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Where Luscious Garage helps keep green vehicles operating smoothly on the road, Green Garage focuses on helping vehicles on the road be more green. Launched earlier this year, Colorado-based Green Garage specializes in “green-tuning” cars to run cleaner, greener and cheaper through sustainable, energy-saving automotive maintenance and repair products. The full-service company begins by bringing the garage to the customer's front door with a valet service whereby it picks up a client's car, green-tunes it and then drops it off again. For corporate clients, Green Garage's Corporate Mobile Service Truck pulls into business parking lots with its mobile lift and is able to service many cars throughout the day. Either way, Green Garage's “Carhugger” technicians use auto parts that save money by improving fuel efficiency and by reducing the frequency of services. Included in the garage's services are an “Energy Intervention,” including preliminary diagnostics to see how to get the best out of the engine, as well as a 53-Point Systems Inspection that proactively identifies any preventive issues that may require maintenance. Green Garage has amassed a line of more than 60 sustainable products, chosen for their superior performance at solid waste reduction, CO2 emission, toxicity, water conservation, use of natural resources and social impact; included among them are non-leaded wheel weights and bio-diesel engine conversions, for example. Pricing for a basic “Drive Good” oil change package—including Green Garage's High Performance Dual Stage Oil Filter, which is 10 times more efficient than regular oil filters and lasts 6,000 to 10,000 miles—is USD 69.95. That may be higher than average, but it will also save customers about USD 175 over 24,000 miles, the company says. Not only that, but drivers need only change the filter four times and the oil once during that 24,000-mile time frame. Customers who choose Green Garage also use 70 percent less oil, it says. Given where the automotive industry began on the sustainability spectrum, it seems safe to say there's plenty of room for improvement, and that's just what we're beginning to see. Green Garage has launched in Boulder and Fort Collins, with plans to expand nationwide in 2011. One to partner with toward that end...? (Related: In-car 'coach' helps Ford drivers save fuel — Greener driving with Fiat and Microsoft.) Website: www.greengarage.com Spotted by: Travis Eagles-Soukup |
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Regular Springwise readers may recall Tony Player's collaboration with Twones to share selections from club attendees' personal online playlists with everyone on the dance floor. Aiming to bring a similar kind of joint musical decision-making to events of any kind, SongVote uses online contests to enable what it calls “collaborative playlisting.” Users of Texas-based SongVote begin by creating a contest on the site, including giving it a name and an end date and specifying who can participate and comment. Sharable invitations can be uploaded to encourage participation, while VIP codes can be used for targeted access. Contests can also be shared via Facebook. To add their two cents, participants can then visit the contest online and either vote for a song already listed or add a new one. For every song included, there's an option to buy the MP3 from Amazon.com. Once a contests ends, an email with the jointly chosen playlist is sent to the contest's creator along with the option to purchase the songs from iTunes or Amazon. While SongVote is aimed primarily at users planning weddings, dinner parties and other kinds of events, it could also be used by bands and performing artists to solicit feedback from fans, the site notes, such as on the setlist for an upcoming show or to compile a fan-decided "Greatest Hits" album. Lots of potential here for referral fees and more—one to localize...? (Related: Collaborative photo books help groups tell stories.) Website: www.songvote.com |
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We've already seen a company that will take IKEA orders and pick up the merchandise for those who don't live close to an associated store. Now, along similar lines, there's EcoModernism, a North Carolina company that will design, assemble and install IKEA kitchens. EcoModernism designs IKEA kitchens to the client’s specifications regardless of where they live, reviewing plans live via Skype to make sure everything's in order. EcoModernism then compiles, checks and assists with placing the actual order. The company's design fee for an IKEA kitchen is based on an hourly rate, with most designs completed within 16 hours. Prior to installation, EcoModernism helps the client coordinate all preparation work locally, including the process of finding reputable local contractors to handle demolition, sheetrock repair, preliminary plumbing and electrical work. Once that's all taken care of, EcoModernism will travel to the site to assemble and install the kitchens they’ve designed; assembly and installation ranges from 75 to 90 percent of the cost of cabinets at IKEA. All told, design and order assistance from EcoModernism averages between USD 650 and USD 900, the company says. Installation takes about 3 weeks, but for those in a hurry, EcoModernism also offers a USD 1,500 two-week premium facilitation service. EcoModernism has clients in London, Ontario; Charleston, SC; Alexandria, Va.; and outside of Kansas City, it says. Time to set up an IKEA feeder business in your neck of the woods...? Website: www.eco-modernism.com |
