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2013 End of Year Post- Looking Back and Moving Forward

A new business can sometimes be compared to one’s “baby”, and building it to watching a child grow. Where in 2012 our company was still an infant, 2013 saw our business blossom into a full fledged “toddler”. The toddler stage in one’s life is when the person we’re going to be begins to show itself. The toddler starts to talk, walk, run and explore, and that’s exactly what Green Product Placement did during our second full year in business. Looking back in comparison to our first year- whereas in 2012 we began making studio connections and getting known in Hollywood with branded placement execs higher up the production food chain than our “below the line” contacts, in 2013 these connections really burst forth. This year we made it on the email list for most of the major studios who were looking for placement in their productions, in addition to several independent production resources consultants. At the end of 2012, we had placed in over 23 productions, our count to date is over 65! That means in 2013 we placed in almost twice as many shows as we did our first year. We continue to get written about by the press,  including a wonderful feature in February by the venerable Mother Nature Network gpp golden dumpster

Beth and Lisa tell the GPP story at the 2013 NYC Production Eco Expo

Beth and Lisa tell the GPP story at the 2013 NYC Production Eco Expo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beth continues to speak on the subject of the importance of sustainable brands and behavior in mainstream media and sustainability behind the camera, including internationally, and Beth and Lisa both continue to present and serve on panels with our peers, even being recognized with a coveted Golden Dumpster Award by our friends and colleagues Film Biz Recycling  (aka FBR). Check out this interview with Beth at the #Duurcomm “Meer Door Minder conference in October:

And this fabulous video from the second Annual Production Eco-Expo as organized by FBR at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.

A full gallery of pictures from this event can be found here on our Facebook page,   and also some additional pictures on FBR’s page. Two of the shows we both placed products in and worked on as set dressers won Emmys! (House of Cards for Netflix and Veep for HBO.) Beth and Lisa wrapped up work on Season 2 House of Cards in November. We see the value of placing our good brands all the time. We chatted with Robin Wright, star of House of Cards, when she fell in love with our Full Circle Home “Wherever Water” bottle.  She loved it so much, she kept one of her props to take with her to use in London, where she’ll be working on Steven Frears’ new film! Speaking of London, as we endeavor to expand to include clients and placements in UK productions, we have some wonderful ideas percolating for our visit in spring of 2014! Stay tuned! We saw how wonderful it is to help “connect the sustainable production dots” when we met the Green Film Making Competition people in Amsterdam in October and then joined Pia from there in New York as presenters at the Eco Expo.

 

We still have our New York office at Green Spaces, NY. But we settled easily into our local office in Hampden, Baltimore, which Forbes lists as one of the 20 hippest neighborhoods in America. Although our holiday office party overlooking the Christmas parade got snowed out and cancelled, that did not stop Beth and Lisa from enjoying a bit of holiday cheer on “The Miracle on 34th Street”. We also paid a visit to the headquarters of our clients, Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company- which gets its power from wind, and where all of the coffee is organic, fair trade and delicious!

Lisa and Beth with the marketing team at CBRC

Lisa and Beth with the marketing team at CBRC

 

Best Holiday wishes from Beth and Lisa!

Best Holiday wishes from Beth and Lisa!

Right now, once again, we’re doing many of the end of year things most companies do this time of year, including again sending out a holiday e-card  and winding down at the end of busy year to spend time with beloved family and friends. This time of year also allows us to look back once again at all we have accomplished and look hopefully again at the coming year. We look forward to continuing to place our good brands in front of the camera, to welcome new good brands into our “family”, to promote sustainable practices in the entertainment production industry, to connect with more and more wonderful people doing positive things in the sustainable marketing sector, and watching as our “toddler” grows into a “preschooler”. We both sincerely wish you all a happy, healthy holiday and a joyous, prosperous new year! All our best,

Beth and Lisa

2013- GPP “Mid-Summer Report”

Happy 2/3rds through the summer, everyone! We trust that you all are enjoying the bounty from the garden and farmer’s market as much as we are.

Now that our Facebook Page is all back to normal, you can find most of our week to week news there.

Students are taught about the triple bottom line at Darrow

Students are taught about the triple bottom line at Darrow

 

After Expo West and London, Beth was invited to speak to students, faculty and business people at the fabulous Darrow School in upstate New York.  This is a wonderful private school with an emphasis in sustainability as part of their curriculum. Once a year they have a Sustainability Symposium and invite sustainability professionals from across the country and across the business spectrum to converge on their school and present their story and relevant topics. Lunch was from local farms and absolutely delicious. Beth was honored to have taken part in this symposium.

us with award gda fbr

After that was NYC Green Fest, and then next, we were next off to pick up our Golden Dumpster Award from our friends at Film Biz Recycling who celebrated their own 5th birthday by giving away awards to fellow sustainable production people. We joined the likes of Focus Features, 30 Rock, Brite Shot, and Bridge Props in picking up our award at the wonderful ceremony in mid-town Manhattan. In attendance was Shannon Shaefer Bart from Universal’s sustainability initiative and Lauren Selman, who we finally got to meet in person, from Reel Green Media.

our award gda

Our award was for “first and foremost”. We were psyched that it was a “kitty” even and it takes pride of place in our office.

After that, there were many more shows to place our brands, and we were interviewed by Green Film Making in Amsterdam and featured as a “who’s who”.  At the same time, the PGA Green Guide wrote about us as a featured vendor. We also attended the large Fancy Foods Show in NY- and saw some of our wonderful clients and hopefully met some brands that will become new clients. Check out some pictures here:

The Golden Dumpster Awards and

The NYC Fancy Foods Show

At the same time, Beth was invited to speak at a Sustainable Marketing Conference in Antwerp Belgium in October- “More With Less”:

(Click on picture link to find out more)  :

mind door minder logo

Lisa will be coming along also to attend and photograph the event- we’re going to add a “speaking” page to our website- after all the positive feedback from The Better Living Show, Green Spaces NY, Film Biz Eco-Expo, IdeaMensch #48 last year and The Darrow School and soon Meer Door Minder this year- Beth is excited about speaking our mission all over the world!

Following the conference, we’ll be off to Amsterdam to meet with the Green Film Making people who are based there. Before that is Expo East, and loads and loads of productions to place in. We are and are going to be, busy Green Product Placement People!