Page 322 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

300 CHAPTER 10

recall was not immediate or second nature. So one of the first things we set out to do
was to rephrase the values, to simplify them into something mnemonic. The result
was: “Do right. Learn. Serve. Grow.” The use of verbs gave the values immediacy and
the sense of a call to action.
With those values in mind, our design team explored a visual identity system, cre-
ating a graphic toolbox that assigned one of four signature colors to each value. We
further created a brand “manifesto” to inspire Melaver employees and encourage
reflection. Next, we put our minds to work on how best to introduce an overall brand
to the entire Melaver corporate family. With the retreat in mind, we sought to create a
series of elements, both passive and interactive, to help engage the entire organization
in what was to become the Melaver brand.

Element #1: Brand video. The point of corporate retreats is to gather the team,
inspire them, and send them off ready to accomplish great deeds. In creating the video,
we sought to kick off the part of the retreat with which we had been entrusted with a
piece that would inspire, excite, or—at the very least—cause reflection and—at its
most powerful—raise goose bumps.

Element #2: Brand engagement exercise. We landed upon the idea of using the
cognitive device of a terrarium to help bring the Melaver values to life. It made sense.
It created a personal exercise in stewardship—micro-environmentalism, if you will. In
the course of our design exploration, we had associated each of the values with a color.
In packaging and presenting the terraria, we further related each value to a natural
material to be used in the exercise. For example, we associated “Do right” with a taupe
color and, subsequently, with the idea of foundation, with stone. We packaged gravel
for the base of the terrarium in one of four boxes that neatly fit inside the terrarium,
emblazoned with the words, “Do right.” Doing right is, after all, truly the foundation
of Melaver, and that upon which all else is built. We associated the value “Learn” with
soil, and with a deep, rich brown. Soil in this exercise reflected the feeding of the com-
pany, just as soil feeds plants. Again, we packaged the soil for the terrarium in a nicely
designed box emblazoned with “Learn.” We associated “Serve” with watering, with
service to the terrarium, with a pale blue, and enclosed a bottle of water in a blue-
colored “Serve” box. And lastly, we associated profitability, or “Grow,” with the plant
itself and the color green. Serendipitously, the plant we selected for the terrarium and
which we wrapped carefully in our green “Profit” box—the “prayer plant” (Maranta
leuconeura erythroneura)—has, as part of its markings, what might be seen as a loose
interpretation of the Melaver logo. The effect of the exercise was galvanizing. To this
day, every Melaver employee can recite the corporate values with ease. And the ter-
raria can still be found throughout the corporate offices (see Figure 10.3). Remember
earlier, when we were talking about alignment and authenticity? These are the sorts of
lessons that cement those corporate values and help Melaver maintain that alignment
and authenticity.
Element #3: A succinct statement of purpose. After much jawing and circu-
lar arguments about the focus of Melaver, Inc., the entire staff finally recognized that