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In surveys around the globe, consumers consistently rank waiting on hold for customer service as one of their most frustrating experiences. Alleviating this annoyance, Virginia-based startup LucyPhone lets users circumvent the hold lines with a free service that does the waiting for them. Here's how it works: visitors to the LucyPhone website enter the toll-free number of the company they want to contact, or find it in LucyPhone’s extensive database of customer service numbers, and enter their callback number. Moments later, the user receives a call from LucyPhone patching them through to the company. The user proceeds through the company's phone menu as normal, and when placed on hold, presses ** and hangs up. LucyPhone stays on the line and as soon as a customer service agent picks up, LucyPhone calls the user back and connects them. The service can also be accessed via the free LucyPhone iPhone app. LucyPhone is currently only available in the United States. One to partner with or emulate to ease the frustration of lengthy on hold wait times for consumers in other parts of the world? (Related: Online service cuts through phone menus — ER service holds a patient's place in line — Letting customers skip the line — Webcam tool shows which health clinics are crowded.) Website: www.lucyphone.com Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz |
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Crowd clout can be used by consumers to achieve goals as mundane as cheaper prices or as profound as social change. Aiming squarely at the latter end of the spectrum, Avaaz is a global online advocacy community that “brings people-powered politics to global decision-making.” Named for the word meaning "voice" in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages, Avaaz has actually been working since 2007 on a simple democratic mission: organize citizens everywhere to help close the gap “between the world that exists and the world most people want.”Toward that end, it uses online and offline advocacy to empower its members to take action on pressing issues of international concern, from global poverty to the crises in the Middle East to climate change. In the past three years, Avaaz has grown to include 5.5 million members from every country on Earth, becoming what it says is the largest global web movement in history; currently, it operates in 14 languages. Achievements to date include more than 20 million actions taken online and off, including messages sent, phone calls and petition signatures, with more than 70 million friends told; raising more than USD 10 million online, including millions in funding and high-tech support for human rights and democracy advocates in Burma, Zimbabwe, Tibet, Iran and Haiti; and organizing nearly 10,000 rallies, flashmobs, vigils, marches and other online events for the climate change movement. Just recently, Avaaz used a petition with more than 2 million signatures, 500,000 online actions and tens of thousands of phone calls to score a major anti-corruption initiative in Brazil. All of which goes to show—on perhaps a larger scale than ever before—the virtually limitless power of the crowds to get what they want. Website: www.avaaz.org |
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It was back in 2003 that our sister site first wrote about the immi-merce trend, noting the increasing prevalence of businesses catering to immigrants. Fast forward to today, and we see Extrabanca, a major Italian bank offering services tailor-made for foreign citizens. About four million foreign citizens live in Italy, according to the Italian Statistics Institute, almost a quarter of them in Milan. No huge surprise, then, to see Extrabanca open its first branch in that Italian city earlier this year. With a multilingual staff representing 11 nationalities, Extrabanca aims to open as many as 40 branches in Italy by 2015, it told Businessweek. Beginning with EUR 23.6 million, Extrabanca has 44 investment partners. “Our services aim to tackle immigrants’ needs and are offered by mother-tongue employees speaking 13 languages,” Chairman Andrea Orlandini told Businessweek, citing extended hours and weekend openings. There's nothing like an economic crunch to motivate businesses far and wide to seek out new markets. For some banks, that's meant targeting women or the gay demographic, so why not immigrants for others? One to consider emulating in your neck of the global woods? Website: www.extrabanca.eu Spotted by: Ruben Reynolds
