Politics aside, the Democratic National Convention is a leader in earth friendly events

After the first 'green' Olympics, we now have a 'green' political convention. Is this greenwashing for political gain, or are they raising the bar for understanding the impact large events have on the environment? Let's look at the facts:

1. All green activities are openly listed on the website

2. Calculations of the carbon footprint of the convention

3. Focused on energy conservation

4. Use of renewable energy through solar and wind energy. In fact, the Pepsi Center - the location of the main event - installed a permanent solar array. The convention center and headquarters hotel have purchased renewable energy credits to help offset the dependence on the power grid for the event.

5. Focusing on the waste stream and diverting 85% away from the landfill - using recycling, reuse of materials, and composting

6. In order to effectively focus on the waste stream, this means they've also thought about the purchase of products - by selecting biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, and/or recycled-content materials

7. Vendor selection was geared towards companies that have experience with low-waste events. This is a key component to ANY environmentally friendly project - the activity is really at street level: If you don't have knowledgeable or experienced sub contractors carrying out the work, there is no guarantee they will follow through on the plans as designed

8. Transportation - as usual, site selection plays a key role in environmentally conscious planning. By selecting a site with access to mass transit, the carbon emissions are reduced by reliance on public transportation. In addition, the transit used for the DNCC will be fueled by hybrid vehicles, use alternative fuel, or biodiesel. The miles traveled will be calculated and included in the carbon offset purchase. How cool is that?

9. The DNCC is hosting events to help clean up the city of Denver and raise awareness of environmental consciousness and educate the community of its importance

10. The offices have instituted environmentally-conscious practices - from the amount of paper used to the indoor air quality of the space

Overall, I think the convention planners have done an excellent job in thinking through the decisions and impact of the event. I'd like to see this highlighted a little more during the convention. If the DNCC is making this a priority for such a high-profile event, I hope more organizations catch on to what is possible. Zero and Low-waste events are not out of the reach for any organization, and can easily be figured into any budget. Interested in learning more? Drop me a line to find out how we can help.

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What IS Green Marketing after all?

In a recent conversation with some colleagues, we were discussing the differences in marketing strategy between traditional marketing activities and green marketing activities.

There are a lot of differences, actually. The whole approach is different. In this installment, we'll focus on a few manageable aspects to the topic.

To start, what you'll find are highly targeted communications and educational workshops...

Two big pieces to green marketing include (1) segmenting your audience into the main drivers that motivate their decision to purchase a green product or service, and (2) educating your audience. In a world where there is no consolidated location for information, and a seemingly insurmountable number of factors to consider for each purchase, consumers are hungry for direction. That translates to an opportunity for companies willing and able to provide educational services to their customers.

The last piece I'll touch on here is 'less is more'. Unless you have a highly educated (or highly curious) consumer on the various technical aspects to how sustainable your product is vs. the competition, don't inundate the audience with too many choices. Have you ever stood in the cereal aisle trying to decide which cereal you want to try based on multiple health factors? There must be 20 types of cereal to choose from that must each be indexed and ranked by the consumer before deciding (unless, of course, you ALWAYS get the same kind - how boring is that?!).

Making a decision about purchasing a sustainable product or service is difficult enough. Do yourself and your customers a favor and make the decision making process as simple as possible:

1. understand the motivating drivers
2. educate the consumer
3. simplify the decision making process by limiting the range of options (but always have the information ready for those interested in the technical minutiae)

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I think a good start to understanding the fundamentals of green marketing. If you are looking for information on research into the motivating drivers, drop me a line
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SC Johnson markets its green efforts

I'm sitting here watching the Olympics when I notice a commercial by SC Johnson (you know, Windex, Scrubbing Bubbles, Pledge, Ziploc, Glade...). The ad highlighted SC Johnson's commitment to environmental sustainability - they're now powering their manufacturing plant with methane gas. Interesting!

I found it curious that this chemical company would highlight its sustainability practices, so I went online to take a look at their marketing efforts. I'm keenly aware of greenwashing, a practice of misrepresenting a firm's environmental efforts. On the other end of the spectrum, many companies are missing an opportunity to communicate their efforts to the market by not highlighting their practices. I was curious as to what SC Johnson was up to.

What I found was an open and fairly straight forward declaration of their efforts. And not just recently, but documenting throughout the history of the company. They apparently developed a rating system for its raw materials and chemicals so they could benchmark their products and set goals to reduce the toxicity. I did notice that they have a majority of chemicals in the 'acceptable' category, but they are clearly making steps to improve.

Just for fun, I thought I'd highlight some reasons why I think they are taking some great steps to market their efforts. Someone at SC Johnson seems to understand the principles of 'green marketing'...

1. Sustainability makes it to the first page of their website, and is prominently displayed
2. A dedicated section provides lots of details on the company's efforts (you can read as much or little as you want)
3. SC Johnson has developed its own benchmark for rating its chemicals, and set tangible goals for improvement in the next three years.
4. The company openly releases its own scores, acknowledging more work is necessary, and being truthful about where they stand
5. FAQs and 'myth-buster' pages to answer common questions and address misinformation
6. Their Corporate Social Responsibility commitment encompasses community involvement, education, and conservation
7. Good use of website to detail efforts - in fact, the 'Products' tab is fourth out of six. They made a decision to focus the website on their efforts rather than the products.
   

I can't speak to the consistency of their message, or how well they are using their channels to communicate their values, but I was pleased with the website messages. Apparently their advertising worked b/c I went to their website to learn more -

I can't give them a 10 because, quite frankly, many of their products only rank as 'acceptable'. Second, they aren't using an industry-wide rating system, making it impossible to compare their products to the competitors'. But I prefer to avoid judgment, rather focus on the steps they are taking to improve (keep your eye on the ball, kid!).

