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What is a Carrot Mob?

July 16, 2008 Posted by Kevin in : Bristol , trackback

Campaigning, technology and the environment have been interests of ours at Connecting Bristol for quite some time, and I think one of the things that we have recognised is the power of using the technology to mount a positive campaign; promoting an appealing alternative can often have better results than simply railing against an existing situation.

John Bradford at JBSH has recently outlined the Carrot Mob model as a positive way for consumers to influence the decisions made by corporates. In essence customers organise their purchasing power to reward businesses which make environmentally friendly choices. Carrot Mob have produced a video about their first successful campaign in the US, and there is really no reason why similar things couldn’t happen in Bristol. With Pledge Bank and ePetitions software freely available all thats missing is someone with the passion to kick it off.

Listen to this (mp3) Listen to this (mp3)

Comments»

1. John - July 16, 2008

Thanks Kevin, this is a really good example of consumers rewarding companies for positive action. It'd be great to see it in action here also!

If anyone has any ideas on what type or collection of companies we could start with around Bristol and what we should ask of them (the video explains all) then please drop me a note: jwgbradford@gmail.com

Offers of help coordinating, promoting, etc also gratefully received.

cheers
John

2. John - July 16, 2008

We're posting links from around the web and conversation threads over on FriendFeed if you want to join in or just keep an eye on things.

http://friendfeed.com/rooms/carrotmob-bristol

3. jbsh ยป Carrotmob Bristol an update - July 22, 2008

[…] Craig and I swapped a couple of DM's but everything pretty much went quiet until he shared an email he'd just received from Brent at Carrotmob saying what a great thing it'd be to see a Carrotmob campaign in Bristol. That got us going again and I dropped Kevin O'Malley a note at Connecting Bristol to drum up some more interest from the wider readership that he gets. I also got in touch with Bristol City Council as they organise the Harbour Festival and we'd (Craig and I) thought that'd be a great event to put Carrotmob alongside. […]

4. Matt - August 21, 2008

Great social concept, could be centered around a NING network - like this one - www.prbristol.ning.com

How about a Carrot Mob around use of plastic bags in shops / supermarkets in the city?

A petition to buy only from shops that DO NOT use plastic bags and actively encourage clients to not use them too.

Could set up a media partnership with the BEP to champion this….?

5. Matt - August 21, 2008

[…]The Carrot mob have produced a very successful social network model that empowers consumers, in large groups, to lobby local business to make environmental decisions. The businesses that listen will profit from the buying power of the consumer group.[…]

6. What the PRBristol.co.uk team is reading : PR Bristol.co.uk - August 22, 2008

[…] What is a Carrot Mob? - Combined power of consumer networks in driving the environmental agenda. […]