Walk the halls at Sustainable Brands ‘08 and you get the broad sense that we are nearing - or have just crossed - a tipping point. Despite dire news reports of global warming and dwindling resources, SB’08 attendees have a decidedly positive and hopeful air. Why? These business and marketing professionals are committed to leaving the world better off than they found it, and they’re confident that with the right tools, connections, and support, they can achieve great things. Here’s some early feedback from attendees so far.

I’m here to take in the trends and people’s thoughts. So far I’ve met really smart, involved, passionate people. They’re asking great questions, know their business very well, highly experienced, and understand the sustainability work well.

I’m inspired to see so many marketing professionals concerned about where we’re going as an industry. The conference has been great so far, and I appreciate the thought-provoking seminars and the people I’ve met. If anything, I wish more of the people I work with could be here. If I could arrange it, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

I was very impressed by KEEN Footwear, which presented some very cool, grassroots, highly creative innovations that didn’t cost a lot of money. They’re living their philosophy. And Jeffrey Hollender from Seventh Generation was great! I really felt what he was saying; he lives it, so everything he says is consistent. I was blown away by that guy.

Of all the workshops, the IDEO session stood out for me - it did a really good job of presenting the thought process and thoughtfulness that needs to go into products. Also, the Designers Accord - a phenomenal idea that I want to get my team involved in. I saw how there can be collaboration at the larger level of how we solve a problem - not just thinking of ourselves. We’d have a lot more success if we use these forms of collaboration.

Sustainable branding is a new category for me, and I’m just beginning to realize how big it is. Everyone in marketing and advertising and manufacturing should be here.

My favorite speaker so far is Clorox. It was an enlightened choice, since they’re usually associated with toxicity. It was interesting to hear about how they think about sustainability across their portfolio. I just wouldn’t have expected from that particular company.

This conference is open to seeing what many different companies are doing - not just the ‘green’ ones. It wants to engage every single company out there. This year it’s Clorox and Dow; last year it was BP. Everyone has a skeleton in the closet, it’s important to see how each company deals with its issues.

"All day we're hearing that bottled water is bad, plastic is bad - but where are the recycling containers in the conference center? I carried my bottle around all morning looking for one."

[Note from the SLM Team: The conference center does recycle - just put your empties on the bussing tables and they'll take care of it. But we agree, the recycling bins should be more visible!]

The content of speakers and keynotes has been excellent, by and large, and very enjoyable. I particularly appreciate the focus on what consumers care about - performance and cost matter, and by the way it’s green - instead of being evangelical and unrealistic.

Unlike other green conferences, which tend to focus more on the technical aspects of environmental responsibility, SB’08 is uniquely focused on marketing and communications. In particular, there’s a helpful emphasis on what works with consumers. This conference is about brands, and it’s living up to its name.

Sustainability is a journey, not something you can do tomorrow. The alternative is not doing anything - and that’s no alternative at all. I attended this event last year, and it blew me away. I wanted to see if this conference could live up to that standard, and it has.

What do you think about the conference so far? Tell us!

~Bill Baren and Patrick Dominguez, GreenBusinessInnovators.com