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Posts Tagged ‘green’

High school senior combatting styrofoam lunch trays poses insightful questions about green marketing

I just received four incredibly thoughtful questions on green marketing from Audrey, a senior at Hammond High School in Howard County, Maryland. From her note:

Photo from the Cafeteria Culture Blog

“Last year, I participated in the prerequisite class for Intern/Mentor, Independent Research, and researched the effects of Styrofoam on the environment and am currently still working to rid my school system of the Styrofoam lunch trays.  I have decided this year to study green marketing and how marketers reach the maximum number of consumers. I want to know how companies make their advertising and marketing greener and how these changes affect their clients.”

1. What do you find are the key factors to a successful green marketing campaign?

Funny, I was just included in an article in Entrepreneur Magazine this month about the five steps to successful green marketing. This will give you a good start, although I do think there are more factors involved in successful green marketing.

 

2. What area of green marketing do you think has the greatest impact on the earth?

Like all great advertising and marketing, green marketers must tap into the emotions – not reason – of consumers to get them to act more planet-wise. I think green marketing that actually involves the consumer in its campaign and encourages them to participate through doing something and shows them how to do it is the best kind of green marketing. Here are 10 great examples.

 

3. For which area of green marketing is it easiest to gain corporate support? For which area is it hardest?

Whatever green marketing movement you are trying to gain corporate support for first has to be in alignment with the company’s goals. One of the hardest areas to gain support in is global warming and carbon credits. There is just too much controversy surrounding the science, divide within the issue, and cost associated with correcting it for most corporations to rally behind it. Recycling, water conservation, and other programs that the individuals within a company can easily and actively participate in are the green marketing programs that seem to gain the most traction: 10 considerations when approaching a private company about supporting your public cause.

 

4. What are the biggest changes you have seen in green marketing over the past 5 years?

Too many companies are jumping on the green marketing bandwagon and not doing a particularly good job at telling their stories about sustainability. They forget the first five rules of marketing anything – green or not – from the consumer perspective:

  1. Do I want and need it?
  2. Does it work exceptionally well?
  3. Do I get a ton of value for the price?
  4. Is it convenient to buy and easy to use?
  5. Is it good for my family?

Only then do the majority of consumers care about: Is it good for the planet?

Most green marketers still don’t get it, and that’s why “greenwashing,” even though most of it is inadvertent, has become such a nasty nemesis to the credibility of promoting sustainability.

Thank you, Audrey, for including me in your research for your important project of ridding your school district of styrofoam trays. It is gratifying to see young stewards like yourself know that they can make a real difference in this world. Keep up the great work.

Success at being “green” starts with consumer convenience

Why do you think people donate their stuff to Goodwill, the ultimate green recycling operation?

Is it because Goodwill’s workforce development programs are a great cause, and they know that the sale of their used items will help put people back to work? Or perhaps it’s because they know their used clothing and household items will help families that are less fortunate, especially in this rough economy? Or by donating to Goodwill do they feel they are doing their part to keep their items out of landfills?

Although altruism is an important motivator, the proximity of stores and ease of dropping off donations drop are the top reasons people donate. In short, it’s all about convenience.

Click to hear the bag.

Click on the image to hear the bag.

Another great example is Frito-Lay. They created a marvel, one of the first compostable consumer packaged goods bags for their Sun Chips. Did consumers embrace this remarkable innovation? No, they repelled from the noise it made. Forget what it does for the planet. The loud rustling of the bag, the first brand touch point for consumers, was just too obnoxious for most Sun Chips fans.

This unexpected sensory experience was, in its own way, too inconvenient for consumers and they stopped buying the product.

Forget about the deliciousness of the chip, it being a healthier alternative to other snack items, the renewable energy used to create it, and it’s overall “Greenness.” The sound the bag made trumped all of those brand benefits in consumers’ minds, or ears. Frito-Lay had to pull the compostable bags to, ironically, insure the sustainability of their product.

They have recently launched a new, quieter compostable bag.

Where have you seen consumer convenience trump all other aspects of a green product or service?

Is Online Shopping Better for the Environment than Store Shopping? 35% of Americans Think So.

If you can shop from home on the internet, why go to a store?

If you can shop from home on the internet and help the planet, why go to a store?

Is environmental responsibility beginning to trump convenience, product selection and price as a reason to shop online?

Shop.org recently published a survey that said 35% of respondents believed that online shopping is better for the environment than store shopping. Wait, it gets even better for online stores. 60% of those who believe they are being greener by shopping online plan to shop more often on the web versus traveling to a store.

