Message on a drawbridge

I like this piece of street art in Amsterdam, reminding drivers about global warming and rising seas levels – which is a big worry in places like the Netherlands.

(Via Wooster)

10 rules of effective green marketing

Hugh Hough of Green Team has posted the 10 rules of effective green marketing over at the EcoAmerica blog.

This is a terrific list for companies who are just starting to make the move into green marketing. If your business is thinking about becoming green, and how to market yourselves, this is a good place to start.

Here it is:

1. Forget “green.” Okay, you don’t really want to forget it, but you do want to think beyond it. Being environmentally responsible is important, but today’s Awakening Consumers are looking for more. They’re looking at how your brand addresses all three pillars of sustainability: environmental impact, social impact, economic feasibility.

2. Walk before you talk. Don’t make any sustainability claims until you can back them up. Completely. This may seem obvious, but you’d be amazed at how often marketers want to cut corners and make claims they’re not ready to. And that’s a recipe for disaster.

3. Just the facts, ma’am. Don’t tell me what a great corporate citizen you are, tell me what you’re doing, and I’ll make that determination on my own. Simply stating the facts surrounding your sustainability efforts allows you to talk about them without coming across as smug or self-congratulatory. No one likes a show-off.

4. Let someone else tell your story. Nothing is better than a credible third-party endorsement. This is where a partnership with a respected non-profit that shares your values is especially beneficial. Allow your partner to tell the world what you’re doing together.

5. Keep it simple, make it relevant. Your sustainability initiatives should feel like a natural extension of your brand. Several years ago, Green Team did a campaign highlighting Jaguar Car’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society to save jaguars in the wild. Jaguar helping jaguars. Its simplicity and relevance made it successful.

6. Look inside. It’s critically important to engage your employees in your sustainability initiatives. With that in mind, look to the people within your own organization for ideas. This is how the partnership between Yoplait yogurt and Susan G. Komen For The Cure came to be. The cause was initially embraced by Yoplait employees on a grass roots level, then ultimately adopted by the brand itself.

7. Money isn’t everything. Sure, financially supporting a sustainability campaign is important, but don’t just write a check and walk away. Look for synergies between your brand and the cause. Involve people on both sides. Involve consumers. Be creative.

8. Tell the truth, the whole truth. Corporate transparency is now the way of the world. Consumers, especially Awakening Consumers, don’t expect you to be perfect, but they do expect you to be honest. Admit your flaws, and let people know what you’re doing to fix them.

9. Be genuine. Sustainability initiatives and sustainable marketing has to be real and authentic. It needs to be embraced by everyone involved with the brand, from the person who answers the phone to the CEO. It should be part of your brand’s DNA, not some superficial, jumping-on-the-bandwagon gesture. To help avoid this, think long term, and think big.

10. Have fun. We’ve created ads for a global warming campaign that are laugh out loud funny. Humor may not be right for every topic or communication, but how many doom-and-gloom people do you like to hang out with?

Hat-tip to Ivan for the link.

Plan A. Because there is no Plan B.

I can’t think of any company that rival Marks and Spencer as the greatest eco-conscious marketers:

Thanks for the pics PSFK.

More websites to save the world

A little while ago I posted a few websites that are doing their bit to help the planet. Here’s a few more to add to the list:

makemesustainable.com – A very cool green site where you can create and track your carbon footprint and share you footprint profile with others. MakeMeSustainable then gives you suggestions on how to reduce your footprint. It’s great. The social networking aspect of the site also introduces a dose of peer pressure into the equation.

myabodo.com is another cool idea. This is a flash website for kids, where they can create an eco-friendly home online, and learn about sustainability along the way. You can look at other people’s homes, and share your houses with others via myspace widgets. Pretty neat.

There area lot of renting / swapping websites popping up over the world, encouraging us to hire stuff, rather than buy things that we don’t necessarily need.

I like rentoid.com because people can earn money renting out their stuff (And also because I’m friends with the founders). Most of the items available for rent are here in Melbourne, but that shouldn’t stop you from listing some of your own items to rent out.

