Green Options » Marketing

People? Planet? Or Profits?

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:55:57 +0000

I’ve written a lot in these posts about print vs. electronic media and the sustainability issues faced by both (yes, both! electronic media aren’t as green as people think). Now you can investigate more deeply for yourself. On November 17, Target Marketing and Printing Impressions will offer a webinar titled “Paper or Electronic? The Impact of Choices.”

Speakers will be:

Don Carli
Senior Research Fellow
Institute for Sustainable Communications

Brian Kozlowski
Director, Sustainable Development
NewPage Corp.

This free webinar will discuss the tools, processes, and success stories that exist to help direct marketers determine not only which media best fit the job at hand but also how to improve the carbon footprint of all channels.

Topics to be discussed include:

Read more of this story »

Green: Mainstream, Sticky, but Not Deep

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:20:41 +0000

What is the current state of the consumer on the issue of green products? Grail Research, which recently conducted a survey of 500 consumers on issues related to the purchase of green products, refers to green as mainstream and sticky, but not deep.

According to the study, “The Green Revolution” (September 2009),

84% of consumers say that either some or most of the products they purchase are green (mainstream)
Only 1% say that they used to buy green products but no longer do (sticky)
Only 8% of consumers make green the primary factor in their purchase decisions (not deep)

The number one reason people are deterred from buying green products? They are perceived as being too expensive, with 69% of respondents giving this answer. Forty percent view green products as not offering enough variety and choice.

What is the difference between the moderately interested (light green consumers) and the very committed (dark green consumers)?

Read more of this story »

Interview with Jamie Wimberly, CEO EcoAlign, publisher of “Green Gap Redux: Green Words Gone Wrong”

Jennifer Kaplan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:37:26 +0000

All this talk about going green, do we really know what exactly it means? Companies invest millions in trying to segment the green market. There’s the BBMG Conscious Consumer Report. The Roper Green Gauge. The Landor ImagePower Green Brands Survey. And on and on..(..so many segments, so little time!) Maybe more importantly: When we talk about green are we talking about the same thing? Apparently not.

This week I spoke with Jamie Wimberly whose firm, EcoAlign, just came out with a report called “Green Gap Redux: Green Words Gone Wrong”. Wimberly is CEO of Distributed Energy Financial Group (DEFG), a company in the clean tech space that includes EcoAlign. Jamie has nearly 20 years of experience in the energy and environment space, previously having served as the Vice President of the Consumer Energy Council of America (CECA), the President of the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets (CAEM) and a Director on Boards of technology companies. He is a published author, frequent speaker and the Executive Producer of the award-winning Day In The Life Of (DILO) video.

Q: Hi Jamie. Before we talk about the “Green Gap Redux” report, can you talk about how your focus on energy makes EcoAlign different from other green marketing agencies?
A. I was attracted to the energy sector because it impacts so many of the big issues of our day, including the environment, and is integral to modern society in all aspects. The relationship between energy and environment is a symbiotic one, meaning that we won’t be able to clean up our environment and manage climate change without a transformation on how we produce, deliver and consume energy. Our deep expertise in energy (the partners alone have over 50 years of collective experience in the sector) means that we can go beyond your usual agency engagement and truly discuss all aspects of strategy – operational, financial, marketing, etc. As such, we are able to elevate the discussion of such things as messaging/ communications, product development, customer engagement, campaign design, channels and metrics, and other marketing-related activities to the C-level suite of our clients. Finally, I would note that “sustainability” is evolving into a complete management model. For that transition to be effective, you need to have a lot of skill sets and a strategic perspective that only comes from a deep understanding of all the moving pieces of a company. The end goal is for sustainability to become a business and economic driver to enhance profitably.

Read more of this story »

Green Energy Talk: Oops! The Gap Is Showing!

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:13:38 +0000

Companies marketing green products and, in particular, promoting their green energy initiatives are using words like “energy conservation” and “green energy,” but what effect has this had on consumers? Do they care? Do they even understand what these terms mean?

EcoAlign, a strategic marketing agency focused on energy and the environment, decided to find out. In September, it conducted 1,000 interviews, comparing against a similar survey conducted in September 2007. The sample was balanced to match the U.S. population by age, gender, region and ethnicity.