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Other notable stats from the emarketer.com article include:

  1. The Green E-Commerce: Gaining Momentum report traces the many ways the Internet is spurring eco-consumerism and how brand marketers are responding.
  2. The recession has surprisingly little effect on buying green. Eight out of 10 respondents in a Cone survey said they planned to spend at least as much on green products today as they did in the past.
  3. Manufacturers more than doubled the number of eco-friendly product launches in 2008 compared with ’07, according to Datamonitor.

So, I put the “Green Online Shopping” mentality to the test and asked our staff why and where they shop online.

Tarah Eland, Production Manager: My favorite online store. . .Etsy is an absolutely lovely site :o ). They sell everything hand made. I would think it’s green! I don’t have to use gas to get myself to the store and there are more green products at your fingertips that aren’t available in stores nearby.

Kim Hodge, Film & Video Manager: My favorite on line shopping store is a UK based department store called John Lewis www.johnlewis.co.uk they offer everything from furniture to baby gifts to glorious handbags.  They provide free standard shipping within the UK right up to Christmas, so even relatively last minute gifts to my family are easy to choose and delivered on time to get under the tree for Christmas Day.   It saves me a bundle on international shipping, and time in line at the post office.  Green?  You bet I think it’s greener.

Jon Hrach Web Designer: Great topic. I assume it uses less resources to shop online since you don’t have to physically drive yourself to the store, but the product still has to be delivered to your house, so I’m not sure. bhphotovideo.com: good prices and used equipment. Interesting note: B&H is a Jewish business, and doesn’t do business on Saturdays. Their online store is actually closed on the Sabbath. Newegg.com: Good prices on computer hardware. I guess most of my online shopping is motivated by price.

Leslie Quinn, Bookkeeper: My daughter is a ballet dancer and goes through about 2 pair of pointe shoes a month…  We purchase through discountdancesupply.com who sells them for approx $15-$20 less than any of the dance stores (although still quite expensive at $55/shoe)  here in the Valley.  They usually ship within a few days and she can expect them at our door within the week.  It’s been a beautiful thing, and a savings of both time and money!!!

Tiffany Franquemont, Account Intern from Univeristy of Missouri: My favorite online store is Forever21.com.  Shipping is free after spending $75 or more and it’s quick. After I buy clothes from the website, my clothes are at the front door within days. I think that buying online is the green thing to do because it is a gasoline saver. With the gasoline prices rising, shopping online not only saves consumers money, it reduces fuel burning.

threadlessParker Howell, Video Intern from Chapman University: Threadless.com. Though, oddly enough, I’ve never bought anything from there. Does that count? I like the community, both looking at others’ designs and showing off my own.

Josh Feig, Interactive Writer: I really dig iTunes. I think it’s still the best, most usable online store there is.

Got a favorite site where you shop? Do you think online shopping is the green thing to do? Let us know below.

Perhaps Being Politically Incorrect is the Best Way to Sell Green Sustainability?

Maybe all of us sellers of sustainability are taking ourselves WAY toooooo seriously. Maybe we need to lighten up? Perhaps we should cut through the green B.S. out there in more irreverent ways.

Say hello to a self-described “Miserable Green Git,” Rob Manuel (Yes, he’s about to eat his cat). Check out his offbeat video from the terrifically creative site: DoTheGreenThing.com.

BTW, I had to turn to Kim Hodge, our film & video manager who hails from the U.K., to translated “Git” for me.  A git, roughly speaking, is an opinionated, old man who is a bit angry about something: In this case, the “We can all save the world” kumbaya of greenies.

If You Don’t Think the World Is Getting More Cynical About Sustainability, Checkout The Goode Family on ABC

Media is typically a reflection of the mentality of the market. So if you’re thinking about jumping on the green bandwagon with your company, product or service, without any real muscle behind your mission, you might want to first take a look at this new animated series from ABC.

The Goode Family is created by Mike Judge, the brains behind Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill.  The show takes an arguably hilarious shot at about every green, sustainability and politically correct social norm out there.

The Goode Family premise from their Wikipedia page:

The Goodes are an obsessively “green” family who live an overly politically correct lifestyle. They have solar panels on their house, harvest rainwater for use in an outdoor shower and plant-watering, garden in their front yard, drive a hybrid car, recycle, reuse shopping bags, etc. They are also vegans. The family lives by the motto “What Would Al Gore Do?”, a spin on the Evangelical Christian motto “What Would Jesus Do?“.

You can catch it starting this Friday, June 12, at 8:30 pm on ABC.

Once you watch it, overlay the sarcasm over your own green initiatives and see how you stack up.

Does this show make you want to run for eco cover, or do you think it’s actually good for environmentalism?