The No Impact Man, Viral Marketing At It’s Best

As a marketing professional and "green" concerned citizen, I’m intrigued with both the environmental aspects and the marketing buzz that’s been created by the "no impact man".  From the NY Times to Seth Godin everyone is talking about Colin Beavan and his family who have imbarked on a year long experiment to see what little impact they can have on the  environment while living in NYC.

"No Impact Man is my experiment with researching,
developing and adopting a way of life for me and my little family—one wife, one
toddler, one dog—to live in the heart of New York City while causing no
net environmental impact. To do this, we will decrease the things we do
that hurt the earth—make trash, cause carbon dioxide emissions, for example—and
increase the things we do that help the earth—clean up the banks of the Hudson
River, give money to charity, rescue sea birds, say…"

Colin’s experiment is a noble cause that’s been causing quite a stir, his blog started just a month ago and is already linked to by 187 different blogs according to technorati, who keeps track of such things.

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the reasons why the news of his experiment has spread so fast, here are some obvious ones, am I missing any?

1. He has a great idea that’s linked to politics, trends and current events.
2. He’s communicating that idea in an open forum that’s accessible to everyone.
3. He’s tapping into the power of the internet.
4. And, he’s hitting an emotional chord in those with similar values, and those who oppose them.

What can your business learn from the "no impact man"?

–Susan Martin, Marketing Coach, environmentalist and viral marketing fan