Archive for the ‘Green’ Category

Last week we presented at World of Concrete in Las Vegas on “Authentic Green Messaging.” In reality, the presentation did not focus on Green messaging, but rather on the shift from “Green” to “Sustainability” messaging. We then looked toward the future, when Sustainability will simply become a synonym of High Performance and Innovation. To demonstrate this shift in messaging, we began by exploring how the Greenwashing issue first arose and why brands championing still their Green Power should proceed with caution.

There are, and always have been, 4 primary entry points any brand can take to participate in the sustainability conversation occurring today. However, most often, a brand has not reached true sustainability until all for entry points have been addressed.

Corporate Level: A brand entering at this level may issue a Annual Sustainability Report, identify a Chief Sustainability officer, build/retrofit LEED certified headquarters, set benchmarks to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint, join alliances and NGO’s that are working together to progress the environmental cause and review it’s supply chain and set environmental requirements.

Example:

• While GM strives to improve the performance and sustainability of their vehicles, they’re also continuously improving the sustainability of their manufacturing operations. By greening their manufacturing process, GM is aiming to demonstrate to its customers that the environmental impact of all of their vehicles is considered during all stages of the product lifecycle.
• Each GM facility tracks and reports its annual performance on energy use, water use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste.
• GM added the world’s largest solar power rooftop to its car assembly plant in Zaragoza, Spain, which is expected to reduce about 7,000 tons of emissions per year. This initiative demonstrates that GM as a corporation that is actively working to progress the environmental cause

Product Level: A brand at entering at this level may conduct lifecycle analysis of products, invest in R&D to develop new environmentally safe products, review existing products and identify adjustments that need to be made in order to tread more lightly on the earth.

Example:

• Not only did the Clorox Company create the first line of natural cleaners developed by a major consumer products company through its Green Works® product line, but they also set a standard for corporate environmental partnerships.
• The Sierra Club partnered with Green Works in an effort to encourage other major manufacturers to green their product lines and to achieve their goals of putting affordable, green products in the hands of millions of people.
• Through this partnership, the Sierra Club believes it will help Clorox develop a broader customer base for green products

Internal Level: A brand entering at this level may make their offices greener places to work by investing in soy inks, reducing the building’s energy load through energy efficient lighting, insulation and renewable energy sources like solar, as well as build a cross-functional team of employees to educate, inspire and empower employees.

Example:

• To establish and maintain its environmental standards, Herman Miller, a manufacturer of office furniture and equipment and modern home furnishings, created its Environmental Quality Action Team (EQAT)
• EQAT is a committee of Herman Miller employees that sets the company’s environmental direction and priorities and measures its results.
• Founded in 1989, EQAT was responsible for creating Herman Miller’s first-ever environmental policy statement and established their first environmental goal. Since that time, the company continues to expand these goals in an effort to make Herman Miller a completely sustainable business.
• To manage all aspects of the company’s environmental impact, EQAT even established several sub-teams to carry out specific tasks like “Design for the Environment”, communications, packaging and transportation.
  

Advocacy: A brand entering at this level may raise awareness around a cause, join a NGO or issue based association that holds a similar values to position brand for leadership and participate in speaking engagements at high profile events.

Example:

• Our client, Johnson Controls, did this in 1990 when they developed the Energy Efficiency Forum.
• Participants from the public and private sectors as part of a broader campaign to raise energy conservation awareness in Washington, D.C., and to encourage the development of a nationwide energy conservation ethic.
• 1992 the United States Energy Association joined Johnson Controls as a co-sponsor of the forum.
• The high-level, invitation-only gathering has been successful in advancing energy efficiency issues with the help of many eminent speakers, including President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Sen. Hillary Clinton, every U.S. Secretary of Energy since 1990 and other notables including journalists, members of Congress, and international business and industry leaders.
  

So much for a brand to do (and maintain) – its overwhelming. No matter which entry point a brand chooses to position itself as “green” in an honest and substantiated way requires commitment and investment – both of which most brands were not ready to make when environmental responsibility began to take root five years ago and, in truth, are still not ready to make.

So brands began to take a different approach (a cheaper approach), by focusing on a single attribute or customer benefit within one of these 4 entry points, putting their entire brand behind it, this marketing themselves as “green”. So began the slippery slope of Greenwashing.

Green as an initiative, a one off, a campaign that is not filtered all the way through the brand:

• Causes a brand to take a singular approach to environmental responsibility as opposed to a holistic approach
• Risks blanket statements, sidesteps the issue instead of taking incremental steps forward as an organization, lacks of transparency and sends inconsistent messages to customers

According to a TerraChoice’s 2009 Greenwashing Report, 98% of ‘green’ products reviewed in 2009 made false or misleading claims in some way. I’m willing to bet most of these brands have approached green as a single initiative as opposed to a holistic effort. Thanks to products like these, even brands using “green” messaging in an authentic way should proceed with caution and consider evolving to a more sophisticated environmental messaging platform.