Sydney

A couple of months on and the Surry Hills MFC Supermarket have taken the step to implement changes to their business using a portion of the profit from the Carrotmob day.

The store initially pledged to spend 20% of the gross income from the event on greening their store. However, to our great excitement, when it came to weighing up the changes they could make, they decided to use approximately 85% of the income from the event on a significant energy reduction scheme within their store. This involved having an electrician split the electrical circuits, so that all fridges and appliances which don’t need to run at night whilst the store is closed (ie. don’t have perishables in them) are on one circuit and all of the ones that need to stay on containing perishables are on another. That way they can switch the unnecessary circuit off at the main switch board each night when they close. This will be an extremely significant improvement on their energy consumption, as they run 11 fridges- of which 7 now turn off at night and only 4 remain on.

We will be following up with the MFC Supermarket owners to compare their energy bills from before and after the changes were implemented.

Saturday 24 October 2009 will go down as a day to remember. A day when herds of orange-shirted people roamed the streets of Surry Hills, Sydney, where 350 fresh carrots were handed out to eager passers-by, who were being entertained by the Ooolala’s hoola-hooping moves,  twisting to the cool mix of tunes from solar powered band The Sunchasers….. All in the name of greening the planet with Carrotmob Sydney, the first ever Carrotmob event in the Southern hemisphere!!!

Coinciding with 350.org’s International Day of Climate Action, we joined thousands of other actions around the globe spreading awareness about climate change and environmental responsibility far and wide. But it was not just word that we spread- we put it into action with the help of all the ‘mobbers’ and the willing cooperation and enthusiasm of the MFC Supermarket!

Check out all the photos by clicking on the Photos page on the right side bar…

So how did it go in Sydney?

Carrotmob Sydney was a success! Surry Hills MFC Supermarket are pledging 20% of gross profit towards greening their store and on the day we had a solid turnout of people who all did their bit, purchasing groceries and other assorted bits and ends that they hopefully would have bought somewhere else anyhow. The store’s regular business hours on Saturdays are 7am – 12midnight and we managed to earn 1/2 of their total daily earnings in only 3 hours of Carrotmob, 11am-2pm!!

The store was really happy with the profit earned and the number of customers who shopped there on the day. We were pleased with the turn out as well and we want to thank everyone who came and showed their support!

After the event, the Carrotmob crew went to a park nearby and created a giant number 350 using carrots, and sent it to 350.org to show our support. Our photo joined thousands of other ‘350′ related photos which flooded in from all around the world and was apparently broadcast on the big screens at Time Square in New York.

Evaluation of Carrotmob Sydney:

We found the whole experience rewarding but challenging. Here are some of our observations from our Carrotmob event:

- Around 150-200 people came to the event. We found the most challenging part of organising and facilitating Carrotmob Sydney was getting people to actually understand the concept, show up and shop! Many people were enthusiastic and sympathetic to the cause, yet didn’t end up taking the step to actually leave their couch, join the action and come shopping.

- We found the general Sydney population a hard crowd to crack. For the first Carrotmob it would have useful to spread the word a great deal more amongst people who are environmentally aware, and green-industry networks, rather than just the personal networks of the organisers and the general street population.

- Carrotmob being a relatively unknown concept here in Australia meant it was challenging to gain momentum and support. In future we plan to allow more time for promoting Carrotmob as a concept as well as to prepare for our event. The limited time frame was challenging with everybody having their own jobs and agendas to juggle simultaneously. We could have pushed the date back further, however we were all very keen to make the first Australian Carrotmob occur on the significant International Day of Climate Action – October 24^th.

- In order to develop Carrotmob further in Australia there needs to be a lot more promotion and awareness of the idea. If people are aware of what we are doing and have a basic understanding of the Carrotmob concept, it can grow to become more successful.

Overall, everyone who attended on the day was very supportive and keen to see us do another Carrotmob Sydney event soon.