The results? Green Align found that consumers generally have positive associations with the terms “energy efficiency,” “energy conservation” and “clean energy,” but their understanding of what these terms mean has remained the same or decreased since 2007.

They also have low or negative understanding about technical terms such as “demand response” (resulting in the recommendation that such terminology not be used in external marketing communications) and showed a lot of confusion about green pricing terminology such as “peak pricing,” “green pricing,” and “fuel supply pricing.”

Moreover, consumers remain confused about the definitions of basic terms. They cannot articulate the difference between energy conservation, energy efficiency and smart energy. Less than one third chose the correct definition for those terms from among a selection of definitions (multiple choices).

Read more of this story »

Care About Green Printing? Better Tell Your Printer!

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:22:09 +0000

I’ve blogged a lot about how the printing industry is far greener than people give it credit for. The presses are more efficient. Paper often has high recycled content. Marketing strategies emphasize smart use of data over volume production. There are many ways that printing is green — greener, many argue, than electronic media. But what about individual printers? To what extent are they consciously pursuing a green strategy? It can be a significant investment, after all. Are their customers making it worth their while?

Last year, the commercial printing industry information portal What They Think released a report on the status of green in the printing industry. This month, in Printing Continues to Go Green, WTT updated the report with fresh data, comparing the numbers year over year.

In the June 2009 survey, WTT researchers found the following year-over-year changes:

Printers are far more likely to identify themselves in their marketing and promotional materials as environmentally sensitive businesses — 33%, up from 26% last year
They are slightly more likely to justify new equipment purchases because of their more favorable environmental impact — 22%, up from 20%
They are more likely to have special “green” certifications from independent organizations (Forest Stewardship Council, Green Seal) — 22%, up from 15%
They are slightly more likely to say that promoting their green efforts helps their business image — 39%, up from 35%.

But it’s not all good news. Commercial printers don’t see a lot of customer gratitude for their efforts. In the June 2009 survey, they were noticeably less likely to say that it was essential to their customers and more likely to say that it was a major expense without a major business benefit. Only 2% said it was critically important to their customers.

This is a real problem. Why?

Read more of this story »

Brands and Culture, Symbiotic?

Ryan Jones — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:19:31 +0000

When you need to urgently need to blow your nose in Germany and don’t have a tissue on hand, you might ask a friend “Hast du ein Tempo?” (Do you have a Tempo?)

Tempo, it turns out, is a brand of tissue, not the German word for tissue.

Substituting a brand name for a general product description is relatively common across a number of languages. How many times have you heard someone say “Just Google that” or “Can I have a COKE please”? Over the years, powerful brands have impacted our culture and slipped into our language. For a brand, this is the ultimate compliment and a big awareness driver. In fact, Coke and Google (the 2 examples above) are now the #1 and #2 brands respectively on Interbrands latest list of powerful brands. Tempo continues to be a very powerful brand in Germany.

Read more of this story »

Marketing Report: Making “Green Printing” Work

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:16:04 +0000

An increasing number of marketers are turning to toner- or inkjet-based printing in order to green their print marketing programs. It’s not that offset presses are inherently ungreen. On the contrary, printing as a whole is a whole lot greener than many people give it credit for. But digital printing has some compelling green benefits.

Lower start-up waste
Smaller, more targeted production volumes
Presses with a higher percentage of recycled (or recyclable) parts
Lower energy use (in certain cases)
Ability to drive document management models that can reduce print waste and unnecessary print volumes that can reduce your carbon footprint and save money at the same time

All the while boosting your marketing effectiveness at the same time.

But for these digital-print-driven applications to work, it takes more than a digital press. That’s just the tool. It’s the smarts behind them — the marketing savvy and understanding of the technology — that drives results. To this end, Digital Printing Reports can released an October 2009 update to its “Digital Printing: Transforming Business Models & Marketing” training and educational report, incorporating the latest software and hardware technologies from Print 09.

The report is designed to help marketers get their minds around the issues that drive digital print production and marketing applications and make the most of them. It has five sections:

Technology discussion from a marketer’s perspective
Application classifications with illustrative case studies
How digital printing greens marketing
More effective ways of evaluating marketing program success
Best practices for greatest marketing impact
Conclusions and additional resources

Incorporating applications driven by digital printing is not only a step in the green direction. Done right, it’s also smart marketing.

