April 1, 2012 by bgrossman

Green Marketing Presentation to Tufts University

I had the privilege of guest lecturing at Tufts University in late February to a class titled “Social Marketing.” I focused my presentation on green marketing and sustainability, with a particular emphasis on the importance of transparency. In addition, I spent some time on product lifecycle management, which I’ve been interested in for a while, and have been learning a lot more about through my membership on the Product Stewardship Institute Advisory Council.

I’m pleased to include a selection of slides that I discussed in class below:

Green Marketing Presentation to Tufts University

During the conversation, I covered a number of topics that we have reviewed here at Sustainable Ink, the most important being the issue of transparency. As we have been advocating for years, when companies make green claims, they need to back those claims up with hard data. In the commercial printing world, a great example is the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator, which I covered here back in 2007.

I provided a best practice example, which I wrote about in July 2009, about the use of eco-logos and statistics on the outside envelope of a fundraising appeal by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which was signed by former Vice President Al Gore.

I then went on to discuss an example of greenwashing by a major company, SC Johnson, in their creation of Greenlist. Terrachoice, a leading environmental marketing agency, defines greenwashing as “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.” SC Johnson created the program in 2001 and started putting its Greenlist logo on products in 2008 to indicate that one of their products met certain environmental standards. The problem was that SC Johnson made the logo look very official, which gave many consumers the idea that it was rated by an outside organization, which it was not. Two class action lawsuits were filed against SC Johnson, which they settled in 2011, by agreeing not to use the Greenlist logo on Windex moving forward. Here’s an excellent article on the settlement by GreenBiz. Here’s a quote from Fisk Johnson, SC Johnson’s chairman and CEO, that sums up the issue of greenwashing very well: “In retrospect. we could have done a better job at being more transparent and clearer with our label and what it meant.”

Following this discussion, I reviewed Poland Spring’s 5-gallon “Eco Sense Bottle” that it unveiled in 2010. When I first saw the bottle on one of my office’s water coolers, I did some investigating, and wrote an article about it, which is still the most read post on my blog over the past 5 years. The reason I wrote about the bottle was that it had an environmental logo with no explanation of what the logo meant. I spoke with a representative who told me that the bottle used less plastic and was easier to recycle. I did not believe this was greenwashing, but rather, as I wrote 2 years ago, “a failure of a major brand to provide clarity on its green claims…Poland Spring went to the trouble of trademarking ‘eco-sense’ and creating a special logo for the term, but they didn’t take the extra step of providing consumers an explanation of what the term means.”

The next part of the discussion focused on product lifecycle management and the importance of reducing the use of resources in packaging. To create these slides, I was lucky to get help from Scott Cassel, the founder and CEO of Product Stewardship Institute. The example I provided was Staples, and its pioneering computer “take back” program, which, according to the company, allows consumers to “securely recycle your end-of-life technology.” These programs prevent a large number of devices from being thrown away, reducing the presence of hazardous materials in the waste stream. Staples was the first major retailer to offer such a program, and it had a significant impact on its industry; Best Buy, Office Depot and a range of other firms have followed suit. Not only is this good for the environment, and convenient for consumers, but it has been good for Staples as well – studies have shown that this program increased consumer loyalty to the chain.

I closed out the formal part of the program with a discussion about packaging, and how reducing the resources needed to make products can have a significant impact on a company’s brand. Over the last decade, Wal-Mart, the leading retailer in the world, has suffered a number of public relations issues, with many focused on its treatment of workers. In addition, very few retailers have had a more significant positive environmental impact on their industry or suppliers than Wal-Mart. There is a wide array of information on Wal-Mart’s sustainability efforts on its website, including its creation of a Sustainability Index, its efforts to create zero waste, as well as its aggressive efforts to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. I focused the conversation on one example of Wal-Mart exerting its influence on a supplier to effect significant change in its industry. The supplier was Tide, and the result was a packaging revolution. Several years ago, Wal-Mart set a goal of only selling concentrated liquid laundry detergent in all of its U.S. and Canadian stores. The program was a success, and the entire industry has been transformed. In addition, because of this and a number of other initiatives, consumers have easier access to more environmentally-friendly products, and Wal-Mart’s reputation has been partially rehabilitated.

