To mark and celebrate the season, we’re pleased to be launching the Junxion Global Foundation.

We believe strongly in giving to causes that matter to local communities where our business operates, and to global causes that are of significance to people around the world. Our Foundation complements and extends the impact we’re delivering with our consulting, volunteering and pro bono services. It provides grants and support to non-profit organisations working on issues we and our clients care about: Climate change, peace & conflict resolution, and social justice.

Junxion Strategy is a mission-driven consulting firm that strives to catalyse social and environmental progress. We support organisations and individuals working to make communities more resilient, organisations more sustainable, and the world more just.

We’re excited to add the Junxion Global Foundation to our growing operations. In gratitude to our clients and friends, we’ll be disbursing donations to local non-profits early in 2012.

You’ll find more about our firm, our approach and our ideas about fueling the sustainability movement.  We also invite you to explore some recent case studies of projects that we’ve completed around the world.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be incorporating additional features to share our thinking and engage you in an ongoing conversation about sustainability. In the meantime, we invite you to contact us to discuss how we can assist your organization to make the world a better place.

The event date is set for March 8, 2012, so put in your calendar! The actual event is an entertaining and informative evening that celebrates the role of social enterprise in our communities. Come witness the finalists make their “pitches” to the Social Enterprise Dragons and watch the judges’ decisions to allocate the financial and consulting support!

Junxion’s Mike Rowlands will co-MC with Renewal Partners’ Pam Chaloult—ensuring that the evening is engaging, entertaining… and informative, of course! We’ll have more details here in the coming weeks, but encourage you to check out the Social Enterprise Dragons site as well.

The new Junxion Strategy, reflecting the merger of Octopus Strategies with Junxion, is just over a month old and the firm is on a growth tear.  Since early September, Junxion has landed a number of significant new project engagements around the globe.

In Canada, Junxion has been selected by Tides Canada to provide facilitation and strategic planning support to help further their national Energy Initiative. Junxion is just as excited to be working with 1% for the Planet on a Canadian dialogue series dubbed “Conversations on Conservation.”  Junxion is also working with The Reiki Foundation International on a brand and fundraising strategy for a ‘Reiki Home’ they’re establishing in Arizona. Finally, Junxion was selected by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada to lead a national rebranding and social action project.

In India, Junxion’s newest office, the firm is pleased to be working with the Heroes AIDS Project on a repositioning and branding initiative that will see Heroes broaden its unique “education entertainment” behavioural change approach to other critical social issues. We’re also working with Bricks India, a leading real estate advisory firm that caters to international and Indian clients, to broaden their reach and deepen their expertise in green buildings.

Finally, in the UK, Junxion has been selected to develop a new brand strategy for Ovarian Cancer Action, an organisation committed to improving survival for women with ovarian cancer through research, awareness and outreach.

Junxion continues to develop new relationships with a variety of organisations around social purpose and sustainability strategy, brand and communication development and design, and charitable fundraising and outreach. Get ready for more news on this front in the weeks ahead.

Octopus Strategies is Swimming into a Merger with Junxion Strategy!

Octopus Strategies has earned a reputation for values-driven leadership, award-winning marketing, and the development of leading brands for a long list of remarkable social enterprises and NGOs.

Junxion Strategy has long been respected for its diligent mission to build environmentally and socially responsible organizations—in both the business and not-for-profit sectors.

Each firm has been recognised with numerous awards and accolades, including Octopus’s recognition this year among Think London’s ‘100 Companies to Watch,’ a list compiled by London’s foreign direct investment agency to recognise companies they think are “most likely to grow and flourish in the global economy.” Octopus was named in a category that also included Panasonic and LinkedIn.

“This already has been an incredible year for us,” explained Mike Rowlands, Founder & President of Octopus Strategies. “By uniting with Junxion Strategy, we’ll accelerate our growth, expand our reach and position ourselves to deliver an even greater impact with our work.”

Peter ter Weeme, Junxion Principal, agreed: “Together, we provide an incredible resource for leaders of 21st century organisations that are wrestling to achieve financial, social and environmental goals. The reality is that leading brands and enterprises in the years to come must be responsible to all three.”

By combining our companies, Octopus and Junxion are solidifying a powerful suite of services designed to help drive the successful brands, organisations and movements of the 21st century:

• Social Purpose consulting, to support the social enterprise and corporate social responsibility movements
• Sustainability strategy, to help organizations adapt to environmental imperatives that really can no longer be denied
• Outreach & Engagement, to help organizations of all kinds to market their products and services, develop donors, and build loyal followings

With a combination of offices in Vancouver, Toronto, London and Delhi, we unite world-class expertise and experience with a significant international reach. The new company will operate as Junxion Strategy.