The Greenest Big Companies in America

Kelli Peterson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:25:21 +0000

This week Newsweek’s cover story promotes an exclusive ranking of “The Greenest Big Companies in America”. This is an important moment in time. In 2006, Vanity Fair was among a few high profile publications to introduce entire annual issues to the green movement and their readership was reported to have been the lowest of the yearly issues.

Fast forward three years and six months later, the introduction of Newsweek’s list marks an important moment in time. Joining the annually released lists of the Best 100 Companies to Work For (Fortune), the 100 Best Global Brands (BusinessWeek) and The Largest 500 Companies (Fortune), the (presumably) annual list represents a palpable and permanent shift in business ethics and operations. Transparency is a leading value of those engaged in the green movement but it is still interesting to read that 70% of the companies participating voluntarily provided the data necessary to compile the list (otherwise utilizing publicly available information).

Read more of this story »

17 Ways To Green Your Holidays

Jennifer Kaplan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:22:15 +0000

Walking the green walk, isn’t always easy, and the holidays present special challenges. Its not always easy to mess with traditions. Last Thanksgiving I hosted a 100-mile Thanksgiving (I chronicled it in two blog posts on the OrganicMania blog). My attempt to convince my mother-in-law in Tampa that buying condensed milk at my local supermarket for her traditional key lime pie wasn’t really in the spirit of the plan, did not go over so well. That said, I can see a 100-mile Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza or even a 100-mile gift rule.

Tip #1: Source locally. Use local and sustainable produce, flowers, beverages, décor and rentals for holiday parties and meals.

Beyond that, there are two primary categories of activities involved in greening holiday parties and events: Finding ways to minimize the impact of the consumption occurring at the event itself, including food, flowers, beverages, décor, gifts, ect… Finding ways to mitigate the carbon footprint resulting from the airplane travel, car travel and lodging consumed for the event.

The good news is that there are a number of greening strategies that can deal with some or all of these factors that that are sexy and require little to no extra costs.

Make sure you have a recycling plan in place. Make recycling easy by having a sufficient number of well-marked recycling bins near where people need them.
If you are exchanging gifts (…think Secret Santa), make them green. There are a host of environmentally friendly gifts items ranging from aluminum water bottles to solar powered messenger bags to fair trade chocolates to locally made crafts that could fit the bill.
Read more of this story »

Print vs. Electronic Media: Has Anyone Asked Customers What THEY Prefer?

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:04:23 +0000

Many marketers are pushing their customers toward electronic statements, e-newsletters, bills, and transactional statements as a “green” move, but in reality, it has more to do with economics. It’s cheaper for businesses to send electronic communications than print. But while pushing e-communications as greener, has anyone bothered to ask what customers how they feel about it?

InfoPrint Solutions Company did. A joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, InfoPrint conducted a a survey that found three out of four respondents would consider opting for traditional mail delivery if they were informed it had less of a negative environmental impact than email.

In addition, 50% of consumers indicated that they still prefer to receive marketing information about new products or services via traditional mail rather than email. Only 44% would rather receive marketing via email.

Do preferences convert into action? Yes! Not only do customers prefer print mail, but they are more likely to open it, even if both communications come from a bank.

Read more of this story »

How to Grow Your Small Toy Business

mcmilker — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:24:53 +0000

I’ve been asked this year to judge the Goddard/Eco Childsplay 2009 Best Green Toy Contest. Sponsored by Goddard Child Development Centers and Green Options own Ecochildsplay, it is both a great opportunity and one that has me thinking.

How does a small company compete against the big guys in the toy industry? In particular as pointed out by Wendy Johnson, with Birchtree designs writing on the contest Facebook page:

Hey, how about doing a contest of eco-friendly, local handmade items? There is no way we can compete with large corporate manufacturers. Also, not sure how eco-friendly a product it can be if the materials are coming from all four corners of the earth, is being made in another country, and then shipped to the US?

That’s a good point! And so I thought about and found that, hey- this IS just that kind of contest!

Read more of this story »

The New Green Media: Print

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:27:06 +0000

I know I’ve been a bit like a dog on a bone about the fact that print is not necessarily the enemy, but I think it’s important. Marketers are being hit like a locomotive with the idea that e-mail and other electronic media are green because they don’t use paper, but there is a lot more to environmental friendliness than cutting tree. Like . . . energy use.