We intend on using all that we learned from creating the first Carrotmob in Sydney, dressing up in our orange shirts again, and developing a BIGGER, BETTER Carrotmob Sydney next time round. We want to grow the grass roots reverse-boycott!

Watch this space.

Online publicity:

MINDFOOD  - http://www.mindfood.com/at-flashmobbing-goes-green-carrotmob.seo

TIME OUT SYDNEY – http://www.timeoutsydney.com.au/aroundtown/event/13771/carrotmob.aspx

PRYMONT VILLAGE – http://pyrmontvillage.com.au/carrotmob-first-australian-event-mfc-surry-hills-this-saturday-24-october-2009/

FRANKIE MAGAZINE – http://www.frankie.com.au/events/743-carrotmob-in-sydney

SURRY IN A HURRY BLOG – http://kellyjillian.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/carrotmob-to-strike/

If you were in Surry Hills on Saturday last week you would have seen us running around in our racy orange CARROTMOB t-shirts and our authentic Carrots on Sticks. Why the outfit? Well we were promoting our Carrotmob event, not only in the streets around the store, but also in the store it self. We took some happy snaps for our blog and other media and here they are below for all to admire.

The countdown to the BIG DAY is on…. only 4 days to go. We will be at MFC awaiting the mob in our orange on Saturday. Come join us and if you want, get your own orange attire out. It’s a good excuse to wear it!

See you there. THIS SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER, 11.00am – 2.00pm.

x Carrotmob Sydney

Carrotmob Sydney is about to strike!! Not long now until the BIG day – Sat 24 October 2009.

and….

We are proud to announce the WINNING STORE – SURRY HILLS MFC SUPERMARKET !!

MFC have pledged to spend 20% of the gross profit earned on the Carrotmob day towards ‘greening’ their store. What does this mean for you? Well the more people come and more people spend the more MFC will earn and put towards creating a more sustainable business!!

So, start spreading the word far and wide that Carrotmob is striking Australia for the first time ever in magnificent Sydney!

SAT 24 OCTOBER
SURRY HILLS MFC SUPERMARKET
435 Crown Street, Surry Hills
11.00AM – 2.00PM

We look forward to seeing you then!

x Carrotmob Sydney

The carrots have been defying gravity and rolling uphill at high speed here in Sydney! The past week has involved exploring the streets of Surry Hills and Glebe, and pitching the concept of Carrotmob to convenience stores/ mini-supermakets/ liquor stores. We have been received with open-mindedness and enthusiasm, and have had great results with 4 stores currently bidding to see who will win the “mob”. One store in Glebe is in the lead so far, bidding a very generous percentage of our money from the ensuing Carrotmob day to greening their business.

The main hiccups so far have been:
- the 3 hour search on foot through just about every office supply store and paper business we could think of to try to find recycled card to print the invitations on- which proved unsuccessful. This is a sure sign Sydney is in need of our help! We had to settle for flimsy thin recycled paper.
- finding the right person who is high up enough to makes decisions in the businesses we visited. It seems that most employees we spoke with embraced the idea, yet when it is then up to them to pitch the concept to their boss, it is inevitably lost in translation.

So… we are yet to confirm the address of the FIRST EVER CARROTMOB IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE, however we can confirm that it will take place on October 24th, 350 Organisation’s Global Day of Climate Action! So put on your green fingers and Madonna-esque conical carrot bras and come and be part of a great worldwide action that will hopefully have an impact on the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this year!

from

Carrotmob Sydney team

ps. Dont be surprised if you start seeing carrots growing in strange places / attached to strange walls / hanging from strange trees around Surry Hills and Glebe…

Carrotmob Sydney has arrived!!

We are hitting liquor / convenience stores in Surry Hills and Glebe this week to get the Carrot rolling.

We will keep you posted on our progress. In the meantime, you can help by spreading the word about Carrotmob Sydney to all your networks.

Carrot love to all.