We look forward to sharing more insights in the coming months, as we merge our operations… and announce more great news!

Our combined company will deliver a suite of services including social purpose and sustainability strategy, brand & communication development & design, and charitable fundraising and outreach. “This already has been an incredible year for us,” explained Mike Rowlands, Founder & President of Octopus Strategies. “By uniting with Junxion Strategy, we’ll accelerate our growth, expand our reach and position ourselves to deliver an even greater impact with our work.

Peter ter Weeme, Junxion Principal, agrees: “Together, we provide an incredible resource for leaders of 21st century organizations that are wrestling to achieve financial, social and environmental goals. The reality is that leading brands and enterprises in the years to come must be responsible to all three.”

Both firms have been recognized with numerous awards and accolades, including Octopus’s recognition this year among Think London’s ‘100 Companies to Watch,’ a list compiled by London’s foreign direct investment agency to recognize companies they think are “most likely to grow and flourish in the global economy.” Octopus was named in a category that also included Panasonic and LinkedIn.

Our combined company now operates offices in Vancouver, Toronto, London and Delhi, providing a truly global perspective for clients that include the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, BC Hydro, Groupe Aeroplan, prominent UK social venture Everyclick, Teekay Corporation and the US-based environmental organization 1% for the Planet.

We look forward to sharing more insights in the coming months, as we merge our operations… and announce more great news!

Some of the guests on the show to date include:

Tina Sciabaca, Executive Director of READ Global

Bruce Poon-Tip, Founder and CEO, G.A.P. Adventures

Dr. James Tansey, Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, and the founder of Offsetters

Gwynne Dyer, journalist, columnist, broadcaster

Tamara Straus, a senior editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review

The show airs each week on WorldTalkRadio.com on Thursdays at 10:00 am PT / 1:00 pm ET and is rebroadcast at 10:00 pm PT / 1:00 am ET the same day. Podcasts of each edition are available on the show page on WTR or via iTunes, or by selecting the appropriate edition below:

e8: Does Cause Marketing Work?

e7:  Putting the “Social in Enterprise”

e6:  How’s a Consumer to Know?

e5:  Adapting to Climate Change

e4:  Fair Trade 101

e3:  Can Travel Be Sustainable?

e2:  Food, Glorious Food

e1:  Welcome to Green With Envy

What is perhaps most interesting about being liberated from capitalism is being able to actually observe it.  The first stunning thing I observed was how profoundly unhealthy capitalism really is.  We travelled through western Britain and central-eastern Wales. The country is for sale.  Every other house, flat, office building in every hamlet, town and city has a “for sale”, or “for rent” sign. High streets are half-vacant; Britain is no longer a nation of shop-keepers.  Whether the function of bankrupt economies, decline in tourist traffic and/or changing demographics where the youngsters are migrating to larger towns, the shuttering of capitalist enterprise is noteworthy.

The unhealthiness has another aspect – the physical unhealthiness.  The grocery stores in Britain are dominated by chocolate, crisps, cookies, cigarettes and (I wish I could complete with another “c”), alcohol.  Notwithstanding the outstanding selection of fruits and vegetables in the larger towns, even the large grocery retailers are dominated by the “4 C’s”, and complemented by prepared meals and sandwiches that are rich with butter and mayonnaise.  So while Walmart may have announced its commitment to opening stores in “food impoverished” areas in America, there needs to be an equal commitment to providing access to healthier food.  Observation one:  capitalism is physically and financially unhealthy.

The second observation was how homogeneous the world has become.  One benefit of this is that you can get your favourite yoghurt, jeans or ablution products everywhere; you can also get the same books, see the same movies, and get the same TV shows in any city. And there is a mixing up of cultures, reflecting true acceptance. As my travelling companion pointed out, for example, curry is now the official dish of Britain. Observation two:  capitalism can be the antidote to prejudice and prejudgement.

The third observation is how friendly people are.  Wherever we went, people were individually extremely friendly and helpful. Stopping for gas at a station in between two very small Welsh towns, not clear where we should stop for the evening, we chatted with the man filling up next to us.  He suggested that town A was “a bit sketchy”, and town B a much better choice.  And in the town of Brecon where we did stop we asked the inn-keeper where a good place for dinner might be – he walked us across the street to the Indian restaurant he recommended.  We enjoyed the best Indian meal we have had in years. Observation three:  friendliness is the unheralded foundation of capitalism.

