Chad Rea spent a career in advertising working with over 130 iconic brands. Then, in 2002, inspired by world travel he started 86 the onions with the goal of changing the ad agency blueprint. Now as a serial and social entrepreneur he has developed create your happy and project hello. alldaybuffet caught up with Chad to ask a few questions about his latest venture ecopop.

In your words what is the idea behind your site ecopop?

ecopop.com taps into the collective power of creativity to solve problems that matter in the world. It’s an informative, entertaining and inspirational resource of actionable ideas designed to change the way we make and buy things for the better. Rather than regurgitate news and trends from the eco or pop culture media, we translate cultural observations from both sides of the spectrum in a way that marketers, entrepreneurs and consumers can easily understand. We then add actionable ideas that think tanks usually charge big bucks for. Unlike passive media outlets, we then invite the community to build on these ideas for anyone and everyone to use freely.

You say ecopop is a free idea exchange, why is this important?

Everyone has great ideas that they either horde or never put into action. ecopop.com is a place for these ideas to live freely and, hopefully, get put to good use. Otherwise, they go to waste. To us, positive world change is more important that getting credit or money. Whether or not we are a minority in this thinking has yet to be determined.

What has been your biggest success with the site so far?

We only launched a few weeks ago and the word is just now starting to spread by word of mouth. We have yet to hear of anyone putting the ideas to use. However, we have received thousands of complimentary emails from around the world validating our big idea. Numerous companies have been sharing their innovative ideas with us directly to begin sharing with the ecopop community, as well. We are also in discussion with a handful of Fortune 500 companies who have subscribed to our site and want us to apply our thinking to their business–both privately and possibly online.

Where do you see ecopop evolving in the future?

Unfortunately, technology can’t keep up with our overactive imagination. By the time we went live with ecopop.com, we already had a completely revised site in our heads. Without giving too much away, let’s just say it involves much more user interaction and multi-media platforms. Ultimately, we are creating a content channel for people who care about the world but are either put off, confused, or feel disconnected from the current state of “green”.

What made you shift your focus to conscious consumerism and constructive brands?

After creating Project Hello (projecthello.org), a zero-budget awareness campaign for the homeless that now spans 30 countries, I was asked to speak at the Clio’s, the Academy Awards of advertising. Standing in front of the industry’s finest talent, all of whom consider themselves to be creative problem solvers, I had my Eureka moment: If everyone in the room devoted the talents to solving problems in the world that truly mattered, we might just solve them. ecopop was born out of the observation that, if the world was going to change quickly, and on a global scale, “green” would have to be marketed differently, more like the pop culture icons I spent my career creating demand, influence, social currency, and profit for.

If there were one thing you could change about the world tomorrow, what would it be?

I would replace greed with compassion.