We thank KEEN for their generosity as hosts and sponsors of the 3rd Beyond 2020 Sustainability Unconference. Beth Meredith and Eric Storm of CreateTheGoodLife.org will hold the space again, walking us through the event. Semiosis Communications and Rose City Mortgage Specialists remain the principal sponsors of Beyond 2020 (with myself and Renee Spears the principal organizers).
As at previous iterations of Beyond 2020, we’ll create the agenda at the beginning of the event. We do need help setting the theme for this 3rd Beyond 2020. What specific problem should we discuss solving? Share your thoughts at PortlandBeyond2020.com (Comments section). We’ll post the event theme and registration in the next few days.
Of course, in addition to lots of great company and conversation, we’ll have nibbles, beer, and wine for you, the participant.
Rainy days like today make me pensive. This Theodore Roosevelt quote keeps bouncing around my mind:
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
And they don’t care what you know until they know what you care about.
It’s the difference between what you do and who you are. The difference between the what and the how, and the why.
It’s the difference between the expert and the thought leader. The difference between calling yourself any of these (or a guru), and showing what issues you wish to solve or what causes you support.
It’s the difference between marketing copy and human conversation. Between telling and showing. Between saying and doing. A tweet and a handshake.
It’s the difference between touting your accomplishments and accomplishing. (Christine Arena reported in The High-Purpose Company that the most responsible companies spend more time doing good than promoting how good they were.)
I spent part of last weekend catching up on my eco-labels. Several articles and a virtual conference nicely cleared up a cloudy Sunday afternoon and, at least partly, my persistent doubts about marketing with eco-labels.
Do eco-labels matter?
Yes and no.
It’s no news there are too many eco-labels polluting the market landscape, leading many consumers to question their validity or altogether give up on them in confusion. Particularly corporate labels seem to proliferate, even though they’re the least credible.
At the same time, eco-labels seem to work: a Fast Company blog post recently reported on an EPA study, which found that “a green label encourages people to shift their purchases toward environmentally-friendly products”. Many companies use eco-labels with success.
Independent or accredited third-party labels, particularly ones issued by government or nonprofit agencies, appear to be most effective and trusted (think Energy Star, USDA Organic, or LEED). In general, the longer a label has been around and the greater its reach, the better.
Where, then, is the line? What works? What doesn’t? What’s an eco-labeling company to do? I turned for answers to Sustainable Life Media’s virtual conference “Building Credibility, Avoiding Greenwash”, which took place on January 14th and is now available on demand.*
Eco-labels are for “Building Credibility, Avoiding Greenwash”
If you wish to tout your company’s or your product’s environmental horn, you will face a number of issues. The biggest one: consumers’ growing interest in green(er) products coupled with deep mistrust in green claims resulting from the revelations of greenwashing (by your competitors, of course).
High-level regulation to help guide your efforts does exist, albeit only in the form of guidelines:
Green Guides by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
ISO 14063 by the International Organization for Standardization
Eco-labels offer a communication shortcut. Leaving aside the confusion alluded to above, if you wish to use eco-labels you need to ask the following into consideration:
What does the label claim? Make only specific claims that you can substantiate with verifiable data. In addition, only use labels that relate to the product’s primary benefits and its value proposition. Less is more.
Whose label is it? First, note that only a few product categories boast labels with significant market share: food, cleaning products, paper/forest products, appliances, and cosmetics/personal care products. Though you can certainly explore a number of alternatives, your best bet is to use a label that comes from an independent third party your customers recognize and can trust. EcoLabelling.org is a good place to start your research.
What are your customers looking for? Different people prefer different green attributes and focus on different impacts. Know who wants to hear what and say it (adhering to the previous two points, of course). As with any message, however, “green is what customers say it is”.
In its 9 presentations, “Building Credibility, Avoiding Greenwash” went into much greater detail than the quick summary I have offered here. If you’re interested in going more in depth, check it out – all the sessions are available on demand.
What’s your experience with eco-labels? Are you using them now or considering using them in the future? Why / why not?
* Disclosure: Sustainable Life Media granted me a free press pass for the “Building Credibility, Avoiding Greenwash” event – regular registration for the online seminar series was $295.
While this website is my online base, I maintain outposts on three other social media sites: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. I invite you to connect with me on any or all of these sites to share the online experience.
LinkedIn
The better LinkedIn gets, the more I get out of it. Though progress has been slow, I particularly appreciate the [...]
If books were nails, Christine Arena’s The High-Purpose Company would be one in the the coffin of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as commonly understood and debated. No company is perfect and no company will ever be - it’s companies that make their purpose invaluable to them and take responsibility for their actions that are truly responsible.
Arena dubs such companies [...]
Now that the Sustainable Life Media’s Sustainable Brands Boot Camp* has concluded, I’d like to reflect on the experience.
The Boot Camp confirmed for me that content trumps form. SLM labeled the Boot Camp as an “introductory course for executives and managers seeking to understand how to step up to today’s market demands and learn to build [...]
This is the fourth post in a series on improving the environmental sustainability of marketing communications. Previously: Measurement, Part 1 and Part 2; and outline of a model. Today: Preliminary thoughts on rethinking marketing.
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The model for maximizing the environmental sustainability of your marketing communications expands the common Reduce – Reuse – Recycle triad on both front and [...]
“Measuring the environmental impact of marketing communications”, Sustainable Brands Weekly
“Eco-labeling vs. greenmuting: What’s right for you?”, 3BL Media Blogs and GreenBusinessAfrica.com
Since sampling a couple of episodes of The Real World back in the early 1990s, I’d had no desire to see another reality TV show. I lasted 17 years, until Undercover Boss. The show’s connection to social sustainability and internal branding is what swayed me; in other words “it’s for work”.
In the show, a large corporation’s [...]
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