To borrow from George Soros’ perspective on capitalism, which he refers to as “reflexivity”, observing capitalism can have a transformative effect on how capitalism can work.  And on a small, personal level, this was the case.

At the conclusion of my “liberation from capitalism on a motorcycle trip,” I had one full shopping day in London, England.  As I shopped with rigour and determination on Kings Road, leaving no store unexplored, trying on a multitude of shoes in particular, I was easily able to convince myself out of purchasing.  Did I really need this?  Did I really like it?  How often would I wear it?  How essential was it to improving my life?  These are questions that only vaguely occur to me when fully participating in capitalist consumption, and if they do, I always answer in the affirmative.

This time two things happened.  I easily convinced myself not to purchase; there was either insufficient need, or the desire insufficiently compelling.  I didn’t purchase anything for myself.  What I did purchase were gifts for friends and family.  What I most wanted to do was to find the perfect items for people close to me as a small way of saying I was thinking about them, that they are important to me, and here was a way I could share my trip and experiences with them.

So my grand motorcycle tour, in liberating me from capitalist consumption for a brief moment, moved me from the self-interested consuming mindset to what I will characterise as the “I care for others” mindset.  And then I thought, perhaps this might be an interesting way to shift the mindset of a capitalism that has created far-reaching, catastrophic and insidious social and financial destruction around the entire world.  Take people on a 10-day motorcycle trip.  Perhaps this could be the mission of a new organisation – Motorcycles for a Better World.  BMW, Triumph, Harley-Davidson, Suzuki and Kawasaki could collaborate and create a private sector-NGO entity that would take world leaders, corporate executives and teenagers on bike trips around the world, inspiring them to see and think about capitalism differently.

___

Junxion’s Pamela Divinsky is a featured writer on Corporate Knights, a Canadian magazine and website committed to “clean capitalism”.

And that is the problem – not only do the products cover and mask, but the advertising that gets us to believe that they can indeed make us more beautiful covers and masks the truth. While makeup is as old as ancient civilization, the contemporary cosmetics marketing machinery really has convinced us that $400 jars of crème will erase our wrinkles, that we will be sexy and alluring only when our lips are glossed just the right way, and of course, that the man of our dreams will love us because we have perfect eyelashes.  But this effective masking of the truth of life has gotten L’Oreal and Maybelline into a bit of trouble.

A gutsy Liberal Democrat MP in England filed a complaint against the digitally-enhanced advertising of both companies.  L’Oreal had Julia Roberts in their ad for foundation, while Maybelline had Christy Turlington in an ad for a product called Eraser.  The point of both products is that they can cover blemishes and wrinkles, giving wearers a clearer, more beautiful appearance.

The advertising oversight entity deemed that in both cases the women would not have been able to achieve their looks without “additional manipulation”.  Both companies have pulled the ads in question.

There are three interesting things.   First that digital manipulation is finally being outted when we have all known – industry and consumers alike – that everything we see is remastered and retouched to perfection.  But now the myth is exposed.

Second is the response of the two companies. Maybelline continued to assert the scientific proof that their product can conceal imperfections.  And L’Oreal also stated that their product has been proved scientifically to “provide luminosity to the skin”.  Both companies denied that the advertising exaggerated the effects of the product.  In the face of exposing the “myth” both companies clung to their truths.  The reasons are obvious; not committing truth protects from legal liability and preserves the functional and quality reputational equity of both the companies, and the industry.

And third, the public response, which has truthfully amounted to virtually no response at all, is bewildering.  Why are we either not interested or upset by any of this?  The reason, I think, is that we really want to believe the myth.  Notwithstanding the anxieties and attendant disorders the mythology creates, it is part of our cultural DNA.  We want to believe that we can be that beautiful.  Even more, we want to also believe that it is easy – all we have to do is put on a product.  The most popular route to improvement is always the easiest.

Look at the world of weight and dieting.  Notwithstanding the wide variety of exercise regimes and healthy eating guides and options, we opt for the pill and the surgery to “cure” our increasing girth.  Or look at our increasing personal debt burdens – we want the Prada shoes and the Hermes bags and the trip to Rome and instead of taking the hard-work approach, we buy on credit.  And so it is with beauty – we believe the myth and the myth can be true with easy products.

