Below is a quick interview with Don Carli of the Institute for Sustainable Communication, during which he discusses sustainability as a marketing strategy for growth and provides some insights into where the green movement is headed. Here are his main points:
The Boston Business Journal has been publishing quick focus pieces on specific Boston-area businesses and the efforts they are taking to remain resilient during the recession. My firm was pleased to be spotlighted. Below is the article that appears in the Friday, 1/9/09 edition of the newspaper (I am also including a link):
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Marketer: It pays to be green
Grossman Marketing Group plans to focus its sales pitch on companies looking to be — and save — green.
That is because most businesses do not believe that using environmentally friendly marketing products can actually be cheaper than traditional marketing materials, said Steve Grossman, president of Grossman Marketing.
“Most people still have a hard time getting around the fact that green products can be cost-comparable,” Grossman said. “We want to lead more aggressively the no-extra-cost factor.”
Overall, the 100-year old print and marketing-materials company hopes its green push will stave off the effects of the recession, as direct-mail spending has dropped off considerably during past downturns. Envelope and direct mail makes up about 40 percent of Grossman Marketing’s business and grew nearly 20 percent in 2007.
The company also plans to step up the consulting services offered by the business, providing sustainability and marketing advice to its clients at no charge.
“It strengthens the relationship with our customers. They see us as their partners to advance their sustainability initiatives, but also, especially in the short term, to reduce their cost basis,” Grossman said.
Growing the green marketing business is just one part of Grossman’s three-pronged strategy for this year. With its recent investment in Consolidated Marketing Solutions Inc. of Massachusetts, based in Wilmington, Grossman Marketing is stepping into the online branding and marketing business.
“They want to do business with like-minded companies,” Grossman said.
— Jackie Noblett
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Here’s a link to the article: http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/01/12/story14.html
The Boston Globe published an interesting op-ed piece earlier this week with suggestions of ways that the incoming secretary of energy, Steven Chu, can spur the development of clean technologies in the United States. The article, co-authored by Nick d’Arbeloff, the executive director of the New England Clean Energy Council, and Hemant Taneja, a managing director of at General Catalyst Partners and the council’s co-chairman, is aggressive, but elegant in its simplicity. Clearly, the public chatter about clean energy has died down as oil prices have tumbled from $147 to less than $40 per barrel. Nevertheless, these are very important issues that Chu must address , so our nation can avoid another energy bubble in the future, reduce our dependence on unstable regimes for our energy supply, and fight global warming.
Hey all – A quick pre-holiday message of thanks for reading my blog. Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. They mean a lot!
I wanted to pass along some information on an event in Massachusetts that I will be speaking at next month that is open to the public. I hope you can make it!
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DM Going Green – Separating Fact and Fiction
Kermit the Frog used to lament, “It’s not that easy being green.” This is especially true for direct marketers. Our industry has been under pressure from the media and the court of public opinion – even as it develops and drives new sustainable practices. And, going green will continue to be a critical issue for vendors, clients and regulators in the coming year. At NEDMA, we’ve put together a panel of experts from a variety of direct marketing disciplines to talk about how direct is going green, what are the facts (and what is fiction) about the green movement, and exactly what it means to you and your business. These experts will talk about how they and their clients went green – and guide you through the pitfalls and business opportunities they encountered along the way.
When: 1/13/2009, 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM
Where: Microsoft Seminar Facility
Panelists:
Moderator:
Please click here to read more about the event and to register.
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Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy and peaceful holiday season and New Year! More insights, observations and news to come in 2009!
The Better Place car (prototype)
In July, I used an op-ed piece by Tom Friedman from the New York Times to discuss the importance of renewable energy, and how we as marketers can incorporate it into our printed communications. One of Friedman’s examples was Shai Agassi, the founder of Better Place, a company focused on creating electric car grids around the world. What’s exciting about their business model is that it approaches the car business much in the same way that cell phone networks like AT&T and Verizon Wireless approach their own – they plan to sell miles like these networks sell minutes.
Friedman wrote a follow-up piece about Agassi and his company last week, and I wanted to make sure readers of Sustainable Ink didn’t miss it.
I had the opportunity to hear Agassi speak in person earlier this month at the Museum of Science in Boston. He was an inspiring presenter and certainly a person with a great vision. Although I cannot guarantee whether his plan will work, I was impressed by his resolve, especially in the face of rapidly declining energy prices. Although people may be less apt to adopt his electric car model when gas prices are under $2/gallon in the United States, he laid out a plan for success, and delivered his message in a clear and exciting way.
His determination should serve as an excellent example to other executives who have either made public commitments to sustainability or had been considering green initiatives when the economy was stronger and now are mulling whether they should move them to the back burner until the economy turns the corner. My strong advice to these leaders would be to not let the tumultuous economic times distract them from positioning their organizations for success in the future. Shorter-term approaches necessary for ensuring a stable enterprise may involve cost cutting now, but longer-term strategy should not be overlooked. Generally, for organizations to be successful in the long-term, they must be able to successfully create new products, compete in new markets, and recruit the best talent possible.
My belief, is that in this environment of limited natural resources, undoubtedly unstable energy prices, and a public that cares deeply about fighting global warming (not to mention an administration that has made the reduction of carbon emissions a stated goal), organizations that incorporate environmentally-responsible practices into their businesses will not simply be making moves to address a short-term fad, but instead will be building sustainable enterprises. They will be ensuring the long-term survival of their organizations in a future where their customers want to buy products that use less natural resources and leave less of a footprint on this earth. In fact, IDC, a leading research firm, reported last week that a recent study found “continued support for sustainability initiatives despite current economic challenges.”
Although many companies will hold off on making any green investments while they face a deep credit crisis and sagging revenues, if they want to remain successful enterprises and position themselves for long-term success, sustainability must be a part of these plans.