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Bargain-minded consumers have no shortage of “deal a day” sites to choose from—the challenge now is staying abreast of them all. That means it's time for a little aggregation, which is just what Dealradar offers. Launched in May, Chicago-based Dealradar is a free service that finds and reports on unique daily-deal offers from sites like Groupon and LivingSocial in more than 60 cities across the US, the UK, Australia and Canada. Drawing from more than 80 daily deal sites, Dealradar follows, indexes and classifies local deals and then delivers them to consumers in an aggregated manner, clearly organized by the type of product or service offered. Consumers can subscribe to Dealradar via email, Twitter, Facebook or RSS; a mobile app is also available. Either way, by using the service consumers stand to save the time it would take to peruse 15 or more individual daily e-mails to see every local offer, Dealradar says. When they find an offer they like, users can simply click on it to be directed to the site offering the deal; if they make a purchase, the partner site involved then shares an unspecified portion of those proceeds with Dealradar. With benefits not just for consumers but also for deal sites and the advertisers they represent, Dealradar promises to offer one of those all-too-rare win-win-wins. Coming soon, the company says, are expanded options for advertisers and partners; new cities are continually being added as well. Retailers, service providers and deal-site operators: one to get involved in! All others: one to emulate in your part of the deal-hungry world...? (Related: Online retailers install widget to enable group buying — Shoppers team up for better deals.) Website: www.dealradar.com Spotted by Chicago Sun-Times via Jim Stewart |
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If old candy machines can be used to enable guerrilla gardening, then why shouldn't old parking meters be used to help combat homelessness? Such, in fact, is exactly the premise behind the ParcoDon campaign, an effort in Montréal to collect money for the city's most destitute residents. ParcoDons are the City of Montréal's retired mechanical parking meters, 70 or so of which have been recycled as standing piggy banks designed to collect donations to help the city's homeless. The project was launched in 2007 by Stationnement de Montréal—the city's parking authority—along with the Ville-Marie borough and the L'Itinéraire newspaper. To draw further attention to the effort, its organizers this year asked local Quebec celebrities and organizations to "adopt" and personalize the parking meters with acrylic paint. Accordingly, since two workshops in March, those decorated meters—each signed by a person or institution—have been placed throughout the streets of Ville-Marie, amounting to a sort of local Walk of Fame. All funds collected in the meters will be used by L'Itinéraire to provide a wide variety of services for the benefit of Montréal's homeless. A video on YouTube illustrates the project in more detail. In the ParcoDon effort's first three years, it raised some CDN 23,000 for the homeless cause; organizers hope the celebrity effort will increase proceeds to CDN 40,000 over the next three years, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette. Social entrepreneurs around the globe: be inspired! (Related: ATM machines offer embedded charity with every withdrawal.) Website: www.itineraire.ca Spotted by: Murray Orange |
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Hard on the heels of our story about Gatwick's Runway Models contest comes word of another innovative promotion at the airport: free spray tans. Research conducted by the airport apparently found that pale skin is among travellers' top worries upon heading off on a summer holiday. In response, the airport's Gatwick Glow initiative—held in partnership with self-tan brand St. Tropez between July 28 and August 1—offered travellers a free spray tan from St. Tropez Experts in specially appointed tanning booths in the airport's North and South terminals. “Gatwick Glow is designed to give our passengers a boost,” Kim Francis, marketing manager for the airport, told the Daily Mail. “We want them to head off on their holiday feeling great about themselves.” Which, if course, is what any consumer-facing business should be striving to do. What kind of brand butler could *your* enterprise create to help give consumers a boost of your own...? (Related: Portland airport installs bike assembly station for travellers — Singapore airport's four-storey slide rewards duty-free spending — Heathrow Airport installs Alain de Botton as writer in residence — Free dance lessons at Paris airports — Light therapy for weary travellers.) Website: www.gatwickevents.com Spotted by Daily Mail via Jim Stewart |
