Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Green Message Of Company Advertising

Posted by Anonymous on 11/22/2008 at 12:35 AM ET 250 Points
Dear Marketers,

i would like to know if a company wants to advertise themselves as Environmental friendly or as a green, how those advertisement can be communicated effectively?
what message does it should include and which are the best communication channels should be appropriate to gain better from targeted audience.

thanking you.

Harsh
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/22/2008 at 9:24 AM Accepted
    A message should be sent using the channels that their prospects pay attention to, and with wording that clearly shows that the product's benefits can help their problems. Green may or may not be a primary benefit to customers, but it can be a strong secondary benefit. Because everyone these days is saying they're "green" (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwash) customers are getting jaded (no pun intended).
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 11/22/2008 at 11:01 AM Accepted
    I was a founder of the Co Chapter, US Green Building Council (USBGC) and currently serve on the ASTM E60 committee on sustainability. This is really good news to have a true standard. The other is the USGBC working with ANSI for another true standard. Greenwash is a term that has become dated. Everything is life cycle analysis. And the triple bottom --planet, product and profit. Its the only way to avoid eco-isolationism-- which is the term that has replaced greenwash. Finally, remember that green is a feature not a benefit. You must be green but create a product or service that is long lasting and manufactured in a sustainable way.

    My masters thesis was on green marketing trends. I started and you should too by reading the FTC's guidelines on advertising. https://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/general/gen02.shtm. It'll give you some basic rules to follow on what you can and cannot say.

    Good Luck and
    Sell Well and Prosper tm
  • Posted by Mikee on 11/22/2008 at 2:34 PM Accepted
    As other's have mentioned "green" is a selling point but not usually the primary one. You need to convey that you have qualilty products/services, that your customer service is superb, that your are a great value, etc. The green part will add to this. There are so many choices these days that you need to win people over with the qualtity and value that you provide.

    Mike
  • Posted on 11/22/2008 at 4:08 PM Author
    thank you Jay, carol, phil and mikee...
    Those were some useful material which you provided. Can anybody give me any example where a company has failed to communicate their environmental advertisement effectively and a company who has successfully done that.
    Thanking you
  • Posted on 11/23/2008 at 4:04 AM Accepted
    Harsh,

    I believe the post above me clearly stated that in order to project your product as green, you need to take certain steps to be green.

    here is an article which may help in term of examples.

    https://www.marketingprofs.com/6/ottman1.asp

    thanks

    Pankaj Ganpatlal
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 11/23/2008 at 8:52 AM Member
    I can give a ton of examples as the building and building green are becoming synonymous. Very few building materials sites do not have an environmental statement.

    Eco Domo www.ecodomo.com is a company I work with. They have evolved. They make recycled leather tiles for floors and walls. They marketed themselves as solely green-- and while there was interest sales were flat. Finally we got them to market themselves as the luxury they are, and oh-- green too. And things started falling into place.

    Ford has missed the boat marketing as a green company-- you don't think iof them at all as green -- but it was the first auto maker that is zero waste, and has LEED silver buildings. Yet when we think of a green auto maker we think Toyota -- who is against signing initiatives to for mandoatory minimum MPG vehicles.

    Another poor one is a marketing flop by Lancome. They were selling a limited edition carbon free t-shirt. What the heck is that? They were buying carbon offsets for the tshirt. And even named it 'carbon" for color. Meanwhile they have refused to sign initiatives banning certain carcinogens from their cosmetics. Which do you think is better for the consumer-- carcinogenic in their lipsticks or a carbon offset tshirt? In fact, don't even get me started on carbon offsets....

  • Posted on 11/23/2008 at 11:20 PM Author
    thank you carol once again, and pankaj that was a good article to read.

    What will be the best marketing communication channel to show the TA that we are green and do i need to refer any academic models like AIDA or something others to find out the effectiveness??

    thanking you.

    Harsh
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 11/24/2008 at 8:18 AM Member
    What industry are you in?
  • Posted on 11/24/2008 at 10:35 AM Author
    carol,

    Hotel industry
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 11/24/2008 at 11:06 AM Member
    There are tons of independent certifications. Have you checked --https://www.greenhotelcertification.com. Or
    https://ecogreenhotel.com. I actually like the 2nd one, as it conforms to the basics of the LEED criteria-- housekeeping, landscaping and the built environment. LEED EB (existing buildings) addresses the cleaning chemicals, as this does. People don't realize the effects of this-- until you get a rash that lasted two months from excessive bleach on sheets. (As I did in a Vegas hotel-- bet I stay there again!) So while being green is a feature-- not worrying about what excessive bleach does with extened contact with your skin is a benefit.

    You can do it without citing these associations-- but remember what I said-- its all about Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) -- a green conscious customer is sophisticated enough to know this. I don't know what attributes your facility has, but they'll be looking for all these things with a critical eye.

    Meetings and smartmeetings.com has been doing a ton of articles on having "green" meetings and promoting such facilities. Eco vacations are very hip and in. You can fusion market with local eco friendly attractions and create packages.
  • Posted by matthewmnex on 11/24/2008 at 7:13 PM Accepted
    Kudos to Carol.

    Princeofdiu, please be careful with this kind of a marketing question.

    There should be more specifics.

    Plenty of companies want to jump on the 'Green Marketing' bandwagon but is your product or service actually 'green' as defined above?

    If it is an existing product that has been re worked and re tooled to make it more environmentally friendly, then it should be very easy to craft a message to convey that.

    If it is a product that has been developed specifically to help to save the environment, then it should be easy to craft a message to convey that.

    If you are just trying to take an old product and figure out a clever way to make it sound more 'green' without actually changing anything about the original product standards, then I think that you won't get too much help from folks here in the forum :)

    I don't really believe that this is a marketing question, it sounds more like a PR whitewash question to me :)

    If your company has adopted solid green values, then you have something very solid to talk about in your marketing and communications packages.

    Good luck.
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Advertising/PR)