World Affairs - Business & Finance, page 4.

"Show me you care, don't tell me", my old advertising teacher used to say.

Sun Chips have done exactly that and strengthened their brand with their new compostable packaging. 

This leap forward in their brand perception allows Sun Chips to more effectively weave into the eco-friendly community. A deeper relationship can now be forged with the customer based on action and product.

This example shines golden compared to the empty corporate logo plastering that occurs with earth-friendly communities and events. I remember being invited to a benefit concert in an effort to clean up the beaches where I live that was sponsored by a certain energy drink and I was shocked to see their cans and promotional items littered all over the sand.

Packaging can have as much effect on consumers as the product itself. It is the visual representation of, and container for the product. In many cases packaging has a 'remarketable' staying power as in Altoids tins, shoe boxes, etc. 

Since the package is a significant visual cue toward purchase of said product, then Sun Chips has answered the question - how can packaging be legitimizing? more effective?

The recent concerns of greenwashing and overuse of the words 'natural', 'organic', etc., have created a more skeptical consumer. In this case, it should be noted that with every passing day, this same consumer is able to perform a solid background check about a brand online on sites such as Good Guide, a "...source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home."

Given that the Sun Chips brand has always had a solid niche in the saturated (pun intended) world of chip companies, the biodegradable bag is a strong statement of walking the walk. 

Sun Chips passes the test by doing what they represent. How can your brand do the same?

The idea that Spain could become a target of the world’s markets, an economic basket case weighing down the euro, is a preposterous notion, but not an unthinkable one.

It’s preposterous in the sense that this is a great, energetic, creative and competent nation that in about 25 years shed a dismissive label as a cheap place for two weeks in the sun to become Europe’s fifth economy, Latin America’s biggest foreign investor, and an all-points, high/low cultural turbine producing terrific films, clothes people want to wear, exceptional food, and great soccer and basketball.

In 2010, that’s a reasonable, widespread perception.

Still, according to Fernando Fernandez, a former chief economist at Banco Santander and former official at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, “an attack by markets on Spain would be based on some rationality.” Now a professor at IE University here, he said, “An 11.4 percent deficit like ours is huge.”

Last week, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and Angel Gurría, secretary general of Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, were in town on separate missions to insist, as decorously and elliptically as possible, that Greece (whose 12.7 percent deficit and substandard accounting methods have shaken the euro), and Spain (having the confidence of its lenders and much lower debt) were chalk and cheese.

What will your future look like? How can you reach that exercise or diet goal? Can you imagine the day when you'll interface with your doctor through a smartphone? Many of these types of questions will be answered by wireless devices.

Treat 'em right

The innovation of wireless health or mHealth devices are especially exciting as they will have an impact not just on the health of you - the patient, but also the thousands of hospitals and clinics that see people like you daily. 

Smart sensors and wireless devices such as the smart patch (also known as a band aid) are leading the charge of this wireless revolution. These tiny transmitters are adhered to the body and measure functions such as heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, glucose, etc. 

The data is then sent to a smartphone or computer application that provides feedback in the form of prescription aid or assist in scheduling a doctor video conference, among others. 

The potential benefits are huge. The treatment and cost efficiencies will greatly improve the situation of crowded hospital beds and outpatient visits. Assisted living treatment can be improved as well, especially in the areas of emergency response.

The direct impact on chronic disease maintenance is also very exciting. Imagine a diabetic or heart patient having this technology at their disposal? In this case, information is power.

An apple a day