Modern Marketing Wrap-Up

Every now and then, I like to summarise what my key thoughts are marketing. Or, at least jot down a whole heap of big picture ideas about the world, and their implications on marketing.

So here goes for July 2007:

1. Green Marketing is a necessity.

• The way that we’re living now is simply unsustainable. There will need to be some massive changes culturally, and a huge challenge for designers, marketers, people – all of us.
• But Green Marketing has just begun. The Green tipping point has not yet arrived (I was wrong). Despite a huge amount of progress in 2007, Green marketing is still in it’s infancy.
• Companies that have solid green marketing strategies in place are very much in the minority.
• Business should be going green because it is the right thing to do. But also because it’s such a big opportunity.
• And, hey, isn’t it a nice thought that we can use our skills for good rather than evil?

2. We’re moving away from a globalised marketing world. People were buying cheap, mass produced and mass marketed products, but that’s changing. Why?

• Local is the key word – We’re moving back to see a return to localised production, reduced food miles, and avoiding excessive transportation (of products and ourselves).
• Having said that, tiny business can promote themselves and sell over the world – known as the Global Microbrand – which means it is a great time for small businesses to thrive.
• The Longtail – The internet brings with it unlimited distribution, so we’re not limited to the top-selling items anymore. Which leads to greater individualised tastes, the rise of niche markets and the ‘boutique generation‘.
• The large corporations have a bad reputation – Consumers are preferring something produced locally than in a sweatshop in Asia.

3. Word of Mouth Marketing has always been good. These days it’s a whole lot better.

• Traditional advertising doesn’t work like it used to. Nowadays people are better at avoiding it than ever before.
• So we have to go back to Word of Mouth – recommendations from our friends and colleagues. It has always been way more powerful than advertising.
• The internet speeds up the Word of Mouth process exponentially. Look at the current growth of social media (like Facebook for example). So if you can turn your customers into passionate fans of your brand, you’ll receive plenty of positive Word of Mouth.
• Honest, authentic and socially responsible brands are the only ones that can win. It’s just too easy for us to spread negative word of mouth about unethical brands.
• The bottom line: You can’t create a word of mouth marketing campaign unless you are word-of-mouth worthy.

4. Web 2.0 and the internet has changed the marketing game.

• Marketing is longer one way, and a ‘broadcast marketing’ mentality is no longer working.
• It’s now about having a conversation, whether on blogs, social networks, virtual worlds or even offline.
• Consumers are so much more connected than ever before. Which means that top-down, dumbed-down marketing doesn’t really cut it. We need to be having two-way conversations with our customers. Or they’ll go elsewhere.
• And we need to be developing communities with our customers.
• Even better, why not co-create? It’s no longer just about listening and talking to your customers. Why not get them involved in creating and promoting your brand (take a look at what the Threadless guys are doing, or even Nikon’s recent efforts).
• The rules change every week – This week it’s Facebook, next week it could be something else. But web 2.0 isn’t really about the newest website, it’s about connecting people. That’s where the true value of the internet lies.

5. At the end of the day, it’s just about being a ‘Nice Guy’

• Big or Small, the businesses that are going to do well are those that act nice – ie socially, environmentally and ethically responsible.
• Mass marketing forgot about the human voice. We’d much prefer to deal with humans than corporations, so brands that act human have a huge head-start.
• Likewise, businesses that are always ‘Marketing’ are like people who always talk about themselves. Pretty Dull.
• Is your brand a Nice Guy? If you met your brand at a party, what would you think of them?

6. ALL of these thoughts are inter-realated

• A groundswell of people will connect, online and offline, and be part.
• They will be using the web, and spreading ideas via word of mouth.
• We will all be working together to move towards a sustainable existence.
• Marketers can continue to be part of the problem, or they can be part of the solution.
• So the future for marketing is to be honest, decent, transparent, and human.

7. What better time has there been to be involved marketing!

I’m serious about this last point. Who would have thought that an industry like marketing might just have a positive influence on the world?

I’d love to hear some of your thoughts and comments about all this, as well as some ideas of your own. Don’t be shy – leave me a comment.

