Archive for September, 2007
The PICNIC’07 conference is Europe’s most dynamic event devoted to creativity and innovation in the media, technology and entertainment industries. Designed for creatives, entrepreneurs, innovation and technology experts, media professionals, and business people, the conference showcases the latest innovative and creative trends relevant to the media and entertainment industries.
PICNIC is not only a conference, it’s a downright festival. Aimed at people who care about the future and want to play a role in shaping it – the PICNIC offers a week of fresh creative & innovative ideas. One of the world’s leading events where creative minds from the world of media, entertainment, science and the arts convene in Amsterdam from Monday 24th September to Saturday 29th September 2007.
To encourage and aid the invention of new green products and services, the Dutch Postcode Lottery and PICNIC presented this year the PICNIC Green Challenge – the challenge to come up with a greenhouse-gas-reducing product or service. The entrant with the best idea will win €500,000, expert coaching, and a starting list of customers, so he or she can bring the invention to the marketplace within two years.
LANEO will be present at this event for only one day, (other priorities are taking me back to Paris) but I really hope to see more and more of these Tech & Media Conferences start giving back to the environment. It’s events like these that draw innovative and entrepreneurial people from all over the world and when joining forces for the planet, we can really make a difference!
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: technology, society, events
A Laneo member just sent me a great lead to a small US company that makes, 100% wooden surfboards! GRAIN SURFBOARDS looks like a fabulous little company and when I make it over to the US next year, I hope to be able to check them out. Their whole story is that inspiring.
GRAIN SURFBOARDS are designed by people who surf every time there are waves, from wind-slop to groundswell. As they say on their website “We’re not pros, we just love surfing. When we’re not skipping work to surf, we’re probably watching “Sprout” just one more time, getting stoked. Our wooden surfboards are designed for people like us who love and live to surf.”
On the point of sustainability, GRAIN SURFBOARDS has done, in my opinion, a terrific job about being not only very clear about their work but more so, extremely educational. They have taken the time to put together a very extensive series of informational white papers that you can download from their website (FAQ section) and I have not seen this quality of work in a lot of much larger companies I’m in touch with. Bravo guys!
When visiting their website, take a minute to watch the slide show (Gallery tab). I’ve spent thousands of hours on the web in the past 2 years researching for Laneo and I haven’t come across such a nice refreshing set of photos like these. Superb!
I especially like their mindset where they treat each board as a “personal project”. A company that writes “we’ll always remember where we came from, and why”, shows me that there are a number of people out there today that are living the values the great outdoors and sports have given us.
Great job Mike, Greg, John, Brad & Randy!
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands
I don’t know about you, but I get a big rush when I meet really fun, genuine, eco minded, experienced, outdoor sports enthusiasts. What’s even better is when you meet people like that who are running a big outdoor sports business and attending a trade show, where everyone else seems so obsessed with sales figures that they forget to be polite. Well, the people I met at BIONICON are truly different. The whole booth staff was amazingly friendly and just plain, cool.
BIONICON is a small German bicycle company that specializes in MTB and “MetroCycling” which they just introduced, because their innovation obsessed development team wanted to ride to work on urban bikes and contribute to low emission city transport.
Nestled in the pristine Bavarian hills, this neat company also has a small lineup of eco-minded clothes. Yes that’s right. You read it right – a bike manufacturer that makes easy going eco-bikewear!!
While talking with Daniel Kohl (CEO) & Mic de Min (Director Sales & Marketing USA), both of whom are really experienced mountain bikers, they nodded approvingly at all of Laneo’s community values and even added some more. It was like they were already Laneo members! Their philosophy is as inspiring as it is simple – enjoying the great outdoors with friends. It doesn’t matter how much suspension travel you have or who has the lightest bike. It’s all about sharing a moment whichever way each person chooses to share it.
BIONICON’s bike technology came about from a simple “natural” observation the founders made while riding their mountain bikes (this is a true story) and observed that mountain goats change their position when climbing or descending. They thought to themselves – why can’t we do the same? They then spent the next few years tinkering on designs until they finally got a design that enables you to adjust travel, frame and suspension while on the move. For example, on a standard bike, when you go uphill your center of gravity naturally shifts forward but as this happens, you lose traction on the rear wheel and you end up bent in an uncomfortable position to try and maintain control because your bike geometry is fixed and its features aren’t adapted to that terrain. On a BIONICON, you can adjust your suspension fork travel without the bottom bracket sinking and the height adjustment of the rear shock also changes the chain line in relation to the swing arm, this reduces suspension bob and increasing traction. The result is that your position becomes more upright for better breathing, the front wheel remains firmly on the ground and overall control is enhanced.
Nature also shaped BIONICON’s vision of bike wear. As Daniel Kohl said, “the connecting link between rider, bike and nature, clothing should be as simple and technically functional, whilst offering a natural and environmentally responsible solution to the needs of our sport”. He continued by offering this rousing statement, “It’s well known that nature provides the best designs, so once again we successfully found our inspiration here. Our colors are inspired by natural berries, forests and seasons which let the rider blend in with the environment.”
I think the people at BIONICON have really done a great job of putting everything in the right order, and their slogan puts it perfectly; “Wrap yourself in nature!”
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, sports
A friend of mine sent me a link today to NOE, which is a new participative website to collect ideas for the “Grenelle of the Environment” here in France.
