Greening Your Communications in 5 Sustainable Steps

Last year Corporate Canada jumped on the green bandwagon, and for good reason. According to a poll by Decima Research, two-thirds of Canadian consumers said that concern for the environment was impacting the way that they shop. Green was the new black - officially the hottest marketing trend of 2008. So is this still true, or has the economic unpleasantness of 2009 put the breaks on the eco-bandwagon?

According to a number of recent articles in the business press, TrendReports and consumer surveys, conducted in the first few months of 2009, sustainability initiatives ‘are proving to be surprisingly slump-resistant.’ This makes a lot of sense when you consider that in most cases going green is good for the bottom line.So how do you green your communications and launch a sustainable marketing campaign? Here are five steps to follow so that your campaign has a greater chance of communicating your good green intentions:

In most cases the biggest challenge is getting clients to think about the environment when designing their sales and marketing collateral. It’s not that they don’t want to explore the idea; it’s usually just that they simply were not thinking about the environment. The job then becomes what questions to ask when thinking about producing a marketing campaign and associated print and electronic collateral.

The first step is to filter every project through a sustainable design brief that asks the right questions. Are we designing a deliverable or a solution? Do we really need to create this marketing piece? Does it need to be produced in this form? And how do we minimize the impact, waste and footprint of the pieces that we are producing? In many cases, asking these questions at the outset of a project results both in a more sustainable deliverable, as well as a less costly and more effective solution for clients.

The website www.re-nourish.com has a wonderful checklist of the principles of sustainability that you can use to filter the work that you do. Ask yourself: “Does the deliverable…”
1. Respect and care for the community
2. Improve the quality of life
3. Conserve Earth’s vitality and diversity
4. Minimize the depletion of non-renewable resources
5. Change personal attitudes and practices to keep within the planet’s carrying capacity

Everything we create has a past, a present and a future. If we remember this while thinking about a project, it is amazing how focused on the environment we can become. And while it won’t be possible to hit all sustainable criteria with each job, it’s nice to hit at least a couple of them.

After thinking and asking the right questions, the next step is to measure the impact of the proposed marketing campaign. This can be done in a number of ways and usually one of the simplest and most effective ways is looking at the type and the amount of paper that is being used. A number of paper calculators are available online that allow you to calculate the environmental impact of the print materials you are producing.

And you can have a big effect. The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in OECD countries and it is the third greatest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, after the chemical and steel industries. More than 70% of the paper in the world is made from wood taken from forests in regions with ecologically valuable and biologically diverse habitats. It’s important to look at where the pulp comes from when choosing the paper we consume and that’s why sourcing Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified stock is the best practice. Under FSC certification, forests are certified against a set of strict environmental and social standards, and fibre from certified forests is tracked all the way to the consumer through a chain of custody certification system. Purchasing FSC-certified paper ensures that forests are healthy, waterways are protected, wildlife habitat is conserved, and the rights of local communities and First Nations are respected.

It is not just paper. One of the most common refrains that we hear is why not just ‘go paperless,’ take the paper completely of the equation, and put the marketing campaign online saving the need to cut down trees. But, putting something online doesn’t necessarily mean that there is no carbon footprint. The problem is that worldwide electrical usage is increasing as a result of the growth of the Internet. One of the prime contributors is server farms; large data centres that consume a great deal of power. In some cases, the environmental impact of an online campaign can be quite heavy. A recent report says a typical Google search on a desktop computer generates from 1-10 grams of carbon dioxide. Thus, performing a couple of searches is comparable to bringing a kettle to boil, according to the report in The Sunday Times of London. While this may not sound like a lot of power, note that Google handles about 200 million searches daily.

Once something is measured, decisions can be made about how to reduce the impact. Paper is a renewable resource and can be recycled back into new paper on average seven times. You can dramatically reduce the environmental impact of the paper that you use by looking at the paper that you choose. For example, specifying FSC-certified paper with a higher percentage of Post-Consumer Waste (PCW) can make a big difference. If you were to specify stock containing 100% PCW, in effect no net new trees would be cut down to produce your printed piece. Producing a ton of paper using 100% Post-Consumer Waste paper rather than virgin pulp saves the equivalent of 24 trees forty feet in height and 6-8 inches in diameter; 4,100-kilowatt hours of electricity and 60 pounds of air pollution; and 7,000 gallons of water used in the manufacturing processes.