The Marketing Gap in Green

Is there any doubt that the UK is leading the way when it comes to Green Marketing?

Here is a great video, put on earlier this month by PSFK. It includes John Grant from Greennormal and Diana Verde Nieto from Clownfish, among others. It’s compulsory viewing for all you green marketers out there.

It’s only the beginning

It really is impressive to hear so many examples of big businesses going green. BUT:

• Toyota tells us that they are are green with the hybrid Prius … but what about the rest of their gas-guzzling range?
• Google embark on a massive solar panel installation … but Larry and Sergey fly around in their own their own leer jet.
• The big retailers like Walmart and Tesco are jumping aboard the green train with their own initiatives. But they’re still importing their lettuces from other continents.
• Richard Branson has plans to make his Virgin brand more green. But he’s in the aviation industry.
• Anya Hindmarch’s uber-cool “I am not a plastic bag” bags, designed for Sainsbury’s in the UK, weren’t plastic. They were, however, made in China using non-organic cotton and cheap labour.

No doubt there have been some huge inroads to sustainable business in 2007. But there’s still a long way to go.

Four websites to save the world

Who says computer geeks can’t save the planet? Here’s four great websites that illustrate the potential of the internet.

1. Kiva – an incredible website that lets you lend money to entrepreneurs in the developing world.

“Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence.”

2. Green Options - A great green living site, run by my good friend Shea Gunther.

“Green Options focuses on giving you the knowledge and resources you need in greening up your life.

3. dotherightthing.com – keeps an eye on big business.

“dotherightthing is a place online where you can get unfiltered information about the impacts of companies on people and the world and make it worth their while to “do the right thing.”

4. hugg.com – I’ve hugged Hugg before – the top ‘Digg’ website for environmental news.

“Hugg is a new project by TreeHugger —a source for user-generated green news. What does this mean? It’s simple—how many times have you found an article, a video or a website that you’ve wanted to share with all your green friends? Well, Hugg lets you to share this stuff with everyone.”

More, not less

You’d have to say that Seth Godin is onto something with his latest post, entitled ‘[More] or (Less)‘

Our green marketing challenge isn’t about getting people to want less (less carbon, less waste, less energy use). It’s about getting people to want more.

We all want more. That’s the problem. So let’s make more less.

But if more was less (More fuel efficiency, more recycling, more carbon footprint reduction) things might just work out OK.

Bravo, Mr Godin.

Greenpeace Want Apple to Go Green

The buzz around the blogosphere today is all about the unveling of Apple’s new iPhone. Steve Jobs announced it at MacWorld in San Francisco today, and Apple’s stock price goes through the roof. Again, Apple seem to have kicked one right between the two tall sticks.

But despite our love for Apple, they have a long way to go when it gomes to environmental credentials. For me, and probably thousands of other Mac users across the world, this doesn’t sit right. I Loooove my MacBook and iPod like they were my children. But my loyalty for Apple would be even more cult-like if they were were a little more environmentally friendly.

I mean, how can one of the world’s coolest brands miss the mark when it comes to the world’s next biggest marketing opportunity, Going Green?

I love what Greenpeace have been up to recently. Their “Green My Apple” campaign is a terrific take-off of Apple’s website – If you haven’t seen it I throuroughly recommend you have a look. They are asking apple to do 2 things:

• Remove the worst toxic chemicals from all their products and production lines.
• Offer and promote free “take-back” for all their products everywhere they are sold.

Greenpeace have received their fair share of critisicm over the years, but this campaign, designed to raise awareness that Apple are less than green, is a really positive one. Why do I like it?

• It’s positive protesting. Greenpeace recognise the loyalty that Apple has, and work with that fact, rather than against it.
• It encourages the Mac creative community to contribute to the gallery by designing t-shirts, alternative ads, videos and the like :: This is consumer-generated-content like no other.
• They understand the power of social media, and how to use the web to spread the word. (Check out the MacWorld Keynote Parody Video).

Now if only Apple listened to its customers and Greenpeace, and made some serious changes to their environmental policies … Only then would Apple be the most invincible brand in history.