An FD Element dispatch.

We recently spoke with Erich Schwartz, Founder and President of Greenomics on the rise of Sustainable Tourism. His “Sustainable Practices in Business Tourism” workshop on September 21st in Vancouver, BC attracted hotel owners and operators, restaurant owners and operators, senior, industry association executives and destination marketing organizations.

Vancouver is one of the world’s most sought after tourist destinations and will host millions of citizens and athletes from around the globe during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in February.

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation estimated that, in 1999, tourism accounted for 11.7 percent of the global GDP, or US $3.5 trillion. Of this, seven percent was generated though nature-based tourism activities. While sustainable tourism is on the rise from 1999, it still has a long way to go.

In August 2009, Carissa Bluestone in Worldchanging.org sums up the ‘cultural psychosis’ of sustainable tourism and more importantly, vacation time, when she says that, “Americans love environmentally unsound vacations — power-boating beerfests, three-day Cancun bacchanalias, check-your-mind-at-the-door packaged tours and cruises.”

Eric, Why sustainable tourism? What is its significance in British Columbia, Canada and North America?
Sustainable tourism speaks to the very need to do business differently. [It] consciously understands the footprint our industry leaves on society and the environment. It also speaks to how we can work together in the industry and with our suppliers to jointly find more creative ways to make a positive impact on our collective goals.

In terms of significance, its is vitally important for our industry to have a societal values shift in the direction of conservation and preservation of our quality of life and for future generations. The consequence if we do move forward as an industry…is that we those companies will remain healthy and economically stable business entities.  Those that don’t will struggle along until the next economic crisis and may not survive the next one. Business that are making changes benefit from a cost perspective and the creation of a strong, loyal workplace culture. In doing so, they will weather any storm and ultimately thrive.

What are some of the opportunities for businesses inside and outside the tourism industry to be involved in the sustainable tourism field?
This goes back to the many other industries the tourism industry relies on to serve the travelling public.  Our operations [in British Columbia] rely on energy providers, such as hydro, gas, cleaning products, paper products, carpet, paint, landscape, horticulture, farmers, food distributors, etc.

Who do you think is paving the way for sustainable tourism in North America? What is so exciting and unique about what they are doing?
Our values are changing not only because of the climate change concerns but also, our desire to become more socially responsible. Since this is a joint effort, there are two answers to this question. First, for the BC Partnership for Sustainable Tourism, we do not know of any other organization like us in North America. The closest tie would be EcoTourism.org, which is a useful resource and support for us. It has a global focus and we have a very concentrated focus on the province of BC.  As well, the Icarus Foundation has a broader focus on Canada. Second, Greenomics drives the business case for sustainability, which is, quite simply, that we we need to save our businesses. This means we need to preserve the environment and be socially responsible to remain competitive.

Drilling down underneath that increasing societal support for sustainability, I believe innovative tourism business leaders are also paving the way for sustainable tourism in North America.  Because many of our BC tourism businesses operate in the natural environment, they have a comprehensive understanding of the need to ensure that this province’s incredible beauty exists for future generations to enjoy.

Similarly, local and provincial governments are starting to understand that the future of the economy and our communities will depend upon more sustainable businesses practices. This includes mitigating and adapting to climate change. [These government bodies] are beginning to pave the way for sustainable tourism in North America through policy, regulation, instigating stakeholder dialogue, funding organizations such as BCPST and so forth.

Thank you, Erich.

An FD Element dispatch. The leaders in sustainability and advocacy communications and advertising.

The billboard was created using 2,000 (!) reclaimed plastic bags that were woven together to make the billboard, which measures over 120 feet in length. Nedbank employed seven crafters to create the billboard, taking them about six weeks to complete the project, making this a huge handmade project.

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Did you hear about KFC’s offer to fill the potholes in Louisville and four other US cities? Well, they’ve asked to be allowed to stencil an ad onto the pavement in exchange. Predictably, PETA and their KFC Cruelthy campaign now want some of the action.

“KFC might concentrate instead on improving conditions for the chickens it abuses, but it won’t, so we’re offering to double the money that KFC offered the City of Louisville—if the city will use our ads against KFC cruelty on its potholes instead,” reads a post today on PETA’s blog.

