Of course, Steve and the other Apple execs know this too, so they may already be working on the i-Home. Alright, alright, but the situation does rather remind me of one of those movies where the main character is a high flyer on his way into the office - let’s say via the grand opening of his nearest Apple store - when he runs out of gas, has to walk 3 miles to the nearest gas station, but is denied the cash he needs from the ATM, because his business partner did a runner overnight with his lovely wife. His day is going from bad to worse and moving quickly on to terrible and yet, by 11am he remains the only character who doesn’t realise it.

We certainly do not have the answer to all of the world’s problems, but we do believe that the underlying mood of the market is firmly for change – across the board. The election of Barack Obama clearly demonstrates this. The groundswell of demand for change is creating nothing less than a gold-rush mentality in some commercial circles. There is no better evidence of this than the widespread practice, or rather malpractice of greenwashing, because if there was no money in making these claims then nobody would bother.

So yes, of course we're excited, because the changes that everyone wants to see in the commercial world are - by definition - a source of competitive advantage and these are exemplified by what being an authentic ethical brand actually means: listening, learning and responding to stakeholders with a genuine ear for their interests, needs and concerns. It’s time for every enterprise that hasn't already done so, to start these conversations and that is just one of the things we help genuine ethical brands do.

We're not in the business of policing brands, because by their very nature genuine ethical brands don’t need to be policed. What they do need is the independent validation, or authentication of their social, economic and environmental integrity - delivered in the form that is succintly communicable, so that their markets are instantly empowered with the ability to identify them as the good guys. That is precisely what we do and it's a responsibilility we take very seriously. So seriously in fact, that it took almost 4 years just to codify the authentication element of our approach.

Registering an ethical brand represents so much more than a license to display or use the ethical brand Identity®. It's a statement and a signal to all stakeholders that there is a better way to move into the future, and that is together.

Thanks for stopping by and for your support.

William (Bill) Smith

• Bio

  For 20 years Bill has been directing ground-breaking product, organisation and business development initiatives in the USA, UK, Holland, Spain, France, Scandinavia, South Africa and Australia - both as a Management Consultant and Entrepreneur. Bill grew up in what was then Rhodesia and worked for national intelligence during that country’s transition to what is now Zimbabwe. This was followed by a few years globe-trotting and adventure, before his instincts led him into the world of print publishing, where he gained production experience in the U.S.A. and South Africa. Bill crossed over to the burgeoning PC industry at around DOS 3.0. and went on to found a Multimedia Consultancy in London that became one of the earliest internet services providers in the UK - helping a number of well known companies including Forte and LeMeridien Hotels to introduce email into their organisations, take their first tentative steps onto the World Wide Web and to integrate their back office systems.

  Since then Bill has helped many large, small and start-up enterprises execute defining initiatives. This includes leading the definition, development and implementation of a global strategy engaging 70,000 Royal Dutch Shell employees to stimulate internal dialogue, debate and knowledge management - as part of its now famous cultural Transformation Program (1997-1999), as well as branding initiatives for Vodafone and Channel4 whilst serving as a senior executive at Razorfish. With corporate engagement experience in diverse fields ranging from Energy, Finance and Insurance, Hotels and Leisure to Software Development and Distribution, Publishing and Television, Bill also counts world leading strategy consultants The Monitor Company and McKinsey & Company among his personal clients, who recognise his talent for translating strategy into actionable programmed events.

  Like many internet pioneers, Bill has also been deeply interested in exploring ways that technology can be used to address social and other problems. By 1997 that interest was beginning to focus on the emerging fields of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). However, since 2003 this has become more acutely trained on the social integrity of branding and change management as a context for the reconciliation of organisational abilities to walk their talk. In 2005 he relocated to Australia with his family to bring about a step change in work/life balance. That may never be fully realised, but it is proof that the importance of a particular geographic location is diminishing at a rate proportionate to the availability of broadband.Θ