In This Chapter
Clarifying your green story
Creating a credible green message
Understanding environmental marketing guidelines
Press releases and publicity
Having put so much effort into making your business environmentally and socially responsible, now you can really capitalize on your achievement by letting the world know what you’ve been doing. This chapter covers how to create a credible green story by clarifying your marketing messages and adhering to environmental marketing guidelines. As you shape your publicity and marketing campaigns, you’ll want to carefully craft your message to represent the issues accurately and to avoid falling into the increasingly common trap of overstating claims of greenness. Although some companies are jumping on the green bandwagon with the single intent of turning a profit, you are joining a revolution that promises to change the way our world does business and protects our future. Be proud of your accomplishment and make sure your customers and competitors understand the distinction.
The first step in creating a successful green marketing campaign is to actually reduce the environmental impact of your organization and products and improve your social footprint. Now that you have transformed your organization and implemented our suggestions, it’s time to tell your story. A successful marketing and branding campaign detailing your green story is the finishing touch to any sustainability program. And remember to keep credibility and truth behind your messages; it’s the only way you can truly gain customer loyalty and improve brand value. If you simply green-wash, customers will lose trust in your product line and ultimately your organization.
Gaining a comprehensive understanding of how and why your organization and products are green is essential to the success of any green marketing campaign. It is often referred to as creating your green story. Think of it as a two-part process: part one looks at your organization, and part two assesses your products.
List all the sustainability initiatives you’ve implemented and anything your organization is doing to go green. Write down both the social and environmental initiatives your organization is working on. This could be anything from improving employee education programs surrounding green issues to improving energy efficiency and waste reduction at your corporate headquarters. Refer to the green vision you developed (see Chapter 3) and the sustainability action plan (see Chapter 4) and outline your organization’s sustainability initiatives.
Only include initiatives you have acted upon and implemented in your organization when you outline your green story. Marketing green ideas, programs, or products you’ve not yet implemented could be grounds for greenwashing. It is extremely important to maintain authenticity and transparency when creating your green story!
An authentic green story tells of both your organization’s successes and its challenges. Talk to your audience about how you embarked on your journey toward sustainability and what inspired you to do so. Refer to the sustainability vision you created and tell your customers what inspired you to begin incorporating green and sustainable practices into your organization.
Earlier we talked about New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, and its environmental footprint reduction efforts. New Belgium built its green story not only around what it is doing to move toward sustainability but also how it was inspired in the first place. The company started its journey with a simple red bicycle. When first forming the brewery, the owners decided to give each employee a red cruiser bike to encourage them to use their bicycles for work commuting and trips within town, promoting exercise and environmental awareness. This simple action ingrained sustainability into the DNA of New Belgium’s organization and serves as the foundation of not only New Belgium’s logo but also for its current “Follow Your Folly” marketing campaign. If you have a similar inspiring story, be sure to tell it!
When assessing your products, look at a product’s entire life cycle from cradle to grave (see Chapter 10). First, think about how and where the raw materials were extracted, harvested, or recovered. Were they extracted or harvested in an environmentally and socially responsible manner? If the materials are recovered or recycled, how were they collected and reprocessed? Next, think about the manufacturing process. Was the product manufactured with green or lean manufacturing techniques?
After assessing the impact of the manufacturing process, look at how far both the raw materials and finished product traveled to reach the end user. The farther the travel distance, the greater the environmental footprint. Different transportation modes have varying degrees of environmental impact. Generally, rail has the least, followed by ship, truck, and air transportation.
Also look at how the product is used and what environmental impact it has or health impacts it might have on the consumer. Is the environmentally preferable product replacing a nonenvironmentally preferable one? Does the product improve the health of the consumer? For example, many green cleaners are environmentally preferable because they are biodegradable and less toxic. Many also have the added benefit of emitting zero volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Eliminating VOCs from cleaning agents adds an additional health angle to the product’s green marketability.
Note
An environmentally preferable product is a product proven to have a reduced environmental impact when compared to a similar product in the same category.
Another example of a product which reduces the consumer’s direct environmental impact is a reusable water bottle. By using these bottles, consumers reduce the amount of plastic they purchase, use, and dispose of—most likely in a landfill. When we use a reusable bottle, we also protect our health from toxic chemicals that leach from the plastic into our water. A more complete green marketing story is created if the bottle itself is composed of recycled material, is recyclable, and the organization producing the bottle operates in a sustainable manner.