This week, the print industry will gather in Chicago at Print 09 (September 11 - 16), one of its largest annual trade shows. There, the The Print Council will promote a new position paper titled, “Why Print Is Green.”

“Our industry is a leader in recycling, sustainability and pollution control,” says Ben Cooper, executive director of The Print Council. “In fact, we pioneered putting those concepts into widespread practice over the past three decades. But we did so quietly, to the extent that there is a lack of awareness regarding the environmentally responsible nature of print.

“Why Print Is Green” describes ten specific ways in which print is green, from the responsible products used, renewable energy sourced, increased recycling rates, to improved design and delivery methods. The report is intended to demonstrate why print media is the environmentally sound choice for communicating with the audiences they want to reach.

Among the facts the white paper documents:
In 2008, more than 57% of paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling, more than any material.
Read more of this story »

The “Top 10 Greening Tips” Myth

Jennifer Kaplan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:54:28 +0000

Yet again, a LinkedIn question (asking for top 10 greening tips) got me thinking. Is there really a thing such as a generic list of top 10 tips for greening? I don’t think so.

As a start, the foundation of a green program lies in what a business is already doing. Do you recycle? Do you use CFLs? Do you have a programmable thermostats? Do you leave their PCs on all night? How much water do you use? What are your transportation needs? Depending on the answers to these and other questions, you will be able to identify the areas where the top green opportunities lie. Even if you business practices are not very green now, you will probably find that you’ve adopted a green business practices already, and that you can implement others with no cost or change in business performance. As an example, for most small businesses, changing to high efficiency lights or using recycled copy paper will have no direct impact on your core business operations.

So how do you know what the top 10 things you can be doing to green yourself are? One way to determine which greening practices will yield the most bang for the buck (a.k.a. be a top 10 tip) is to focus on the largest expense areas. There is often a correlation between expenses and volume of use. If you cut back on what you spend, you will likely reduce what you use.

So, whether reducing paper use or switching to high efficiency lights is a top 10 tip depends, well, on how much paper and electricity you’re using. A business may want to target all expense areas over a certain threshold amount. You can measure this in dollars or as a percentage of overall expenses, such as any expense on which you spend over $500 a month, or that represent 10% or more of total expenses. A list of business expenses can guide the planning process. Start with the areas of the business that will have the greatest financial impact. You may not be able to change things as dramatically as you’d like, especially at first. Look for actions that are achievable and cost effective to implement. If staff leave lights on in unoccupied rooms (bathrooms, storage sheds), you may want to make turning off the lights in unused areas a priority. That step may be as simple as posting signs on light switches. If, on the other hand the lights are generating significant added costs, they may want to install motion sensors or bi-level light switches.

Read more of this story »

Why A Clever Logo Matters

Jennifer Kaplan — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:22:12 +0000

The FedEx logo has a hidden message. Does it matter?

In a blog post called “25 logos with hidden messages – Amazing Graphic Designing tricks!” Charlie Johnson, the author, talks about what makes a logo a good marketing tool. He says:

…make your logo look more conceptual and clever using the graphic designing tricks. As it is said, a logo should not be a plain looking symbol…it should reflect you and your company’s personality.

Read more of this story »

Change Starts with your Underwear

Kelli Peterson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:18:00 +0000

PACT underwear launched this week with a campaign that demonstrates choosing wisely doesn’t have to accompany images of melting ice caps and flooding deserts. In fact the message of humor may just be it’s ticket to success - that and a potentially irresistible fit and feel.

With an underwear expert on staff and Yves Behar on the team, mastermind of the Fuse Project a widely acclaimed industrial design firm with products to its credit including One Laptop Per Child and the Jawbone headset, PACT may have the product to back up its initial appeal.

A quick read of the web site reads like many start-ups - casual, fun, informative. 10% of each sales goes to non-profits. And in a nod to the transparency indicative of the category, they tell you what they’ve figured out (just about everything) and what they haven’t (how to “recycle” the underwear when you’re done). They say there’s a video coming in September. Watch for more revealing information on PACT underwear then.

image credit: PACT

Sustainability: Government, Business and… Brands?

