Last month, Target Marketing Magazine published an article on trends surrounding environmentally-friendly envelopes – I was on vacation at the time so I didn’t get a chance to pass it along then. Here’s a link to the article.
As I’ve written on a number of occasions, “green” envelopes are an important part of an organization’s marketing and communications efforts (we have already sold more than a quarter billion envelopes made with 100% certified wind power over the past couple years). In fact, they are often the first component of a direct mail piece that a recipient sees, and it is important to take that opportunity to send a values-laden message through the materials/inks/energy that are used to produce the piece.
Obviously, using green practices for direct mail should be just one of the many sustainable business practices that organizations employ – otherwise they could be accused of greenwashing. However, given recent developments in technology, mailers can make their pieces more environmentally-friendly without adding much, if any, cost, which removes the most critical barrier to adoption. Research has demonstrated that consumers want to buy products from companies that do business in an environmentally-responsible manner. Marketing collateral is one way for organizations to demonstrate this commitment.
Sustainable Ink 
Pingback: Direct Mail » Direct Mail Insight: Green Envelopes and the Big Picture …
Pingback: envelopes ….WDIO Requests Access to Ballots…. M50 toll collectors pushing the…. | Latest Information
I am glad to see this article as I am over the top mad about the mail I get with other people’s names on it.
JAMA – the Journal of American Medical Association began sending magazines to my address for DR. Kathryn Manning Noyes. This person as not lived here for years – perhaps a decade. So they buy an old list to increase their circulation to advertisers and justify their ad revenue.
I called JAMA numerous times. Instead of removing the name and address, they sold it! This week I got three different magazines, and about 4 direct mail pieces ALL resulting from JAMA selling the name and address for revenue. BAD sustainability practices and a big black mark for JAMA and the other vultures who are tearing down forests to justify ad revenue.
What is wrong with this picture?!!! I can’t begin to express my outrage around these publishers and advertisers tearing down forests to send meaningless paper to people who do not exist.
The companies that I have received junk mail from as a result have been The Journal of Family Practice, American Family Physician, Temple University School of Medicine, Liberty Mutual Insurance and a half a dozen others.
So advertisers beware, the circulation is false. Consumers beware, JAMA has REALLY bad sustainability practices.
Direct mail needs to end. I myself am completely turned off when I get an ad in the mail. This seems like poor way to market. For magazines, it is just a way to increase circulation for magazines…not a good idea in these changing times.
Thanks for posting this article. Maybe people will shift their practices as a result.