Speaking with suppliers about environmental and social practices often takes some investigation. Be sure to verify all claims made by any supplier; untrue or unclear supplier claims will ultimately affect the validity of your green story.
The last thing to consider when assessing your product’s green attributes is to look at the end of the product’s life. Ask yourself, how is the product disposed of? Can it be disposed of via environmentally responsible means—such as composting, recycling, reusing, or repurposing—or will it be sent to a landfill? Also determine the environmental impact of the product as it breaks down or decomposes. Some products release toxic substances when decomposing. This contaminates air, water, and soil, reducing the quality of our ecosystems and jeopardizing the health of all species, including humans.
Above all, avoid greenwashing! If your customers do not trust your story or believe your green claims, they will be less likely to buy your products and support your organization. With so much noise in the market about green and no clear definition, deciphering fact from fiction is often difficult. But one thing is certain: you do not want your organization accused of making false claims.
Before printing any environmental marketing messages, make your story solid and valid. Providing back-up documentation to both concrete and vague claims will add credibility to your organization’s message. If you are stating claims you can document with scientific evidence, always complete the proper testing and documentation procedures and create a cut sheet or white paper for all staff to have on hand. This will allow them to quickly send any necessary back-up documentation to interested parties if they question the validity of your claims. For example, if your organization claims that it reduced its carbon footprint by 20 percent over the course of two years, be prepared to support this claim with verification data. You will need to have your carbon footprint calculations from two years ago readily available, as well as your current carbon footprint calculations.
Most green product claims—claims that an organization is “going green” and claims of implementing a comprehensive sustainability platform or individual programs into an organization—can be documented and verified. The key is to determine your baselines and benchmark your current sustainability performance for both your organization and products to demonstrate how each have improved over time. See Chapter 5 for more information on how to assess your organization’s current environmental and social footprint in creating benchmarking metrics.
Going Green
Often environmental claim documentation can be prepared in-house following certain guidelines and standards, such as the International Organization of Standards Type II Self Declared Environmental Claims (ISO 14021, 1999) guidelines. Or hire an outside agency to prepare claim verification documentation for you. See Chapter 22 for detailed information about environmental marketing guidelines.
When possible, have back-up documentation on file for all green/sustainability marketing claims. The following are examples of claims that generally have available back-up documentation upon request:
In the spring of 2007, Terra Choice Environmental Marketing, the Canadian marketing agency responsible for administering the Environmental Choice EcoLogo, conducted a study assessing the green product claims of 1,018 products. Research teams visited six big-box retail stores and recorded every product-based environmental claim they found along with the nature of the claim, supporting information, and references offered for further information.
After recording 1,753 environmental claims on the 1,018 products, they tested the claims against current best practices for environmental marketing, including the International Organization for Standards (ISO), the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Consumers Union, and the Canadian Consumer Affairs Branch. The result of this study was the development of the “Six Sins of Greenwashing.” Terra Choice discovered that all but one product committed at least one greenwashing sin.
According to Terra Choice, the Six Sins of Greenwashing are as follows:
Sin of Hidden Trade-Off: This sin is committed by suggesting a product is “green” based on a single environmental attribute (the recycled content of paper, for example) or an unreasonably narrow set of attributes (recycled content and chlorine-free bleaching) without attention to other important issues such as energy, global warming, water, and forestry impacts of paper. Such claims are not usually false but are used to create a “greener” picture of the product than a more complete environmental analysis would support.
Sin of No Proof: Any claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification commits this sin.
Sin of Vagueness: This committed by every claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the intended consumer.
Sin of Irrelevance: This sin is committed by making an environmental claim that might be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. It is irrelevant and therefore, distracts consumers from finding a truly greener option.
Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: These are green claims that might be true within the product category but that risk distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole. The Sin of Lesser of Two Evils is committed when environmental qualifiers such as “organic” or “green” are placed on products in which the entire product category is of questionable environmental value.
Sin of Fibbing: This sin is committed by making environmental claims that are simply false.
Contrary to popular belief, environmental marketing guidelines and standards do exist. Most people are unaware that there are rules and regulations to follow when crafting green marketing messages. Following these guidelines will ensure that your marketing messages are credible and verifiable.
The EPA and the FTC teamed up in 1999 to create the FTC Environmental Marketing Guidelines, which provide a framework for the use of environmental marketing claims. According to the EPA, “National guidelines issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with the cooperation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are available to help companies make sure their green claims don’t run afoul of the law. The FTC Act prohibits deceptive acts or practices, including deceptive representations in advertising, labeling, product inserts, catalogs, and sales presentations.”