Courtesy of Forbes.com
Forbes ran a story Friday on how green practices can help businesses compete and succeed. The reporter heard about our success with our wind power initiative, through which we’re able to help our clients produce their marketing communications materials with Green-e certified wind power at no extra cost, and included us in the article. Below are 2 links. The first one is to the article. The second one is to the slideshow associated with the story (we’re slide 7).
Despite the recent drop in oil prices, people are still very much interested in renewable energy and the concept of weaning our country off foreign oil. I have written before about what we believe are the five best ways to go green on a print project. Using renewable energy, especially wind power, is definitely at the top of the list, as it allows an organization to send a values-laden message to its constituents without adding any extra cost to their bottom line, which is especially important in these turbulent economic times.
Ever since the economy really began to weaken and gas prices approached $3/gallon and then $2/gallon, there has been much commentary on businesses making cutbacks and slowing their implementation of sustainability efforts. I have written that this time of economic crisis will separate the companies that are truly committed to good environmental stewardship from those that were only interested in making green efforts while the economy was strong.
During the presidential campaign, both candidates made renewable energy investments central pieces of their legislative agendas, employing images of wind turbines and solar panels in their TV ads and stump speeches. However, since the credit crisis exploded and energy prices plummeted, even a pioneer like T. Booke Pickens, who spent tens of millions of dollars over the last few months advocating for public support of wind power, has delayed his landmark project. The New York Times ran a story on Tuesday, 11/24, about how the “economic slump and plunging prices of coal and oil are upending plans to wean businesses and consumers from fossil fuel.”
My hope is that the U.S. Government, under the leadership of President Barack Obama, does not give up on its efforts to wean our country off oil, most of which comes from foreign sources. I was encouraged by a message that Obama recorded last week for the Governors’ Global Climate Summit.
In his message, Obama states, “Climate change and our dependence on foreign oil, if left unaddressed, will continue to weaken our economy and threaten our national security.” He goes on to say that his goal is to reduce the United States’ emissions of greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. He also committed to investing $15b each year on alternative energy, which he said will not only help to reduce our use of oil, but will also help create up to 5 million new jobs. Regardless of the accuracy of the jobs figure, I hope that the U.S. sticks to this plan, and does not use low gas prices and a difficult economy as an excuse for inaction. We should look towards Brazil as an example of how a country makes energy independence a goal and sticks to that plan, regardless of the economic circumstances. Here’s a great story from the Wall Street Journal in 2006 which summarizes Brazil’s sugar ethanol industry development. I remember looking for some energy provider myself (so come up with the OVO contact number) and later – reading this in an airport almost three years ago and was able to find a free link on Yale’s website – I found the piece so interesting, and wanted to share it with you.
The moral of the story for me is that we have learned our lesson from our addiction to oil – from the recent price spikes, as well as the fact that it supports dangerous regimes that hate America (not to mention the negative environmental impact of fossil fuels), and we need to make a change. It will cost a lot of money and require sacrifice, but it is one of the greatest issues of our time and must be addressed.
My firm has become involved over the last several months with GoGreen Somerville, a coalition of businesses and non-profit organizations that leverage relationships, knowledge, and resources to green the Somerville businesses community. I wrote a bit about this organization in May when it got a positive write-up in the Boston Globe.
GoGreen Somerville, where my firm is headquartered, is run by Vanessa Rule, who is very impressive. She is motivated, talented and knowledgeable, an excellent combination. I was excited to get involved in this effort, especially because it is on the grassroots level. By building a laboratory of sustainability in our home city, this organization can possibly create a scalable model for helping other markets become more environmentally responsible.
Also exciting is that it includes a broad coalition of businesses: including bakeries, food manufacturers (chocolate), as well as a cleantech engineering firm and a wind power specialist. It is a testament to the depth and breadth of talent in a small city that such best-in-class organizations spanning a wide range of industries have volunteered their time and resources to help make our city a more sustainable one. It’s important to note is that if Somerville can become a case study for good environmental stewardship, it will help attract investment, new businesses, and talent; not to mention make it a better place to live and work.
I’m sure I’ll write more about this effort down the line, but I wanted to share this today, as GoGreen Somerville just launched its new website.
A friend at Deloitte has made me aware of his firm’s “Greening the Dot” program, aimed at helping create awareness among Deloitte’s large employee base that being environmentally-friendly is an important thing to do. The leaders of this effort frequently send out newsletters with tips to go green and initiatives that the firm is designing to be a more sustainable enterprise.
Not only is this effort a smart play from an employee retention perspective (given the economy, this will be important longer term rather than immediately) but also because it helps Deloitte send a values-laden message to its clients. As a former consultant myself, I know that this industry is often seen from the outside as tough and unfriendly, and focused purely on numbers and deliverables. However, I believe that Deloitte’s “Greening the Dot” program helps send a positive message to the outside world. In the hypercompetitive world of strategy consulting, this can only help.
Below is a “Top 10 list to green your client site” that Deloitte released this week. Clearly from its title, this is a series of ways that Deloitte employees can help the environment, and do so in very visible ways to the outside world:
The newsletter concluded with the following statement: “These small changes will make a big impact. Thank you for taking part in the efforts to make our office a little greener!”
This actionable series of tips, although just a start, provides a simple roadmap to Deloitte consultants of ways to easily go green when on the road at a client site. None of these tips are difficult to implement, but all are sensible and can have an impact.
Al Gore wrote an excellent column in the New York Times on Sunday, 11/9, in which he lays out a very clear and sensible five-part plan to get America to produce 100 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources within 10 years. Although he has launched the We Campaign which has pushed this goal, this article is a quick and easy read, and as such, I highly recommend you take a look.
Sustainable Ink 