Kelli Peterson — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:45:37 +0000

There are many cynics out there that critique and question the future of sustainable products and businesses. It’s easy to side with them, mostly because it’s difficult to understand what comprises a “sustainable” product which in turn creates a domino chain of skepticism about achievability. We don’t endorse what we don’t understand. The industry is in self-defining mode and most of us lack the degrees in chemistry, biology, natural sciences or any other course of study that might support our inclination to trust what marketers tell us is “safe” and what is not.

Read more of this story »

Getting Slightly Stoopid About Climate Change

Krates — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:43:47 +0000

A few months ago a reggae/rock band called Slightly Stoopid invited us to have a booth on the Blazed & Confused concert tour. They were headlining with legendary rapper Snoop Dogg. This was a perfect extension of our Artists & Athletes program that we started a few months back.

Read more of this story »

How To Use Twitter To Engage Green Consumers

mcmilker — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:23:06 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to speak at The Cool Twitter Conference - a traveling show dedicated to all things Twitter. The San Diego venue, Croce’s was filled with folks watching and tweeting - the new manner in which we engage in conferences, I’ve noticed. You can view my presentation on Slideshare by clicking above.

What do you think? Anything I missed? Tweet me @mcmilker.

12 Ways To Make The People’s Stimulus Green

Jennifer Kaplan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:12:51 +0000

I just read about the People’s Stimulus Package and am impressed. Started by an Alabama pharmacist who thought his little town need its own stimulus, he gave his employees $700 bucks each ($300 to part timers) in $2 bills. All he asked is that they give 15% to a charity and to spend the rest locally in independent stores. Now, Turman Commercial Painters has formalized the program and are hoping it spreads across the country.

I hope it does, but I would add one more requirement: Make the spending green.

Buying local is itself an excellent greening strategy, in part because of evidence that there are significant social, environmental, and economic benefits to creating local economies. Beyond that, a local green stimulus is a great opportunity to educate staff about what they can do with a few extra bucks.

Here are twelve easy, low-cost things you can do to stimulate the local economy green-ly:

Join the locavore movement and buy produce, bread, food stuffs and crafts made within your home town .
Buy some high efficiency bulbs.
Read more of this story »

Composting: inspiring behavior change

Kelli Peterson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:41:06 +0000

Last week, San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom passed into law an ordinance that requires all residential and commercial building owners sign up for recycling and composting services. Composting services?

Yes, joining other similar programs in Seattle, Boston, San Diego and Pittsburgh, residents will be required under threat of fine to contribute their yard waste and food scraps. The fines aren’t meant to aggravate, rather Mayor Newsom is interested in incentivizing compliance.

On the face of it, the composting effort seems a bit complex in its implementation and infrastructure. Or is it? In actuality it’s fairly straightforward, it simply requires a mindset shift with an extra few pieces of equipment at the homestead and office. Of course we all groan when we think we might have to throw our banana peels into a separate bin. But once we’re used to it, and our city is at 90% waste efficiency with community gardens, urban parks and micro-farms benefiting, what’s to deter us from making a little extra effort and re-train ourselves now?

Herein lies the challenge. The opportunity for San Francisco will be to imaginatively engage us in a herculean effort to educate AND motivate compliance.

The “Reduce Reuse Recycle” campaign has gained some strong ground, thanks not the least in part to its proficient use in elementary school these days (what parents have not heard their kid come home chanting this?). It’s a catchy phrase with an easy icon that we all recognize. And the three descriptive words help us understand at a base level both our actions and the big picture. No small feat.

And there have been other more entertaining efforts. The “Got Milk” campaign introduced by the California Milk Processor Board in 1993 has been credited with increasing milk sales nationwide. The San Francisco based ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners created that one. And remember the California Raisins? Introduced in 1986 by the California Raisin Advisory Board, another top agency Foote, Cone and Belding created that one.

This is not to say that all campaigns need professional-grade characters with narratives to entertain us. The digital world has actually provided us with a rich array of channels that may be employed. And companies like Virgance have shown us that there is no limit to creative methods of employing social activism.

San Francisco, like many cities, is not exactly rife with cash to employ a hot ad shop to devise its strategy, but hopefully this trend-setting city will get resourceful and seek creative solutions and partners for engaging and motivating positive behavior change.