Alysa, Rejuvenation:
- We have to give our customers many, many reasons to buy from us: craftsmanship, price, quality, then green. The lighting fixture’s gotta be pretty kick-ass to get noticed in the first place. But it comes down to one word – price. For new technology we have to go beyond price parity to other incentives.
Stan, New Villages:
- It’s about marketplace community – consumers and producers share common values and information.
- Holds producers to higher levels of accountability.
- Over time rewards producers that raise the bar with brand equity that’s a competitive advantage.
- They can grow in multiple dimensions – scale, but also across sectors.
- Public policy doesn’t go anywhere without the demand.
- How do we facilitate these? Self-awareness (consumers recognize their creative power to shape the market) and trust (requires new standards in quality of communication – high levels of transparency).
- We’re going to need new systems and choices that will allow producers to maintain values-based businesses: social capital and hybrid organizations.
Brian, New Seasons explains why he said “the Vortex.” It was a positive solution to a difficult situation. We are the mainstream here. We’re defining ourselves by who we are and our values. There are 4 or 5 products that are so iconic in their awfulness that we won’t sell them. How do we go mainstream? We invite people to join us. We give them things that are familiar (store experience, etc.), but the food is better.
Mia, Alta – every community has the ability to start wherever they are. We can take you 1, 2, 20 steps further. The public/private partnership is the critical link.