At the end of the day, after rethinking and reducing your footprint there will always be some impact of your marketing and communications. Carbon offsetting allows you to purchase a credit that cancels out the negative carbon output of your production. While still a new and sometimes controversial topic, the role of carbon offsetting should be considered in any green communications strategy. Although, complicated to go into great detail, a carbon offset is simply defined as 'an emission reduction credit from another organization's project that results in less carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than would otherwise occur.' The criticism most commonly leveled is that if the carbon offsetters persuade you that it's (easily and cheaply) possible to offset your emissions, you'll carry on emitting excess carbon throughout your life rather than thinking about reducing your emissions. For a satirical look at some of the issues surrounding carbon offsetting, visit the hilarious website CheatNeutral. Even given the criticism that carbon offsetting tries to make it acceptable to carry on emitting excess carbon, if used as part of an overall strategy of waste reduction, a carbon offsetting plan can make good sense.

So often there are disconnects in the way that a company positions itself. Most of the time it is the little and unintentional items that fall through the cracks. But sometimes companies just plain get it wrong. At last year's Canadian Marketing Association Tradeshow there were a number of premium and incentive companies hawking their 'eco' but very plastic trinkets and trash wrapped in the veil of green respectability.

Problem was that most of this was opportunistic marketing at best. Thinking 'green' in your marketing means avoiding any criticisms relating to unethical marketing that seems simply opportunistic. This is called 'Greenwashing' and is a very real concern for business. There is even a website, the Green Washing Index that will 'out' companies that try to deceive.

Effective communication of your sustainability initiatives must include honesty, transparency and a genuine desire to involve your customers. A great example of a company that is communication its steps to lighten the footprint of its business activities is the outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia. Their website The Footprint Chronicles allows you to track the impact of specific Patagonia products and feedback to the company what you think.

Customers recognize that sustainability is an ongoing journey that begins with an initial step and that most companies have to start somewhere. As the old Chinese proverb says, "The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now."

Talking and walking green

Now you can proudly proclaim that you are 'talking the talk' and 'walking the walk', having done your best to think about the impacts of your communications activities and where appropriate lessen your impact on the environment. This is even more important if you are positioning yourself as a 'green' company that markets a product or service that plays off the consumer's desire to do the right thing for the environment. Remember to think, measure, reduce, offset and communicate sustainably.

Hangerpak

This is what I call a packaging that kills 2 birds with one stone - It is a box and also acts as a hanger! Concept cleverly thought of by Steve Haslip, a graphic designer from Wivelsfield Green, England.

"The concept was fairly simple: I buy t-shirts online and they always come wrinkled and I always run out of coat-hangers. So I designed a sustainable, reusable way to send and keep your t-shirts. As you open the package you create a coat hanger. The packaging could be made from recycled material whether it is card or plastic and the only waste is the green tear-away tab. The t-shirt seen here is from Threadless. This project won a FIRST prize in the D&AD Student Awards 2007 category 'What else do you do?'."

via : packagingsoftheworld

Green Poster Competitions

Two great poster competitions you can join in on!

Toronto Society of Architects

“This competition is based on the idea that sustainable design is an integrated process that is fundamentally about: improving the quality of life; maintaining a unique sense of place; supporting the cultural and economic vitality of our communities; and, improving the health and sustainability of the environments we inhabit,” says Susan Spencer Lewin, Vice Chair of the TSA. “The posters created through this competition will be used to generate public awareness of sustainable design through exhibits, promotions, and printed materials.”

Competition Details:
* Competition is open to everyone, including students and professional artists
* Participants must register by May 1, 2009
* Submissions are due by May 15, 2009 (only electronic submissions will be accepted)
* Designs may use any form of photography, illustration, collage, or typography, provided no copyrights are violated in the design
* Intellectual property rights (copyright and moral rights) of the poster design submissions will remain with the designers
* Posters must be A1 size (594 x 841 mm / 23.4 x 33.1 inches)
* Judging is scheduled for May 22, 2009

Green Patriot Posters

"(We're) interested in designs that produce an image of strength, optimism and unity for the sustainability movement. The highest rated designs will be among those we select for distribution in a book, exhibition and other highly visible channels like bus ads and billboards."