And perhaps most disturbingly, we want to believe in the myth of total beauty so we can avoid living in the world of the regular, the real, the aging and the slightly unfortunate looking.  Look at the world of plastic surgery – increasing not only amongst men, but also amongst septuagenarians and octogenarians who believe that 70 is the new 40 and 80 the new 50.

Without the myth of attainable beauty we would be forced to live in the world of the real and that is unacceptable.  And that is why the cosmetics world and their expert advertisers are not being castigated – they are simply helping us preserve the myth we want to believe.

___

Junxion’s Pamela Divinsky is a featured writer on Corporate Knights, a Canadian magazine and website committed to “clean capitalism”.

McDonalds is trying to atone.  In their new full-page ad-statement, McDonalds is committing to reducing caloric content, salt content, getting rid of trans fats in the fries – and making Happy Meals healthier.  Why – because, they claim, “our customers are always changing”.  Do they mean that over the past 57 years of eating McDonalds Happy Meals and BigMacs we have become fatter and by association, unhealthier? Is this their way of stating that they have been complicit in our health problems and so now are committed to healthier fast food?

There are at least two ways of reading this.  The first is that McDonalds is paying attention to the growing health problem of childhood and adult obesity. To which we would ask – do you really think that reducing calories by an average of 20% (by really reducing the size of the serving of fries), reducing sodium content by 15% and adding a few apple slices to the Happy Meals is going to change things? This feels like a perfunctory nod to the voices of concern and the alarming statistics that tell us that approximately 15% of youth are obese. If McDonalds is truly interested in us  – and it should be given that with an increasingly unhealthy audience they have consumers who will be forced to eat less of their product, and have an unhealthier workforce – then it would wise for them to take this more seriously.

We might suggest that they use their retail space to host sport activities; perhaps offer competitive events at stores; maybe provide coaching sessions for community teams; maybe even take one hour of every day and host 60 minutes of exercise for kids. Or McDonalds could offer cooking classes for families, making it fun and easy to prepare healthy meals.  Or instead of providing toys with meals, they could launch a competition where the winning prize is a year’s worth of home-cooked meals.

And yet, McDonalds doesn’t really have to care. The news in both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times of Monday, August 8, 2011, report that McDonalds global same-store sales rose 5.1% in July, further demonstrating that McDonalds continues to do extremely well – indeed better than its competitors – through a very challenging recession.

The second way to read this is that McDonalds actually does truly understand us.  They get that radical, wholesale changes in menus will be unsuccessful. They understand our addiction because they created it.  To undo this pleasure-based need, McDonalds will wean us slowly and gently and move us toward healthier eating.   And McDonalds will be successful in this because it has the market heft and girth to drive social change.

The question is why do they have this market power? Yes, it is the addictive-design of the food. But it is also that we are time-starved and anxious.  Ask any harried parent who is trying to juggle professional demands, parenting responsibilities and their own personal desires and the one thing they say they lack is time. So between quitting work at 5pm (ha-ha), getting the kids to their after-school programmes, continuing to respond to work emails, doing household errands – the thing that drops off the to do list is preparing home-cooked, healthy meals. Taste and time drive the business of fast food.

The recent IPO of Dunkin’ Brand Group is further evidence of how these dual forces are a winning market combination; the shares were offered at $19 and within the first day rose over 45% to close at just over $27. That interesting entity we call “the market” understands the enduring fundamentals of the fast food business. We crave the taste, we require the timesaving.

We are both the drivers and victims.  As consumers we have the power to resist – and should be when we are responsible for the lives of children who are incapable of making these choices.  As victims of the time-pressured world we live in, we feel helpless to make these choices.

So perhaps we need collectively to make three demands. Fast food restaurants take a page from New York and tell us honestly the caloric content of every item you offer. Employers and governments – we need more time. And to ourselves, we need to live healthier lives. While we have tendency to blame others, especially when they are large corporations, the problem of unhealthy food and not enough time or inclination to work it off, is a collective problem.

If we want to marginalise the power of high-calorie, desired-inducing foods and elevate the pleasure of healthy food and lifestyle, we need to collectively assert our right to be healthier. We need to rewrite the social contract that demands different behaviours from all layers of the social nexus. And in this McDonalds, while their changes may be minor and even disingenuous, is taking a step – we need to match that step by demanding even more.

___

Junxion’s Pamela Divinsky is a featured writer on Corporate Knights, a Canadian magazine and website committed to “clean capitalism”.