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Regular Springwise readers are already familiar with transumers and the many ways in which they share and exchange goods without ever having to own them. The Mesh Directory is an online network that attempts to encapsulate that trend, aggregating all the many companies that now “create, share and use social media, wireless networks, and data crunched from every available source to provide people with goods and services at the exact moment they need them, without the burden and expense of owning them outright,” in the site's own words. Similar in many ways to Milk or Sugar, the Mesh Directory provides a freely searchable index of some 1,500 companies that are helping to enable the new sharing economy. Designed as a companion site to a forthcoming book on the same topic, the directory allows users to browse alphabetically or by category as well; among the categories included are transportation, fashion, food, real estate, travel, finance and entertainment. Provided for each company on the list are its URL and contact information along with a description of its offerings; there's also an option for companies not already on the list to request to be added. Included on the list, incidentally, are numerous “alumni” of our pages, including Kisskissbankbank, RelayRides, thredUP, Kickstarter and Aakash Ganga. Given the rapid growth and far-reaching impact of many consumer trends, figuring out what's already out there can be a considerable challenge. Where else might web users need some guidance navigating new ground...? (Related: First magazine for green weddings — Product portal for independent retailers — Online library of green building materials.) Website: www.meshing.it Spotted by: Jon Wisler |
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More than 41 million speeding tickets are issued to drivers in the United States each year, according to TrafficTicketSecrets.com. With an average cost of USD 150 each, that amounts to more than USD 6 billion lost annually by US consumers. Therein lies the motivation behind Ticketfree, a site that ensures its customers will “never pay a speeding ticket, red light ticket, photo radar ticket or traffic violation again.” Canadian Ticketfree operates on a simple membership plan whereby an annual fee covers the costs of any tickets members get over the course of that year. A membership fee of USD 169 covers all speeding tickets for a year, up to a maximum of USD 600; for USD 299, red-light and photo-radar tickets are covered as well, up to a cap of USD 900; and a USD 449 fee buys coverage for all of the above plus parking and equipment tickets too, up to a maximum total of USD 1,200. Upon receiving a qualifying ticket, members simply visit the Ticketfree site and enter the details; the company will then pay the associated fine and send the member a confirmation email. Not covered by Ticketfree are DUI and other violations resulting from dangerous behaviour, the company says. Ticketing is on the rise, Ticketfree notes, so a little peace of mind could go a long way for many frequent drivers. Currently, however, the company covers only those within the United States and Canada; one to emulate in other parts of the ticket-prone and lead-footed world...? (Related: Fare dodgers take Paris Métro for a ride with insurance pots against fines.) Website:www.ticketfree.org Spotted by: Michael Henry |
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Organic cotton fabrics are becoming increasingly common, but most are still used primarily for clothing. Aiming to bring eco-sensible supplies to the quilt and craft market, New Jersey-based Cloud9 Fabrics offers a line of organic cotton fabrics designed to give crafters modern style in a green-minded alternative. Cloud9 uses only 100 percent certified organic cotton in the manufacturing of its base cloths and low-impact dyes for printing and dyeing. Although cotton is typically one of the most chemically treated crops there is—accounting for roughly 25 percent of the pesticides used in agriculture, Cloud9 says—the company's own fabrics meet the Global Organic Textile Standard. Its whitening process, for example, is a non-chlorine, eco-friendly bleaching technique that involves no chemical brighteners. Cloud9 imports its organic cotton and goods from India, where it aims to work closely with mills that foster the practice of organic cotton farming and eco-responsible print and dye methods. The company's retro-inspired color palette and whimsical designs, meanwhile, are generally focused on natural themes. Retail pricing on Cloud9's collection is reportedly USD 16.50 per yard. Cloud9 fabrics are available from a variety of stockists around the world. Crafty-minded retailers: one to bring to your own eco-minded shoppers...? (Related: Swathes of customization: fabric printed on demand.) Website: www.cloud9fabrics.com Spotted by: Martha Stewart Living |
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