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Traditional marketing terms are just words that have used for quite a long while to name different ways of accomplishing marketing goals.Though tactics may have changed from relying on newspapers to relying on television advertising to new interest in social media, the goals and what we want to accomplish in the end have remained the same. That’s why I find it odd that perfectly good words like “impressions” and “reach” are so often absent from the discussion on social media.

Let’s review.

In advertising terms, “impressions” means how many times a consumer sees your message. This is measured across media. A TV viewer may see your commercial 5 or more times before it registers or sparks their interest in your product. Media buyers calculate the number of times specific consumers see a commercial before making the buy.

“Reach” refers to the actual number of consumers who see your message once. Obviously the more of your target consumers you reach often, with lots of impressions, the greater the chances she’ll buy your product.

And, so I ask, why does this topic not come up in discussions of social media? Yes, people do talk about followers and friends and quality followers and friends and fans and number of followers on Twitter, Facebook, SU, Myspace, etc, etc. This does address the concept of “reach” – sort of.

But what about impressions? Especially on Twitter, we usually tweet a post or an interesting thought…once. And, of course, at least, I’d say 80-90% of our followers don’t even see the tweet…unless it is retweeted. Of course, that is often the goal, but, what about if we tweeted one message a number of times to ensure that all of our key target sees it? Would that be considered bad twettique? Is that abusing our followers? Would we rapidly have deluge of people “unfollowing”?

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Shackled, Beaten, Abused is the tagline of a new PETA ad designed to raise awareness about the mistreatment of captive elephants.

It features Celina Jaitley, who is a popular actress in India. Last year she also participated in an elephant conservation fundraiser in Switzerland that raised one million francs.

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We wrote this week about the Defenders of Wildlife’s new campaign (and TV spot) against Sarah Palin and her plan to legalize aerial hunting of wolves from helicopters. Palin’s PR team was quick to the punch and issued this strongly-worded (yet weak on facts) response:

It is reprehensible and hypocritical that the Defenders of Wildlife would use Alaska and my administration as a fundraising tool to deceive Americans into parting with their hard-earned money.

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A 3-year study focusing on 35,000 children, parents and professionals, claims British children are less happy than those in almost any other developed country.

The aggressive pursuit of individual success by adults today is the greatest threat to our children….There is unease about the unprecedented speed with which children’s lives are changing; the commercial pressures they face; the violence they are exposed to; the rising stresses of school; the increased emotional distress they feel.

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We are sorry for the constant bombardment of ads promising you a flat stomach.  This is not a subtle hint that we think you are carrying around a few extra mommy pounds (or sympathy daddy pounds).  We don’t think you are stupid enough to believe in some fad diet.  Really, we love your body just the way it is.

You may have noticed these fat ads all over the internet. From Facebook to Digg, the fat ads are attacking the internet as we know it.  It’s like B horror flick where you can’t get away.

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Take Green Drinks, for example.  Green Drinks is a social networking group that brings folks who enjoy a good adult beverage while talking about saving the planet together for a happy hour of sorts, except, with a theme.  The evolution of Green Drinks, which now has chapters in over 40 countries, and almost a thousand cities, has brought it to the forefront of socializing and networking for the green community.  Local organizers have begun to solicit donations from the community in exchange for being a ’sponsor’ of the event, and the items are then raffled off, giving promotion to the companies who donate as well as proceeds to the event.  EcoTuesday, a growing social group that now has events in 7 cities, charges $10 if you RSVP, and $20 at the door if you don’t.  It offers a simple format,

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Looking for some concrete marketing advice for the new year? Susan Gunelius of KeySplash Creative lists 10 Advertising Words To Avoid in 2009 and she makes some good sense. She points out that in these uncertain times straightforward, honest advertising messages are the way to go. Here they are:

1. Free

2. Guarantee

3. Really

4. Very

5. That

6. A Lot

7. Opportunity

8. To Be (or Not To Be, For That Matter)

9. Synergy

10. Drinkability

(If you’re really interested in the topic read 25-8 Marketing’s100 Overused Marketing Words and Phrases.)

Read Gunelius’ article to fully understand why each word needs to be shunned, but I for one am thrilled that going green didn’t make the list this year.

P.S. Organic, however, was not so lucky.

The League of Conservation Voters has launched a new campaign to counter Chevron’s newest greenwashed advertising blitz. In their new ads, Chevron asks, “Will You Join Us?” and gives examples of the things people can do on a personal level to stop global warming.