Can we really enforce truth in advertising? Consumer agencies are beginning to crack down on corporations making erroneous green marketing campaigns. Companies adhering to environmental marketing guidelines are also beginning to make their voices heard by suing companies in the same market segment for stating untrue green claims.
Referencing the FTC environmental marketing guides when creating your green marketing messages could ultimately mean the difference between feeling the wrath of the greenwashing accusers and building trust with your consumer base.
The FTC’s “Guide for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims” applies to environmental claims included in labeling, advertising, promotional materials, and all other forms of marketing. This includes words, symbols, emblems, logos, depictions, product brand names, or any other means.
Basically, anytime you want to make a green claim, refer to the marketing guidelines to make sure you are creating a credible, valid, nondeceptive message. Following is an overview of the FTC environmental marketing guidelines, but see Appendix B for a link to view the complete guides.
The general principles laid out in the guides are:
Qualification and disclosure: This refers to the way the actual environmental claim is printed and the clarity of the language being used to talk about the claim.
Distinction between benefits of product, package, and service: You must state clearly whether your green marketing claim is highlighting a service, a product, or a product’s package.
Overstatement of environmental attribute: Don’t overstate any green attribute of your product, services, or packaging. Also avoid talking about green claims that are not relevant.
Comparative claims: Any green claim making a comparison to another product or service must make the basis of comparison clear and understandable to steer clear of deceiving the consumer.
In addition to explaining general principles and rules to follow when creating green marketing claims, the guide also provides guidance about the use of eight specific environmental marketing claims. The following show claims with examples that are acceptable and deceptive to consumers.
General environmental benefit claims: Unless you can substantiate and qualify broad based green claims, do not make them!
Example: A product with a spray pump is labeled “environmentally safe,” yet this product contains VOCs which react with sunlight to create ground-level ozone or smog. This is a deceptive claim because while the packaging could potentially be environmentally preferable, the product itself is not remotely environmentally safe because it contributes to air pollution.
Degradable/biodegradable/photodegradable: To make a claim of degradability, biodegradability, or photodegradability, it is necessary to substantiate the claim with scientific evidence. Products or packages that carry claims of degradability, biodegradability, or photodegradability must include information about where the product must be disposed of to properly break down and the rate of degradation.
Note
Photodegradability is the process that occurs when materials break down to smaller particles when exposed to sunlight.
Example: A garbage bag package states that the product is degradable but does not accompany the claim with any qualifier statements, and the garbage bags are normally disposed of by incineration or land filling. Because both means of disposal do not create environments where the product can easily break down, this claim is deceptive to the consumer.
Compostable: Like claims of degradability, biodegradability, and photodegradability, any claim that a product or package is compostable must be backed up by scientific testing and documentation. Products and packaging that claim to be compostable must break down into healthy, usable compost in either a backyard composting pile, inside a composting bin, or in an industrial composting facility. When making claims of compostability, note if the product needs to be composted at an industrial composting facility and if those facilities exist in the area where the product is sold or if it can be composted at home.
Example: A manufacturer of unbleached paper cups claims on the product’s packaging that the cups are compostable. If the manufacturer can substantiate this claim with supporting evidence, the claim is not deceptive. The supporting evidence does not have to be printed on the packaging, but the manufacturer must be prepared to share supporting evidence when questioned.
Recyclable: If a product or package can be collected, separated, and reprocessed into a raw material for a new product, it can bear the recyclable symbol. If you are labeling a product as recyclable, make sure it is logistically feasible to actually recycle the product.
Example: A product composed of multiple types of plastic is labeled recyclable. Because it is a mixed-plastic product, it must be sent to a facility that has the technology to recycle products composed of multiple plastic types or back to the original manufacturer for reprocessing. These facilities are not common. Unless the product manufacturer has designed a take-back program for the product or the product is sold in an area where it can be easily recycled, the claim is deceptive.
Recycled content: If a product or package is composed of recovered materials that would have otherwise been sent to a landfill, the manufacturer can claim the product is composed of recycled content. Remember from Chapter 10 that there are two types of recycled content: pre-consumer and post-consumer. When making a recycled content claim, it is extremely important to quantify the amount of pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled content in the product or package for which you are creating marketing messages.
