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how do you keep the IP? First of all, this only works when you’re developing IP that is not in one of the sponsoring company’s lines of business.

In the case of adding to their product mix, licensing and royalty deals can be made to keep the IP in your company. You may even offer to pay back the development costs as you grow your company. However, if you’re building something that the sponsor will use in operations, it’s unlikely they want to be out there selling it, so act under the assumption that they don’t want to own the IP. It’s all in the contract, so get a good lawyer. NEVER do this part yourself.

Similarly, Intel has achieved global market leadership in the growing global technology education market through its rigorous approach to measuring shared value. Key to Intel’s success, says Barbara McAllister, is understanding “what works” for students and teachers and to incorporate that knowledge into product design and deployment. Ongoing tracking of product performance in the classroom, as well as post-sales measurement of educational outcomes, provides insights to improve the product design and delivery, which ultimately improves the effectiveness of Intel’s education technology solutions and leads to additional sales and greater market share.

Thus, Patagonia’s audience trusts the brand, admires its values, and aspires to live by the same principles. Very few brands can compete on quality and price alone. Your brand doesn’t necessarily need to invest in the environment or take such risky maneuvers. However, it can’t be built exclusively through great products and great advertisements. That model is antiquated. Consumers have too much information and too few dollars. They want to invest in brands that have similar values to their own. Perhaps that simply means your product has more advanced engineering, is more user-friendly, or has better customer service. Those are all viable brand elements that create a powerfully rational connection with consumers. Ideally, your brand would also embody behaviors that elicit an emotional connection, such as investing in social, educational, or environmental responsibility. Building a brand platform like Patagonia’s is difficult, expensive, and somewhat risky. But, when brands reduce the amount they spend on paid media, they can invest in building a brand which will help their paid media work significantly better, and more importantly, create brand evangelists.

FTSE Group, NAREIT, and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently announced a jointly developed green property index for both institutional and retail investors. This first of a kind index was a collaborative effort bringing together global market leaders in US real estate indexing, REIT market expertise, and environmental building standards.

The indexes, currently in the final stages of implementation, will give investors a structured and disciplined way to measure and model the risk and reward profile of green property, using the first codified, transparent definition of listed green property. In addition, the indexes will also provide investors with new ways to incorporate principles of sustainability into their property selections and portfolios, and access this investment theme through index-linked financial products

owners include many of the largest green portfolios, measured as the estimated share of total portfolio value that has either LEED or EnergyStar certification. Just a few of the representative green indexed REITs include Douglas Emmett (DEI), Government Properties Income Trust (GOV), Piedmont Office Realty Trust (PDM), Boston Properties (BXP), Franklin Street Properties (FSP), Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN), Vornado Realty Trust (VNO), SL Green Realty (SLG), Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT), Kilroy Realty (KRC), Washington REIT (WRE), and Cousins Properties (CUZ).

Threadless also carries over important functionality from its core website, allowing users to vote for t-shirt designs and enter design contests. Threadless does a great job of creating a fantastic user experience that doesn't require the user to leave Facebook

The company also shares a ton of great images on its wall that generate a huge amount of engagement.

Zappos has an amazing like gate that sits next to a featured photo submitted by one of its fans. Users can also easily join the company's VIP program from the page.

webinars can be a profitable platform

Those who are on the fence about producing webinars, ask yourself this, "Would my business benefit by educating prospects on the benefits and necessity of my product or service?" If the answer is yes, hosting webinars is a must. 

engage an audience and convert someone's interest into action

It is composed of scientists and engineers, university professors, poets and architects, and also includes "people in design, education, arts, music and entertainment, whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and/or creative content”

Employers see creativity as a channel for self-expression and job satisfaction in their employees. About 38.3 million Americans and 30 percent of the American workforce identify themselves with the Creative Class.

cities which attract and retain creative residents prosper, while those that do not stagnate. This research has gained traction in the business community, as well as among politicians and urban planners. Florida and other Creative Class theorists have been invited to meetings of the National Conference of Mayors and numerous economic development committees, such the Denver mayor's Task Force on Creative Spaces and Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm's Cool Cities Initiative.[1]

Far from being a faddish niche, SRI is now very much part of the investing world, with more than $3 trillion in assets under professional management in the U.S. alone, according to the 2010 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States from U.S. SIF, the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing. SRI hinges on use of ESG (environmental, social, governance) analysis, shareholder advocacy, and "community investment" strategies.

That $3 trillion in publicly traded securities in the U.S. represents a more than 13 percent increase in assets under management between 2007 and 2010. Over the same period, the broader universe of professionally managed assets grew by less than 1 percent. So, here is the $3-trillion question: Why has the SRI space enjoyed such robust growth, during a period of global economic slowdown?

First, socially conscious investors have benefited from an expansion of quantity and improvement in quality of investment products and services designed to make money and make a difference.

