give me the anti-dirt

Thank goodness for search engines: when I decided to write about Method soap, I typed both method.com and then methodsoap.com into the browser - and both were owned by other companies having nothing to do with cleaning products. The site is in fact www.MethodHome.com, which pops up at the top of searches.

Founders Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan present their story in the context of a superhero metaphor (their 'toxic exposure' to regular cleaning products gave them super powers--and, let's be honest, a million-dollar idea) and, as is the emerging theme in this blog, their packaging and product is alluring and well-designed. The founders also seem like nice dudes you'd enjoy talking to at a party in the SF Mission district.

But the company's straight-ahead, responsible (dare I say clean?) and stylish approach has gotten them far: the company is privately-held, and Method products are in more than 35,000 retail outlets in the US, Canada, UK, France and Australia. Recently there's been some discussion about green products losing their allure when wallets are slim, but Method is holding fast at$100M per year - likely because the other companies may be perceived as 'greenwashing.' Wouldn't you choose Method over Clorox Greenworks, a brand that first and always makes me think of toxic bleach?

They've also had some smart partnerships, including TerraCycle (a company that facilitates collection for hard-to-recycle items and then turns those materials into green products--upcycling. Watch for future blog post on this.) in the Method Refill Brigade, encouraging folks to collect their used soap refill packaging and send it to TerraCycle.

And the real reason I chose to write about Method: their animated music video at the beginning of Virgin America flights, where sketchbook passengers and animated soap dispensers sing 'We're all in this together.' I sing this song in my head more than I should - which means their marketing folks must be doing something right.