Example: A product contains 30 percent recycled content purchased scrap from another manufacturer’s operations and 30 percent recycled content recovered after consumers utilized it. The product’s claim that it is composed of 60 percent recycled content—30 percent post-consumer and 30 percent pre-consumer—is a valid claim.
Source reduction: Any claims of reduction in weight, toxicity, or volume for products or packaging must be qualified.
Example: A product advertisement claims that the product packaging now uses 15 percent less plastic than it previously used. If the manufacturer can substantiate this claim with qualifying data, then the claim is not deceptive.
Refillable: To make the claim that a package or container is refillable, two criteria must be met—a system must be in place for the collection and return of the package or container so it can be refilled, or the consumer must be able to buy the product used to refill the package in bulk in order to refill the package or container themselves.
Example: Soap is sold in an 8-ounce container that is marked refillable. The same soap is also sold in bulk at the location where the consumer purchased the 8-ounce container, allowing the consumer to refill the smaller container with contents of the bulk container. This refillable claim is not deceptive.
Ozone safe and ozone friendly: For products making claims of reduced detrimental impact on the ozone layer, the product must not contain ozone-depleting substances.
Example: An aerosol hairspray can is labeled “Zero CFCs,” but it contains HCFCs, an ozone-depleting substance. Because consumers might associate a “Zero CFC” claim with ozone protection, this claim is deceptive.
Now that you have the tools you need to make sure your green claims are valid, it’s time to hit the PR circuit. To grab the attention of editors and publishers, make your headlines unique. Headlines such as “Corporation X is going green” and “Corporation X makes a 15 percent energy reduction” are overplayed and nondescriptive. Also steer clear from using “eco” and “environmental” without any substance. Catch the eye of the people who have the power to publish your stories by specifically defining your story. Sure, you are going green, but what exactly are you doing? Talk about the innovative programs your organization has implemented to integrate triple bottom line values into your organization.
When sending out press releases, use agencies that focus on spreading the word about environmental and sustainability stories, such as CSR Wire and E-Wire.
Going Green
CSR Wire (www.csrwire.com) and E-Wire (www.ewire.com) are news wire services that focus on environmental and social issues. Each focus on the following subjects.
CSR Wire: academia, activism, business ethics, clean technology, community development, corporate governance, diversity, employment and appointments, environment, events and entertainment, fair trade, finance, green building, heath and wellness, human rights, natural/organic products, philanthropy/corporate contributions, ratings and rewards, renewable/alternative energy, research reports and publications, socially responsible investing, sustainability, volunteerism, and workplace issues
E-Wire: environment, health, science, and technology
An effective, eco-friendly way to spread the word about your green products and organization is to send e-blasts and e-newsletters to the people you want to reach with your message. With the advent of new technology, the days of snail mail direct-mail campaigns are slowly ending. E-marketing campaigns enable you to track the number of recipients who receive, open, and read your e-mails, providing you with concrete data that will help you make more informed decisions about the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and give valuable feedback to what you should adjust for future marketing campaigns.
Note
E-blasts are mass e-mails sent simultaneously that you can customize with individual information.
Collect e-mail contact information from customers when they visit your website, when they place orders, and whenever you’re in contact with them by asking if they’d like to be added to your e-mail lists. If they value your products or services, they’ll be pleased to have you stay in touch with them and keep them informed of new developments with your company and products. Electronic messaging is less invasive than phone calling and doesn’t involve the paper waste, postage, or energy expense of direct mail. A word of caution, though: if you over-inundate your valuable customers with too much information, you run the risk of driving them away. Respect your customers’ time and attention by reaching out to them with news they can use, not relentless sales pitches.
A few electronic marketing resources that can help you shape your e-mail message, collect and manage addresses, track results, and ensure a successful e-mail campaign are: Constant Contact, eBlast.com, Emma E-mail Marketing, and Campaign Monitor. See Appendix B for contact information.
Reflecting on the path your company has taken in its quest to become a more sustainable business will help you develop the most accurate message to share with the world about your success and products. Your customers, colleagues, and competition will recognize your integrity and gravitate to your business over others who don’t meet their personal goals and standards.
Carefully craft your message to convey your green values.
Customers and colleagues will be pleased to learn of your environmental and social commitment. Learn the importance of environmental marketing guidelines.
Do not overstate your case or greenwash your product—you’ll lose your audience.
Take advantage of electronic publicity opportunities, but don’t overwhelm customers with more information than they want.