The WBCSD's Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII) brings together a diverse group of companies: ACCIONA, AECOM, AGC, CEMEX, EDF, GDF SUEZ, Honda, Nissan, Philips, Siemens, TNT, Toyota and UTC. The UII Co-chairs are CEMEX, GDF SUEZ, Schneider Electric and Siemens; WBCSD is also actively involved as Co-chair. These companies from sectors including energy, buildings, materials, transport, engineering, water, equipment, and support services are collaborating to help urban authorities develop realistic, practical and cost-effective sustainability action plans. The project draws on the expertise of individual companies who already work with urban planners and engineers to provide services and solutions to sustainability challenges in cities.

For cities, the case for action is compelling: A sustainable city is more competitive and offers its citizens better lives. It uses resources more efficiently, thrives economically, and creates an inclusive community. For companies, the case for action is also compelling:  the urban market offers companies the opportunity to provide systems solutions, products and services in support of sustainable development in cities (buildings, energy, infrastructure, waste collection and recycling, etc.)

Each city faces different challenges. Tailor-made solutions are required, as challenges and opportunities vary from country to country and city to city. Some cities can capitalize on expanding populations. Others need to deal with aging and declining numbers. City governments must therefore find systemic solutions to address the interlinked social and environmental challenges and create the right framework conditions to make them competitive in order to attract investments.

“To date, no comparable benchmark has been available. We’ve already received expressions of interest from many large asset owners concerned about their exposure to a rapidly changing sector directly affected by the transition to the low carbon economy.”

The new indexes will be a milestone for real estate investment worldwide and will enable more real estate investors and managers to integrate sustainability factors into their strategies – both as benchmarks and as the basis for investment products.”  Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, USGBC said, “Green building is a win-win, offering both environmental and economic opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future demand for energy in the United States and a commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million jobs. The sector has seen incredible growth and is projected to add $554 billion to the U.S. economy each year. This partnership creates significant investment opportunities for those ready to participate in this growing market.”

So my first-hand experience with trying to build a greener home and office space is this: We’re relying way too much on the end consumer to move the market forward.

’m not saying you should stop marketing to the end consumer -- we must normalize green building for them so they can comfortably adopt it. But we can’t rely on the consumer to push the architect, builder, appraiser and banker to get a green or more-efficient home or building built. It’s just too hard. And at the end of the day, our ongoing research has proven time and again that consumers will choose the more convenient, comfortable option. They simply don’t want to do battle with the construction industry to get a greener home.

So if you’re responsible for marketing an energy efficient or green building product, take a chunk of your marketing dollars and spend them on an out of the box campaign to show everyone in the value chain what’s in it for them. When we stop relying on consumers to tilt at windmills, we’ll quickly make green building the new normal.

The Facebook fan page of this company offers visitors a virtual tour that interactively explains how to use their product.

Specialized in calls to action, the company has adorned its Facebook fan page with mini games and a web TV program.

Through a clever photo contest, the company gets fans involved in the making of its Facebook fan page.

There’s a new era of social networking that’s taking shape around charitable giving. Younger people are rapidly adopting these new tools, and learning to use them in more and more substantive ways, to go beyond mere socializing and make these tools extremely productive. We’re seeing the sphere of social networking mature in a way that’s very exciting. People who continue to dismiss these social platforms as "a waste of time" or "just social chatter" are missing the boat. This is how people interact with each other and get things done. They share their personal and professional lives online. It should be no different when it comes to their philanthropic lives. More and more, we’re seeing the Crowdrise community share their charitable efforts with their social networks, both as a way to highlight their own commitment to a cause and as a very efficient way to turn their friends and family into new supporters.

They say “time is money,” but time is also an irreplaceable and personal connection to a cause.

While it resembles conventional travel shows, the series turns out to be a vehicle for, appropriately enough, a vehicle. “Re: Discover” is underwritten by Buick

Some New York episodes, for example, feature Karen Washington, a community activist who has been instrumental in the urban farming effort to turn empty lots into community gardens.

senior brand strategist

Pinterest recently launched business accounts, allowing users to define their accounts as businesses or brands

video? You could pin the image of that content with a live link to download the paper or play the video on your website.

Try a virtual focus group by creating a Pinterest board that allows you to test what your target market thinks. Brand managers can post and pay attention to what is getting liked, repinned and commented on, then pivot as needed. Beyond seeking feedback on products and services, you could ask for opinions on a particular aspect of your business.

Under Title III, companies wishing to sell stock to the public will have to provide information to investors and the S.E.C., including financial disclosures that grow more extensive as the size of the offerings increases. They will be allowed to sell stock only through an intermediary: either a broker-dealer or a specialized crowdfunding Web site, or portal. The intermediaries will have to take steps to ensure that small investors are protected, even from themselves. The law limits how much a person can invest in crowdfunding in a year, depending on income and net worth.

protection measures could, if fully adopted, make crowdfunding prohibitively expensive.

Establish common language.

Ask a handful of people in various ranks and roles to share five adjectives they'd use to describe the company and two aspects of the business that are unique or valuable. Look for themes or especially strong responses, and synthesize them into a clearly defined description

That clarity leads to a real and relatable persona that helps you build a loyal customer base. "The brands that have been most successful in the social space have humanized their business"