It's the only planet we have folks!

Winning a customer’s trust is what makes it happen for us.

Clearly, the folks who run the Bahrain Exhibition Center were happy with the bags we’ve been doing for them so when they had a need for a colossal “tent” for a major event, they chose to discuss it with us.

From fabric selection to fireproofing to fabrication, we enjoyed the challenge of working on something new for us. Finding ways to communicate all the zillions of variables with our customers was also an exercise that gave us learning and joy. We had a few anxious moments, but Sanjiv manages to make the most challenging manufacturing issues look simple and do-able.

But the real joy came when they told us they were thrilled with the result and sent us a link to their event website www.asiaitsummit2005.com

Thank you Cheryl and Klaus from all of us at Norquest. Thank you for your confidence in our abilities.

Got a challenge for us, anyone? We will enjoy working with you.

This isn’t some ad man’s wild pipe dream. Read this amazing true story at http://www.poconorecord.com/lifestyl/alh97889.htm
Columnist Martin Sloane contributed a story encouraging people to switch to reusable cloth bags, and here is what reader Louise Fail wrote in:

Dear Martin: At our local 99-cent store they sell a lovely, large reusable tote bag. Of course it carries some advertising, but I really do not mind! I bought four of them. One is for trips to the library. The other three reside in my car so I have them when I go to the grocery stores. I feel I am doing my share to preserve the environment and conserve the oil that is used to make plastic bags --- Louise Fail

People don’t much care to hear alarmist talk about environmental degradation, but the story is inexorably going home.

They don’t like being passive victims of this sweeping phenomenon either. Most want to do something positive.

You could cash in on this huge groundswell of feeling to get your message across in a manner that your stakeholders are actually willing to invest in.

The big boys haven’t caught on to this yet. This remains an opportunity for the nimble and the imaginative.

Dramatic isn’t it? Louise paid 99 cents to become a walking billboard for the brand whose name is on that bag. She doesn’t mind that it carries advertising. Ever heard of such a thing?

All you smart marketing folks out there might want to leverage this insight.

We can ship you smart, great looking cotton totes at less than a dollar a bag, with your ad message on them.

Sell them at cost or even a little below cost to make them look even more attractive. Make them available at as many outlets as you can. You’ll be amazed to see how many people support your environmentally friendly action.

Sounds good? See http://www.badlani.com/bags and select from a line of attractive bags you can use to co-opt your customers into becoming walking billboards for your message. At no cost to you!

I just read an article in The Decatur Daily which is published in Alabama, where Vickie Brooks, front-end manager for a store called Kroger says that stores in Washington, DC are charging customers 31 cents per plastic bag.

This came as news to me. Searching for this only led back to this one story. I hope this is true. Reusable cloth bags will begin to look truly viable to shoppers in DC and clean up that city’s environment in no time.

A 12 cent tax reduced plastic bag usage by 95% in Ireland. Clearly taxation works.

Vickie herself has used cloth bags for years when she buys groceries because she sees how many plastic bags the store uses daily.

The Wall Street Journal says the United States consumes 100 billion plastic bags annually, requiring about 12 million barrels of oil to produce. And plastic bags, which look like food to marine animals, cause more than 100,000 marine animal deaths per year.

Plastic bags are not biodegradable, but rather, photodegradable. They break down in sunlight into smaller toxic bits, contaminating soil and waterways. This affects us very directly. A shocking statistic says all adult Americans now urinate plastics.

Brooks said it might not be long before every community will follow a growing trend in larger cities that charge customers for plastic bags.

Most Americans assume reusable cloth bags are expensive. Visitors to http://www.badlani.com/bags are pleasantly surprised to discover how inexpensive they are.

B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore discussed the power of transforming ordinary transactions into experiential events in their book, “The Experience Economy.” “It’s not about entertaining customers, it’s about engaging them,” they wrote.

