This post rebuts the assertion made by Joel Makower that Green Marketing is dead or over. It suggests that green is not being marketed in the best manner; making the point that companies seeking to market their green products and services should focus on selling their products instead of making the consumer feel like their purchases is a cause, charity, public service or a sacrifice that they they need to make.
While this article was written in September in reference to the P&G challenge but it is even more timely now. Seventh Generation co-founder Jeffrey Hollender, was just fired on November 1st. Hollender was considered one of the top green business innovators. Either he is taking the fall for all the recent advertising issues but more likely it is because Seventh Generation is expanding to wider distribution and a broader market. These actions, along with the false advertising allegations, may dilute their brand even more.
The idea sounds simple enough. Create a team of volunteers from existing employees. Have them focus on ways to green the business and culture. In turn, create cost savings, attract top talent due to an improvement in brand recognition, and increase market share from the newfound brand image, possibly even innovative product and services. The idea and the goal sound simple, while the execution and plan of attack seem a bit more complex. How can an individual or company go about implementing this team of sustainability focused volunteers? Resources and guides may be abundant and abound. The report, “Green Teams: Engaging Employees in Sustainability,” released by GreenBiz.com and Green Impact, provides a good starting point that captures the business case for these green teams, how to get started, four key areas behind best practices, and a breakdown of 10 best practices in developing green teams.
GreenBiz.com has partnered with Net Impact and Steelcase to create the Steelcase Sustainable Design Scholarships — four full scholarships to the 2009 Greener by Design conference. The four lucky winners will receive full conference registration, as well as travel and lodging at the event, scheduled to take place May 19-20, in San Francisco, Calif.
