Nestled in the mountains of northern Vermont (and accessed by highways complete with moose and bear crossing signs) sits a very progressive and successful company: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. On a recent road trip I took to visit our pioneering client, I immediately noticed that everyone in town knows them (no problem getting directions – in fact I got an earful), and everyone had something really positive to say about them. It could be that they employ over 800 people (one of Vermont’s largest employers); but more likely it’s because it’s such an amazing company.

Posting significant growth year after year and anticipating continued growth in the years to come, GMCR has positioned themselves for long term success. How have they done this? Innovation, quality products, branding, & serious corporate integrity. The icing on the cake is that this is a company that prides itself on corporate social responsibility. They give at least 5% of their pre-tax profits to social and environmental projects. They also support their local and global community by offsetting 100% of their direct greenhouse gas emissions and investing in Fair Trade Certified™ coffee (a concept they helped set in place).

And the hits just keep on coming… Recently, on Earth Day, they held a challenge to find potential solutions for climate change. Over 100 nonprofit organizations from around the world submitted proposals and four were each given a $200,000 grant. And when you check out their website, you will notice the many partnerships they form (some rotating) with leading nonprofit organizations to enhance their mission of protecting the environment. Awesome!

So, if you want to check out a really great company, or get some really fabulous coffee…here’s the place to go…www.greenmountaincoffee.com. And, if you want some really great names for your next campaign, need I say more?

Last year the DMA developed a Recycle Please campaign asking direct marketers to include their blue bin logo on outgoing mail pieces, encouraging its recipients to recycle. A good effort put forth by the DMA. But what if they were to go beyond just encouraging the general public and develop a strategy to get all DM'ers to recycle internally?

Here's my proposal: devise a extension of the Recycle Please campaign asking all DM'ers themselves to install recycling programs within their building (like we did in November). For each company that does, the DMA would partner with Arbor Day Foundation to plant 100 trees (or whatever amount) in a national forest.

The DMA could showcase logos of all participating companies on their microsite and include numbers of the amount of trees planted to date, and the amount of trees saved through recycling. The DMA could have a splash on their home page with the tallied figures. And, if the numbers are strong enough, they could site how many trees were used for mailings in 2007 countered by how many were saved and planted.

DM’ers would be encouraged to join in because a) it’s coming from the authoritative DMA b) they don’t want to be singled out and c) for the honorable exposure/advertising.

The DMA could get the movement going by surveying to find out how many companies are already recycling and plant the trees retroactively.

Press coverage on this could be substantial. And at that point, who could say that we're not doing enough...