Kevin Roberts, CEO at Saatchi & Saatchi, recently built on Pine and Gilmore’s theory of customer engagement in “Lovemarks, The Future Beyond Brands,” his new book.

Successful direct marketers are in the experience business; they court their customers in intriguing ways, fueling their passion for meaningful experiences. It’s more than a win-win. It’s a way of life for these companies and their customers.

In an earlier story on this blog, I wrote about how Patagonia and Body Shop are two mega brands that have internalized people’s ecological concerns into their strategy and have won a huge and loyal following. These two brands can comfortably call themselves Lovemarks.

Their customers feel good about selecting their products over others, trusting these brands to have followed the most ethical and ecological route to making the products they proudly use and associate themselves with

Giving away a cotton shopping tote with your logo on it shows people that you are aware of the problems being caused by plastic bags and are doing something positive about it. When they re-use these bags, they do so proudly, displaying your brand’s and their own concerns. What a testimonial, and at such a small price!

If you don’t know how economical it can be for you to give away cotton shopping totes, give yourself a pleasant surprise at http://www.badlani.com/bags/

Martin Sloane of The Birmingham News got a tremendous response to his article on switching to reusable bags. So great, that he’s decided to kick off a contest. To enter you have to decorate a reusable bag (no paper or plastic, folks) and send clear picture of it to Martin at the Birmingham News or email it to him at site4savings@hotmail.com

The winner gets $ 100, the second prize is $ 50 and third prize is $ 25. Kids are encouraged to enter, and the winning photos get featured at Martin’s website www.martinsloane.com

Great going Martin! Keep this up and you’re going to do a lot of good to our planet!

Reusable fabric bags are a practical and simple solution to a problem of mounting proportions. They are attractive and affordable as you can see at http://www.badlani.com/bags

This is Chloe, a talented graphic designer who ordered bags from us with one of her beautiful designs. Makes us proud to be associated with folks like her.

When you’re headed for your next trade show or conference or event, consider reusable fabric bags as your giveaway. Visitors love receiving them because it facilitates carrying all the literature they collect.

The fact that folks will carry them around the show displaying your logo and plugging your presence is only the immediate benefit. Much after the show is over, they will still be using them (no one throws them away) and literally become a walking billboard for you.

But there’s more. People are becoming increasingly aware of the harm that plastic bags do and when your logo is seen on an eco-friendly substitute for plastic bags, your brand gets positioned in their mindspace as one of the “good guys”.

This follows from a very basic logic. People don’t want to be bombarded with your marketing message. They prefer to unravel a subtle message themselves.

If this contradicts what some marketing bozos have told you, check out the logic on yourself.

When someone is telling you a joke and you can figure the punchline even before he completes his story, that joke doesn’t break you apart and, chances are you don’t remember that story.

But when someone tells you a joke and it takes you a few seconds to figure out what was funny about it, when you start laughing, you can’t stop. And, you tend to remember that story, right?

A marketing professor once explained this phenomenon to me. When you don’t immediately “get it” it challenges and engages your mind. That brief engagement is what makes some things memorable and others get forgotten fast.

Get it?

These quiet little bags are amazingly attractive and economical. You will not believe how affordable they are so come check them out on the bags home page at http://www.badlani.com/bags/

Alex Steffan, who writes a brilliant blog at http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002465.html noticed my blog and wrote

“I love obsessive geekery for a good cause, and I believe I have stumble upon the Ur-site, the Platonic example of the form: the Badlani blog which focuses, essentially entirely, on news about the ongoing global efforts to reduce our use of plastic bags. Yes, that's right: it's an anti-plastic bag blog. Pretty good one, too, full of interesting little tidbits like San Francisco's implementation of a 17-cents-a-bag bag tax (jargon watch for the day: tax on plastic bags = "plastax").”

But he wasn’t entirely thrilled as he adds “(The only bummer with Badlani is the authors' relentless hawking of their own cotton bags. We get it, they sell bags. So do others, like Reusablebag.com's Vincent Cobb. No need to remind us every post.).