We were really proud to see that Laneo has been cited as being one of the “Top Initiatives” in this collective effort.
Alain Juppe, former Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development announced the “Grenelle” earlier this year to serve as a broad consultation on environmental issues. Six workgroups are currently underway and any French citizen can contribute to the debate, results are expected this fall. The name “Grenelle” is an expression that refers to the famous “Grenelle Agreements of of May 1968”, a multi-party debate that brought together representatives from the government, trade associations and other ONG’s on the subject legislating and giving an opinion.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: society, news, environment
One of my favorite moments at the EUROBIKE show came when I ran into the LIKE A BIKE company. This little gem of a business has everything that makes for great and stimulating story. Children + Natural Products + Education + Craftsmanship + Sports + History = one heck of a model company. LIKE A BIKE makes a range of wooden bikes WITHOUT PEDALS for very young children and some fun accessories to make it even safer and more enjoyable. It all started 10 years ago when a German couple witnessed, as all parents do, their son having a terrible time mastering the art of riding a bicycle. Being creative and a skilled handyman, founder Rolf Merten went into his garage and proceeded to remove the training wheels, the pedals and even chopped a bit of the seat stem off in order to lower it. What happened a few minutes later changed his son’s life and eventually his own.
Since then LIKE A BIKE has continued to design new and better versions of his invention, using wood and other natural materials to make the bikers safer to use, easier to repair and easily accessible even to toddlers.
As I stood their talking with Delphine Mordenti, who distributes these bikes throughout Europe, I witnessed countless little kids whipping around on their “Mountain” models, deftly avoiding all the “big people” who were mesmerized by all the bikes on display and who wouldn’t have seen them anyway. What surprised me the most was how very small children, some who barley walked well, “rode” their bikes, by pushing themselves around with their two legs, like Venetian Gondola drivers with their canes. It also struck me that these children were highly independent and at the same time, very responsible, since they held their “presence” (in space & time) in their own hands.
The bikes themselves are of exceptionally quality (the wood is beautiful) and come in a variety of sizes and colors and are surprisingly transportable (with a simple Allen Key, anyone can pack it up in under 2 minutes). LIKE A BIKE is an ingenious product that teaches children the fun of living an active lifestyle, the importance of valuing time, and most importantly the connection that nature provides in terms of resources and settings.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: family, brands, society
As I announced July 9th in this blog, the first concrete action ever undertaken by a Laneo partner on behalf of Laneo, is the LOOK KEO LANEO road pedal officially unveiled at this year’s EUROBIKE tradeshow. Not only was this an incredible statement of Look’s support of a clean planet, but it was also the ONLY statement I found at the whole show! With Look’s support, we’re all going to be able to do something to clean up our giant blue marble of a home.
I want to introduce you to the “father” of the Look Keo Laneo pedal; Christophe Jouffret. It took quite a lot of persuasion to get him into the photo with me (he’s very discreet) and even more to be able to post something on him (he’s extremely humble). These qualities are common in elite athletes and you’ll better understand Christophe’s engagement with Laneo and the environment when you learn that he is also an extremely accomplished triathlete. If I remember correctly, he’s been to the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii – 5 or more times and has racked up countless titles in biking and running. Simply put, he is an authentic outdoor enthusiast just like the rest of us and that’s why I wanted you to meet him. Christophe has the same desire to see the state of the planet improved. He has experienced the same magical “earth-connection” moments as we all have and that hasn’t changed one iota just because he works for one of the world’s most famous premium bike brands.
Without Christophe, we’d obviously never had a pedal, let alone a partnership with Look Cycles. And without his company’s support, we’d never be here talking about it – so I’d also like to recognize the rest of the senior management, sales & marketing teams, notably Celine Sarriau who designed the marvelous catalogue presentation and dealer books. Without all these people, all their energy and all their support Laneo will not accomplish a lot – so on behalf of everyone at Laneo…
Bravo Christophe and the Look Cycles team – and “MERCI”!!
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, partners
This is one of the most tedious questions I field every time I meet a sports manufacturer. Most of the people I talk with are in charge of Marketing & Communications and they believe that every sport enthusiast belongs to its own separate and non-related “segment”. They believe if you are a skier you belong to the skier segment. If you are a surfer, you belong to the surfer segment, and so on.
They cannot seem to understand a rock climber, a skier, a biker, and a surfer can in fact belong to one larger segment interested in the preservation of the planet so that the outdoors can be enjoyable for all of us.
I mean let’s face it, the enjoyment of outdoor sports is very intricately dependant on the health and cleanliness of the outdoors we play in and the spiritual connection it creates between us and nature. My surfer friends share with me their inspiring tales of “ballets with waves”. While my rock climbing friends speak of “entering the womb of the rock” and other stirring tales of interacting on a spiritual level with Mother Nature. And I know for a fact that all outdoor sports enthusiasts share these sensations.
Every time I sit around a table at the end of a rousing dinner with a bunch of hard-core outdoor nuts I hear the same anecdotes about who did what, when and how. I smile, knowing the folklore will inspire others in the years to come. But what I’ve remarked at every one of these gatherings is that the one thing that brings everyone into agreement is the role that nature played in the enjoyment. Whatever sport discipline was talked about, wherever in the world it was done and by whom, – the one thing that is never ever disputed is – nature.
So please, whenever you can, however you can, help me help the corporate decision makers understand that no matter what sport we love, we all love nature.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, sports
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows, documentation
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