter- really useful to provide up to date information about their campaigns. 

Twitter is continuing to grow in size and popularity as many businesses are realizing that this tool serves to fill a unique digital niche. Not only can tweets provide up-to-the-second information about products and services offered by your business, but it serves as an interactive forum where a business-consumer dialogue can occur, allowing for maximum success on behalf of all parties. Of course, this interaction is even more beneficial for a business that operates in a primarily digital field (take Ingenex, for example).

Twitter is showing itself to quickly be the way of the future. Because accounts can be created for both individuals and large corporations, the type of information transmitted in a tweet can cover a wide range of meanings and purposes. Corporations can notify followers of potential sales, while individuals can let their contacts know that they’ve just recently posted a blog entry worth checking out. Tweets are short but extremely multi-faceted in terms of use and the type of audience they can potentially reach. I definitely recommend utilizing this social networking tool for both your personal and business needs.