I take his point. Repetitive and relentless promotion can become tedious, but I feel virtuous doing it because

Higher listings = more vistors = more fabric bags sold = less plastic bags plaguing our world.

So, folks, bear with the plugs if you will, and in fact, spread the word if you agree!

But I did need reminding of that, so thanks, Alex! Please note the absence of a plug in this blog.

Australia’s Northern daily just published an article about how local councils have contributed huge sums of money for calico bags to be distributed free to residents.

The 13 participating councils are Armidale Dumaresq, Glen Innes, Gunnedah, Guyra, Gwydir, Inverell, Liverpool Plains, Moree, Narrabri, Tamworth, Tenterfield, Uralla and Walcha.

Vanessa Tiernan, project co-ordinator for the Northern Inland Regional Waste Group, said yesterday each of the group's 13 constituent councils had contributed a collective $65,000 to buy 86,000 "Don't Waste" bags.

They would all carry the same "Don't Waste" message, but there would be one difference from council area to council area. In Tamworth, the bags would carry the message "Don't Waste Tamworth", whereas in the other areas, the message would be "Don't Waste Glen Innes" or "Don't Waste Inverell".

Sensible. Where plastic bags are usually used just once or a few times before being discarded, the calico bags are so durable they can be used for months and even years.

Calico bags are attractive and economical as you can see at http://www.badlani.com/bags/

Karama Neil, a lovely lady from Little Rock, Arkansas, wrote a blog about the harm plastic bags are doing and mentioned my blog as being a good reference source. Thank you, Karama. It’s nice to be acknowledged, particularly by a person as accomplished as you.

Karama's weblog is at http://sowhatcanido.blogspot.com/2005/04/say-no-to-plastic-grocery-bags.html What a great concept “So what can I do?”

I disagree about paper bags, though. Cutting down a tree that takes years to grow, lugging it to sawmills and then to paper mills that consume huge amounts of electricity and water to produce a paper bag which gets used once and thrown away is also wasteful.

Using anything once and throwing it away is wasteful. Fabric bags get reused hundreds of times and make so much more sense.

But plastic and paper are cheaper, some will say. They aren’t, actually. The shops that give these to you “free” are actually paying for them and charging you an invisible premium for them. Even if they cost as little as 4 cents, over 300 uses that is $ 12.00. Our fabric bags start as low as 60 cents, and they can be reused used more than 300 times. Do the math!

Fabric bags are the real answer to saving our planet from the blight of plastic refuse. See how attractive and economical they are at http://www.badlani.com/bags/

Mary O'Keefe from Pompano Beach just wrote an article in the Sun-Sentinel in which she mentioned how she initially though California’s proposed 17 cent tax on plastic bags was ridiculous and a burden on the consumer. But she quickly changed her mind. Here’s what she says.

“Then I went to my local grocery store and again came home with numerous plastic bags. Several bundles had two and three bags for one item that was not breakable nor particularly heavy,”

“I have changed my position. The one dismissed value of this proposal was the awareness of what we waste. Even though our behavior -- not the plastic bags -- is the problem, it would inspire awareness and conservation. We apparently need constant reminders or reprimands. Other countries that have implemented such a program report great success”

You’re so right, Mary. Plastic bag consumption fell 90% in Ireland after they imposed a tax on plastic bags.

People who believe plastic bags are being given free just aren't aware of the facts. They cost you money, and more than you think.

So, it’s not really a burden either. The consumer is already paying this 17 cent cost in the form of city and municipal taxes. The 17 cent figure was worked out based on how much it costs communities to cope with the mess plastic bags create.

Add to this the fact that retailers who appear to give them away free are actually buying them and building the cost into the products they sell you. Most will be happy to offer you’re a discount if you bring your own bag.

Reusable fabric bags are an attractive and surprisingly economical alternative and very, very practical.

Most American have the impression that fabric bags are expensive. They aren’t. See how affordable they are at http://www.badlani.com/bags/