In the interest of fairness, their main competitors are Clorox, Proctor & Gamble, and Unilever. (Oddly, the P&G and Unilever websites look eerily similar) Unilever has an incredible website detailing their commitment and encourages people to 'start small' - a great message for those interested in sustainability and don't know where to start.

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A Salute to Olympic Fever

Ever since I was a kid, I've always loved watching the Olympics. It was a family tradition to get together and watch the pageantry, each country competing on the world stage. It was also my first introduction to geo-politics.

I remember in 1980 staying up late to watch the USA Hockey team beat the Russians in the "Miracle on Ice" that was never supposed to happen. It was the Cold War, and the Americans stole one from the Russians. It was right then and there I realized the thrill of watching an underdog win. It gave me goose bumps then...and now.

Ever since, I've always taken out time to watch the Olympics. After the elaborate display at the Opening Ceremonies, I was duly rewarded once again...It was an impressive display of China's power and resources, and sent a very clear message to the world: China has arrived.

I was happy to see how much work China has put into cleaning up Beijing for the Olympics, including $20 billion invested in mass transit and renewable energy. The views of the city can be disheartening at times, and I hope their efforts continue beyond the games.

In a tip 'o the hat to our athletes, take a look at the latest medal count.
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Do you have any REAL coffee mugs?

I was at a colleague's office the other morning for a meeting, and she graciously offered the group coffee. Back in the company kitchen, there were several sizes of styrofoam cups, which I hate. It wouldn't be quite so bad if Raleigh recycled styrofoam, but they don't. But that's another story...

I've been trying recently to eat 'right-size' portions, so I reached for the smallest cup I could find. I inadvertently made a comment about styrofoam and our hostess quickly offered a real coffee mug.Well, as it turns out my somewhat snooty remark about the styrofoam has been a topic of discussion with the firm's 'green committee'. They're still working through logistics, but recognize that washing the mugs is a better alternative to the styrofoam. I happily took the coffee mug and made a mental note of the company's efforts.

Of course, there is some debate about whether using the dishwasher is really better, especially in a drought. I personally don't like to split hairs. Since a lot of the disposable cups, plates, etc. usually get thrown out vs. recycled, I think I'd prefer to have an item I can reuse and prevent a little trash from the landfill.

I guess the point here is, we all have to make choices. The best thing you can do is to be thoughtful about your decisions. No one is perfect, but trying is a lot better than just reaching for the disposable styrofoam without thinking.

Let's hope all the 'green committees' out there do more to promote the real coffee mugs...
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Harris Teeter & Locally Grown Food - Part 2

Okay, so I've established that Harris Teeter is one of my favorites, right?

Did you also know they have a sustainability statement on their website? It's still not on their home page, but I'm happy they've made a statement public. Their efforts are improving, but really only a 5 on the green marketing scale because they are missing an opportunity due to the lack of a cohesive marketing plan. Now if only they would figure out how to market their efforts more publicly...

Well, wouldn't you know they've added 'locally grown' labels to their produce section? Imagine my joy when I walked into my local HT and saw these locally grown veggies that were so clearly marked. Zucchini, anyone?

I suppose with all the salmonella cases recently, local farmers in NC are getting a much higher profile than before. I'm sure this has made a great business case for being able to stock and sell produce without fear of infecting anyone. But, wouldn't it be great if they kept this up?

The carbon footprint of shipping our foods from across the globe is enough to drive someone to the farmer's market or other outlet for local foods. Now there are other reasons to source food locally...quality control!!

Other items of interest were the corn cups, energy efficient lightbulbs, and recycled content toilet paper and paper towels. They've even made the switch to offering canvas bags as an alternative to the paper/plastic at check out. This is an improvement from the green polyester bags they were selling as recently as last week. Go HT!

I'm hoping the move towards providing locally grown foods is not a passing fad. I'd hate to have to retract all these nice things I've said about my local Harris Teeter. You can leave a comment for them here.

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Harris Teeter & Locally Grown Food - Part 1

I generally shop at two grocery stores: Harris Teeter and Whole Foods. I've always appreciated how Harris Teeter serves its local market so well, stocking items that customers request, and regularly testing out new products. I guess all stores do this, but I've always noticed it more at Harris Teeter.

I learned a lot about public perception and the power it has at a recent Green Marketing seminar I co-taught with Maria Kingery through GreenPros, an organization that provides educational opportunities to professionals in the green building industry. One of the group exercises we designed was to rate organizations in a particular industry along a 'green spectrum' based on their marketing materials (green to greenest). We gave the class examples to rate from two different industries. Each group had to come up with a third industry of their own to rate. The only requirement was the group had to be able to think of three companies from that industry to place on the spectrum.

Long story short. Out of six groups, five chose grocery stores (interesting!). And of those five, almost all of them rated Harris Teeter in their spectrum. To put this in perspective, the other examples included some combination of Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Farmer's Markets, and/or Trader Joe's. I thought it was fascinating that they all thought so highly of Harris Teeter that they'd include the company in such a great group of organizations. It was an interesting perspective into public sentiment, albeit anecdotal.

We decided that Harris Teeter had a good reputation for bringing eco-friendly products and foods to the mass market. Many of the comments centered around their efforts to clearly label organic foods, and that their stock of these products was growing quickly. They were also the first non-specialty grocer to offer the bags for purchase to substitute for the plastic bags at the checkout.

Next time you're in your local Harris Teeter, take note of the labeling (0 Transfats, Organic, Locally Grown, etc.) and think about what that is communicating. They certainly don't have to spend the time or money to label everything, but they're sending a message. Is Harris Teeter responding to the market, or are they leading the Lowe's Foods and Krogers of the world?
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