posted by Ecoxera

I was doing some SEO keyword research the other day, and the phrase “marketing green” brought up a blog called, not surprisingly, “Marketing Green.” The blog was was written from May 2006 to November 2008 by David Wigder – Columbia graduate, writer for Harvard Business’s Leading Green blog, and VP at Recycle Bank. He accumulated quite a following – his final article has 61 comments. The point is that David was a recognized thought leader by his peers and by a prestigious university, and there is a wealth of knowledge in the pages and posts of that blog. If you are in sustainability, marketing, or retail, it’s worth a look.

“Green Branding Imperative,” written in 2007, was a grand warning – If your company is not engaging in sustainability, your brand is at risk. He urges the timeliness of action – “the window of opportunity is closing: soon green will simply be a threshold to compete.” If your company has been caught off guard by sustainability and the imperative to engage for competition and regulation – you need to jump in the game and catch up. The window of opportunity now refers to remaining unaddressed areas of the retail enterprise – waste management/waste to profit and procurement/suppliers (the materials, products, bricks and mortar, and the retail environment) – and that too will be closing soon. Below is the original article from Marketing Green:

“Brands will not be able to opt out of [being green].  Companies which do not live by a green protocol will be financially damaged because consumers will punish them.  In the longer term, I do not think they will survive.”         – Lee Daley, chairman and chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi UK

The game is changing; it is now an imperative for all brands to be green.  The environment, and specifically global warming, may soon be an incendiary issue for corporate America. One recent poll indicates social responsibility is valued by American consumers and “damaging the environment is the main reason [consumers] would think that a company is socially irresponsible.”  (Italics added)

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posted by Trent Dawson

IGCC – The International Green Construction Code – Safe and Sustainable by the Book will be the world’s first international green code. IGCC is currently in development by the International Code Council (ICC), AIA, and ASTM, and is planned to launch in 2012. Public v.1 hearings will be held August 14-22 at The Westin O’Hare (Rosemont, IL) in suburban Chicago and will be the basis for Public Version 2.0 of the IGCC, scheduled for release in November.

The skinny –

posted by Ecoxera

Summary – The skinny is that customers want retailers to communicate their initiatives, but most retailers fail to engage in a meaningful way or overcome customer skepticism and confusion. According to the 2010 Cone Shared Responsibility Study:

• 92 percent of customers want companies to tell them what they’re doing to improve their products, services and operations.
• Three-quarters of customers assign companies a “C,” “D,” or “F” on how well they are engaging consumers around critical business issues.
• 87 percent of consumers believe the communication is one-sided – companies share the positive information about their efforts, but withhold the negative.
• 67 percent of consumers are confused by the messages companies use to talk about their social and environmental commitments.

The Solution

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So, this oil spill has you upset – you feel inspired to do something to go green and help out the planet at your job (even if your job is in retail, and not with the BP oil cleanup crew). Now is a great time to start as many companies refine their sustainability goals and customers and stakeholders are still listening.

The first real step before getting buy-in is to build a plan. What does sustainability mean to your company and what are their unique motivations? What are the risks, opportunities and priorities within your job function? What time, resources and budget would it take to make your sustainability initiatives a reality? Once you have your plan polished and ready to present, here are 6 steps to help you gain buy in from above:

1. Demonstrate cost-savings or bottom-line value
   “Business Value” is the #1 reason companies are engaging in sustainability. Taking a life-cycle approach, perform a cost-benefit analysis of your initiatives. Build your plan using the model of applying cost savings for down the line bigger investments/initiatives.
2. Paint the big picture
   It is likely that your company already has some sustainability goals or publishes a CSR report. Research your company’s current goals and efforts, and create and present a plan that will support these.
3. Present your plan through the lens of risk abatement
   Compliance is the #2 reason companies are engaging in sustainability. Stay up-to-date with upcoming legislation and be proactive about preparing for impending regulation. It’s always better to be ahead of the curve, and it will save you money and fuel innovation.
4. Use fear tactics
   Company’s are constantly trying to “stay one step ahead of the competition.” Research what your competitors are doing in sustainability. If they are doing more or better than your company in this space, bring it to the attention of your higher-ups and chances are they’ll be eager to hear your counter attack strategy.
5. Build the brand case
   Corporate Brand is the #3 reason companies are engaging in sustainability. It is like that your company is feeling the heat from customers, shareholders, employees and communities to be sustainable. Going green is good for the brand, garners positive press, and gives stakeholders a warm fuzzy feeling. The C-Suite knows this, but it’s always good to remind them of these intangible benefits.
6. Emotional appeals
   The sustainability bug has bitten you and you feel compelled to make things better. You’re not the only one, especially after the aforementioned Gulf Crisis! Believe it or not, “moral imperative” (or what I call the guilt factor) is the #4 reason, just behind corporate brand, that companies are engaging in sustainability. Show your passion for what you want to do, and you’ll probably find a compassionate compatriot at the corporate level.

   Share your story! What has worked (or not worked) for getting buy-in?

by Russ Meyer
posted from Fast Company

With the beginning of a new decade came new interest in sustainability. As the debate on the likelihood of a climate threshold continued worldwide, we reached a different tipping point in the United States. Sustainability, which earlier had seemed like a niche phenomenon, was suddenly everywhere during the decade of the 2000s. Government, media, and business became focused on sustainability as consumer interest and desire for green brands grew exponentially.

Unlike much of the world’s industrialized nations, which were taking a harder stance toward reducing global warming, the United States was harshly criticized for not supporting the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon emissions. Throughout most of this decade the government was not the primary driver of advancing the sustainability agenda. Instead, corporations—recognizing business, brand, and environmental advantages—took the lead in promoting sustainability.

Instead of following one path to success, corporate brands found different ways to utilize the growing interest in sustainability. For some corporations such as Walmart, sustainability was a means of improving a less-than-stellar reputation in addition to being “the right thing to do.” For other companies, such as GE and IBM, sustainability was a framework for defining businesses they were already promoting. And for other corporations, such as Toyota and Honda, sustainability provided a whole new market opportunity. For much of the decade, corporate social responsibility took a decidedly green turn as many companies focused their attention on issues such as waste and carbon reduction, ethical sourcing, and energy consumption.

Read the rest of the article here.