Adobe Introduces Tools for Sustainable Design

Here are some videos on how Adobe is infusing sustainability into their products.

Recession-proof your marketing

In today's economic climate, you can't afford to waste significant amounts of time, money and talent on marketing campaigns that fail to achieve your marketing goals. Simply put, you need to receive more 'bang-for-your-buck' (or as one of my clients likes to say, 'do more with less'). Here are 3 proven marketing tips that will recession-proof your marketing and improve the return on your next communication project:

How well do you really know your customers? Now is the time to learn all you can about those who buy your product or service. Do you capture names and marketing data at every occasion? Is there a database of past customers sitting somewhere collecting dust? When was the last time that you communicated with them? Well, no better time than now to dust it off and start a dialogue.

The opportunities available online with new social media tools and state-of-the-art print-on-demand technology make it easier than ever to deliver a targeted and very cost-effective message to your customers. For your next marketing communication, think about ways that you can build and then use your list to attract new or continuing business.

Traditional image-building advertising is dying because it does little if anything to build relationships. Is someone really going to remember your ad - the one that had one line of text and a web address so small that it was unreadable? Why would they take their valuable time to respond - unless you gave them a reason to do so? A relationship marketing approach that builds a connection with your customer is more effective. Try to avoid talking at your customers; instead, begin a dialogue with them.

Most traditional marketing does not challenge or engage the consumer. It has become immensely more difficult to cut through the clutter and make marketing materials more involving. There are, however, a variety of specific ways that you can invite action on the part of your customers and make something good happen.

Traditional awareness-driven advertising is no longer the most effective use of your budget because it has proven difficult to quantify. Your marketing dollars need to go further in a proven way!

A response driven campaign is one technique that will help you gain new customers in a very affordable and measurable way. An invitation to respond can be added to just about anything. Think about including a response mechanism with your next communication. Offer a sample, induce trial, provide more information, qualify sales leads, and watch your marketing dollars work harder.

Those who succeed know that the key is a return to the proven, back-to-basics marketing thinking. Whether your company markets a product or a service, electronically or in print - the basics of good marketing driven design remains the same. The better the quality of marketing thinking that goes into the design of your campaign, the better the results!

Compostmodern09 comes to Toronto

On Saturday, February 21st, SF AIGA held the Compostmodern09 Conference. The conference got GREAT reviews and you can read Worldchanging's synopsis at http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009456.html

For all those who didn't make it down to SF, the event was recorded and RGD Ontario's Sustainability Committee will host a satellite 'live' rebroadcast of the event on March 21 at George Brown School of Design. Participants can sign up for a 1/2 or full-day of viewing. RGD's Compostmodern will also feature moderated group discussions themed around the day's speakers.

Compostmodern is fertile ground for sustainability. Presented by the San Francisco chapter of AIGA and the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design (CFSD), this interdisciplinary conference explored the range of design thinking necessary to create a socially and ecologically responsible society. Designers, manufacturers and business leaders came together to find inspiration, share knowledge and explore real world opportunities for transforming products, industries and lives. For the complete schedule, go to http://compostmodern.org/

This year's conference demonstrated how sustainable solutions converge as design, ecology, social activism, business and economics intersect. Speakers included Eames Demetrios of Eames Office, Saul Griffith of Makani Power, Allan Chochinov of Core 77, California College of the Arts (CCA) Design MBA Chair Nathan Shedroff, climate strategist Michel Gelobter, John Bielenberg and Pam Dorr of Project M and the HERO Housing Resource in Alabama, Emily Pilloton of Project H Design, and Autodesk Sustainable Design Program Manager Dawn Danby. GreenBiz editor and sustainability author Joel Makower reprised his role as emcee.

RGD Event Pricing:
Members $10 for the half day; $20 for the full day
Non-Member $15 for the half day; $30 for the full day

To sign up for the Compostmodern09 Toronto rebroadcast event or find out more, please email rsvp@rgdontario.com or call 1.888.274.3668

Urban Play

This was a project undertaken by Sagmeister late last year. The video is basically eight days of work condensed into 6 minutes and captures a large-scale project using coins and the phrase "Obsessions Make My Life Worse and My Work Better". Thought it'd be neat to share. To read the full story and see the complete documentation of it click here.