1

Green MarketingReducing the Impact on the Environment while Increasing the Impact on your Audience

Presented by Ben Grossman

Tufts University

February 28, 2012

2

Agenda

• Introduction and Company Overview•Green Movement•Green Marketing: Logo Usage•Recommendations•Frequently Asked Questions

3

•Grossman Marketing Group (GMG) is a fully-integrated marketing communications firm. Principal business lines include:

– Graphic Design– Envelopes and Direct Mail Materials– Commercial Print– Promotional Products– Technology and E-Commerce Solutions

•Founded in Massachusetts, GMG has a significant presence throughout New England, New York, Washington DC, as well as in Chicago and Atlanta

•Founded in 1910•4th-generation family business

About Grossman Marketing Group

4

The message is everywhere

The Green Movement

5

And part of the message is “sustainability”

Why it matters: sustainability and profitability go hand-in-hand  •Good corporate citizenship improves relationships with key constituencies•Helps recruit, motivate and retain employees• Increasingly connected to improving bottom lines and shareholder value

The Green Movement

sus·tain'a·bil'i·ty n., Assuring the long-term survival of

our planet by conserving and caring for its resources.

6

Recent research shows consumers want to support responsible firms, but transparency is a problem

•A recent BBMG Conscious Consumers Report found that Americans want socially responsible products, ½ willing to pay more for them:

– Approximately 70% of Americans agree that “even in tough economic times, it is important to purchase products with social and environmental benefits”

– Half of Americans say they are “willing to pay more” for them

•Cone’s 2010 Cause Evolution Study and 2010 Shared Responsibility Study found that transparency is a problem

– Whereas 92% of consumers want companies to tell them what they are doing to improve their products, services and operations, 87% believe that companies only share positive data and withhold negative information

– 61% of consumers don’t think companies are giving them enough information about their social and environmental programs

The Green Movement

7

It is critical to clearly communicate green claimsLogo Use•Use recycled logo and indicate PCW content• Indicate whether the piece was produced with renewable energy•Use FSC logo according to guidelines•Note soy ink use

Translate the savings in an easy-to-understand mannerPlease consult Environmental Defense, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the environment. Their paper calculator provides an independent method of measuring the impact of paper choices. Please visit: http://www.edf.org/papercalculator/

Green Marketing: Logo usage and environmental benefits

8

Best practice in transparent communication: Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (Al Gore mailing)

Green Marketing: Logo usage and environmental benefits

The back of the envelope from this 2009 campaign featured statistics on the following savings: trees, pounds of solid waste, pounds of greenhouse gases, gallons of wastewater and BTUs of energy.

Third-party reference provided - Environmental Defense.

9

Greenwashing example: Greenlist by SC Johnson

Green Marketing: Logo usage and environmental benefits

• Many of SC Johnson’s products include a Greenlist logo

• Greenlist logo is trademarked, which gives it an offical appearance

• SC Johnson created the Greenlist logo – it is not issued by an outside organization to verify green claims

• A class action lawsuit filed against SC Johnson was settled in 2011 – company had to promise not to use logo moving forward. Lawsuit alleged greenwashing (making false or misleading claims about purportedly environmentally friendly products, services or practices)

.

10

Missed green marketing opportunity: Poland Spring’s Eco-Sense bottle

Green Marketing: Logo usage and environmental benefits

• Poland Spring changed their 5-gallon bottles in 2010

• Bottles included new Eco-Sense logo

• There was no explanation on the bottle of what the logo meant

• The bottle does use less plastic, but Poland Spring did not explain this on the bottle, which was a missed opportunity to communicate positive information to its customers

11

The lifecycle of a product, and how it will be managed after use, is becoming more important

Green Marketing: Product Lifecycle Analysis

• Staples was the first major retailer to offer a PC “take back” program

• This allows consumers to “securely recycle your end-of-life technology”

• These programs prevent a large number of devices from being thrown away, reducing the presence of hazardous materials in the waste stream

• Staples was an industry leader that caused change – Best Buy, Office Depot and Office Max all followed suit

• Their internal studies showed that this increased consumer loyalty to Staples

12

Reducing the resources needed to produce products can have a significant impact on a company’s brand

Green Marketing: Product Supply Chain Analysis

• Walmart worked with its suppliers, like Tide, to sell only concentrated liquid laundry detergent in all its U.S. and Canadian stores

• According to Walmart, in the first three years of the program, Walmart expected to sell more than 800 million bottles of concentrated detergent, saving 400 million gallons of water, 95 million pounds of plastic resin and 125 million pounds of cardboard.

• To put the water savings into perspective, that’s the equivalent of 100 million showers.

+ =

13

Thank you!

Contact information• Ben Grossman• Co-President; Founder, Green Marketing &

Sustainability Practice• Email: bgrossman@grossmanmarketing.com• Blog: http://www.sustainableink.org• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bigrossman