Green Options

[Handmade business cards by Lizerati. Used with permission.]

We’ve had crafty business on the brain this week! On Sunday, Julie wrote about salvaged setups for outdoor shows, and yesterday, I posted about recovering after a long day of vending. So what about your promotional materials? It’s important to have some sort of take-away at your booth so folks who don’t have cash on hand can find you later. Here are a few eco-friendly resources for making or printing your business cards!

Their by far coolest experiment is their stenciled ads for a London aquarium. “Because salt water evaporates more slowly than fresh water, the ads have a lifetime of about 20 minutes, leaving nothing behind but a light dusting of natural sea salt.”

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

Here and there in 2007, I saw the idea of the ’share economy’ pop up.  In 2009, car sharing, bike sharing, vacation sharing and even, clothing sharing seem to have more clout as tidalwave trends as opposed to mere passing trends.

From conference keynote titles like “Is the Share Economy the New New Economy?” at the May 5-7 Next09 Conference to the hit $40 annual fee Smart Bike Program in Washington, D.C., sharing is on the rise amongst even ‘mainstream’ consumers.

Sure, when times were high, the idea of car-pooling with the guy next door who grows petunias seemed like a nuisance best avoided (”I have to get to my superimportantmeetingnow!”).

Garden Electric was created as a means to find “tangible way[s] to represent electricity without using electricity (outside of what we were measuring of course). We loved the purpose of bringing the abstract lifeblood of all our technologies into a physical analog form.”

A Green Printer interview with Deb Ozarko, Director, Creative Services of Clearly Green Design.

1. If a client comes to you saying that they want to market themselves as a green company, what kinds of advice would you give them in terms of identity and design?
Before I would give them any advice, I would accurately determine their motives. As both a visual communicator and a social/environmental activist, I have a very large responsibility to the public and the planet - as well as my own personal ethics. Clearly Green Design takes our commitment to the environment, animals and social justice causes very seriously so its critical that we understand the motivating factors for a company before we go any further. A green claim or green identity no longer has the same validity that they used to because of excessive greenwashing. Greenwash is rampant because so many companies have simply jumped on the green bandwagon in order to keep up with the trend. Personally, I find this really sad because there is alot at stake here - namely, planetary survival. A glaring example of greenwash are the green claims made by the Walmart corporation. I honestly don’t know how the folks at the communications agency who market Walmart can sleep at night.

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch

As we are gearing up for week full of interviews from Clearly Green Design and the Futuresonic Festival and Conference (a sneak peek photo of the Futuresonic interview above!), this week’s uber-short post is on some valuable and unique tools for business owners looking to refresh their green marketing efforts.

1. Widgetbox allows you to search for widgets and once you find a good match [...]

For the past few years, corporations have been touting the launch of each new sustainability program - from employee engagement initiatives to renewable energy powered operations. And so, 2009 is an interesting year for Green Printer to check in on the results of these shop floor and boardroom decisions.

In a very interesting article, Anca Novacovici of Eco-Coach speaks about how corporations like 3M and Grossman Marketing group reaped in tangible - but unexpected revenue surges, savings and client kudos - by choosing the greener path.

“Going green can…fatten the top line. Grossman Marketing Group, a US$30-million (sales) maker of marketing, decided to spend up to US$4,000 every year to ease the strain on the nation’s energy grid by purchasing renewable-energy “credits” from two California wind farms. Adding 5% to its energy bill didn’t save Grossman money at the time, but it did attract eco-friendly customers like Google and Green Mountain Coffee. Envelope sales — which represent 45% of Grossman’s top line — grew 20% in 2007, which is a pretty good return on a $4,000 investment!”

Why not take this time to incubate your business (from a caterpillar into a butterfly metamorphosis, if you will) and re-invest in your brand. And, the no-fail, low cost business staple that can change an undecided client into a more confident one? A humble business card that is fiercely aligned with your brand.

By Contributing Writer Melissa Chungfat | Part of Green Printer’s ‘Design Goes Green’ dispatch.

While more people are cutting back during the recession, green sales still remain strong with companies that have positioned themselves well in branding and marketing. It’s a topic that the much anticipated April 20th PSFK “Creativity for Change, Ideas to Make Things Better” conference in New York City will be speaking about as part of their sustainable and socially conscience agenda.

Recently, GreezBiz.com reported on a survey that revealed, “68 percent of consumers say that even in a recession they would remain faithful to a brand if it supports a good cause; nearly seven in 10 would be prepared to pay more for eco-friendly products.” Buyers plan to remain loyal to products that they perceive to have strong social value.

This post was originally posted on Eco-Libris blog on March 18.

We’re constantly talking about the need of the book industry to increase its efforts to lower its environmental impacts and adopt greener practices. At the same time, we try to do a reality check every couple of months and learn from those who actually print the books how things are doing.

Last January we had an interview with Greg Barber of Greg Barber Company, who shared with us insights on what it means to be a green printer. Today we have the pleasure to host another experienced green printer, Deb Bruner of Pinnacle Press.

Deb Bruner serves in Pinnacle Press as director of book publishing and eco-friendly initiatives. She has more than 25 years experience in the publishing, paper and printing industries. Prior to Pinnacle, Bruner worked as the director of book publishing papers for New Leaf Paper, the environmentally friendly paper merchant, where she managed mill relationships and developed sales opportunities.

As you can see, Bruner has a vast experience with a specific focus on green printing, so we decided there’s no better person to get our current update from. We also wanted to learn more about Pinnacle Press of St. Louis, MO, which is well-known for its quality services and commitment to the environment.

We hope you will enjoy this opportunity to learn what’s going on in one of the major fronts of the book industry - the printing machines.

Hello, Deb. Could you describe please Pinnacle’s efforts to go green?

Pinnacle Press was the first book component printer to start stocking a recycled sheet for book jackets at price parity with virgin stock. We started doing this back around 2002 or 2003 due to customer demand from the university press community; presses like Cornell University Press wanted a recycled coated sheet for book jackets to help them meet their recycled paper commitments to Green Press Initiative.

In these turbulent economic times, there’s two major approaches that can happen: tighten everything down and hope you survive, or create new opportunities, within your business or in a whole new one.

For those that choose the second option, there are several interesting paths to follow, and many places to find ideas to inspire which one you choose. Springwise is my favorite, with thousands of trend spotters around the world, writing brief, engaging pieces on companies expanding what’s possible. For quick [...]