They don’t mention what they as a company have the power to do. Instead, they ask people to do things like take their golf clubs out of their trunk, replace light bulbs with CFLs, and “consider” buying a hybrid.

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Companies, P.R. Firms, Marketing Gurus hear this loudly “Social Media and Marketing…it can bite you in the butt if you aren’t careful.” Take a lesson from Motrin, owned by McNeil Consumer Healthcare and a brand of Ibuprofen that is learning the hard way and will need plenty of their own medicine.  Two powerful lessons can really be gleamed from a distasteful “mom-aloague” ad running at the Motrin website (until they take it down). The first being that social media and marketing, it works and it’s powerful but that also it can work against you if you don’t watch what you do and say. Second, don’t mess with moms and what they are capable of. Just visit fellow blogging pal, Katja’s site for some very evident facts to prove what I am saying. It’s not good for Motrin, not good at all. If you’re a mom blogger and you want know what you can do next (besides the blogging and tweets) visit Amy over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess.

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In a recent Businessweek article, Kim Jeffery the CEO of Nestlé Water North America, makers of Poland Spring waters, whines (yes, whines) that they are misunderstood and not given the credit they deserve.  Clearly he thinks all the charges of greenwash are unfair.

But, are they? The article tells of all the environmentally preferable things that they had done but that no one knew about.  The article then goes on to say:

Part of the reason Nestlé Waters wasn’t touting its environmental efforts, according to Jeffery, was that he and the rest of management considered such actions business as usual.

Yes! That’s the point. the “green” things Nestlé were doing were part of normal business operations, many of which saved the company lots of money. Are they good for the environment? Of course. But that’s not really what greenwashing is all about. Its about consumer marketing. This is where the real greenwashing occurs. Before I go on, I want to say that I truly applaud the industry for implementing eco-bottles. That said, it seems to be a blatant case of greenwash to position bottled water as being good for the environment. Water companies should tout eco-bottles, but they shouldn’t suggest that they are good for the environment. They should sell the water, not the the environmental friendliness of the packaging. I would like to ad, that Nestlé is not the worst offender of greenwashy bottled water ads and their ad campaigns are far less offensive than those for Fuji Water and Deer Park.

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Green business owners are realizing that green marketing and design is a business asset that’s here to stay as momentum in the green movement builds. The graphic design industry is responding by opening more and more dialogues about sustainability and greening their practices. In this vein, Incite / Insight 2008 in Chicago focuses on the importance of green design.

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Rather than recommending that Americans cut back on their excessive consumer lifestyle, an anti-immigration group has released an advertisement touting controversial research that has claimed immigrants’ carbon footprints quadruple in size after moving to the US.

The group, Californians for Population Stabilization, does not advocate that Americans themselves have fewer children, nor do they promote any other type of change to the American lifestyle. In fact, this is the first time they have mentioned global warming in any of their campaigns.

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His point is that YouTube offers powerful opportunities to communicate to audiences we never dreamed we could reach before. Following up on a NYT article, “If No One Sees It, Is It an Invention?” he wrote earlier this week about using YouTube to create prototype presentations for entrepreneuers:

While not addressing it directly, this article captures a slowly emerging but immensely powerful tool in the innovation toolkit: the short video as prototype. Prototyping usually involves designing, building, and testing aspects of the technology or product features in order to learn what works and what needs improvement. The mantra: express, test, cycle…The short video, done well, not only communicates more information in 3 minutes than a powerpoint presentation can get across in 15 minutes, but allows for prototyping.  Express, test, cycle.

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Image credit: Tim Hurst

When it comes to branding a green business, it’s becoming harder and harder to stand out in a sea of companies claiming to have green products and ethical practices. While it’s wonderful that green is going mainstream, it makes good, original branding even more important for green businesses.

How do you set your business apart and attract new customers in a competitive marketplace? You work on your image, your public face, and your reputation. In a word, your brand.

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It can, and it does, via EcoMedia. The NY based company originally started by an LA surfer turned environmentalist to protect local watersheds from pollution has now expanded to find ways to improve and protect the air, energy, and green space of places across the US. This happens via partnerships with CBS and Worldwide Pants.  Between the three of them, they cover national and local markets, online, and also produce original green oriented content such as the Daisy Fuentes hosted TV show The EcoZone Project.

It comes down to this -

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