The students, all of whom are undergraduate students at Tufts University, had a wide range of interesting and insightful questions and comments. I was honored to have had the opportunity to spend the evening with them!

July 5, 2011 by bgrossman

Interview with GreenMarketingTV on Sustainability

Hi all – I was pleased to be featured on GreenMarketingTV in late May, and wanted to share the article with you. Here’s a link. I have also included the text of the interview below:

Green Entrepreneur Interview: Ben Grossman, Sustainable Direct Mail | Green Marketing TV

http://www.greenmarketing.tv/2011/05/24/green-entrepreneur-interview-ben-grossman-sustainable-direct-mail/

Award-winning green entrepreneur, Ben Grossman of Grossman Marketing, talks about how to develop a sustainable direct marketing campaign and what it takes to transform a fourth-generation business into one with a strong environmental focus.

What was your inspiration for starting Sustainable Ink? When and how did you get started?

I started my blog, Sustainable Ink, in 2007. I had joined my fourth-generation family business, Grossman Marketing Group, the previous year and was often thinking about sustainability and green business issues. Our business was founded in 1910 as Massachusetts Envelope Company, and it’s evolved into an integrated marketing services firm.

Today, our main service lines are a design studio, envelopes and direct mail services, printing of all kinds, and promotional products. In addition, we have a fast-growing e-commerce and rewards and incentives business. As oil prices were rising, and global warming had gone from a fad to stated fact, I saw the writing on the wall – that we live in a world with finite resources, and consumers are increasingly interested in companies’ environmental footprint, commitment to environmental causes, and the sustainability of their products.

I wanted to start a blog through which I could discuss these issues, with an emphasis on marketing services and my industry. I have been very proud to see the site’s readership grow over time, and have some of my posts picked up by national green news sources, most recently Environmental Leader and Ecopreneurist.

I launched our firm’s green marketing and sustainability practice the previous year with the goal of working with my team to help clients identify environmentally-conscious business practices as a way to differentiate them from their competition and establish a competitive advantage in their respective fields. For this work I was the 2009 recipient of the New England Direct Marketing Association Prodigy Award. The Prodigy Award is given to one marketing professional each year in New England under the age of 30 who has added the most to the art and science of direct marketing in the prior year.

Is interest in sustainable marketing growing or declining?

Green marketing is definitely not out, but consumers have been inundated with an array of green logos, claims and messages, and they are becoming increasingly skeptical of the green claims they read and hear. Much of the research I have seen, as well as my own experience, point to the need for transparency in green marketing claims. People want to know not only how a product is green, but according to whom. The third-party reference needs to be a legitimate one – not an unknown group with a confusing website.

In the print world, the best example of a strong and respected third-party authority is the Environmental Defense Paper Calculator. On this site, people can calculate the savings derived from using papers with post-consumer recycled content. These savings include energy, wastewater, trees, etc. I like this because it’s a resource that is industry independent. Although I respect the savings calculators put together by paper companies, using a third-party resource rings truer to consumers.

How do you help your clients target and reach green consumers?

There is a wide range of ways to target and reach green consumers. They include buying ads on websites that cater to these consumers, as well as on-the-ground outreach at community events. In addition, using sophisticated direct mail techniques, the right brand can reach the right people with useful, actionable direct mail.

How do you help businesses communicate their green-ness to their customers?

The most important advice I can give to companies is to tell the truth and be transparent in their claims. Companies get in trouble by greenwashing – when they mislead consumers about their environmental practices or the environmental benefits of a product, and consumers are getting fed up. As I mentioned earlier, when making a claim, try to use a respected third-party resource to verify it.

How do you find your customers?

The best customers come by referral, but we also find them through speaking engagements, direct mail, networking, social media and online ads. We believe the best campaigns are integrated ones, and we try to practice what we preach!

What are consumers looking for in a green company? What messages do they want to hear?

Consumers are looking for green products to be made from renewable resources, use recycled content, or with less materials than in the past. For service providers, consumers are looking for consistency. For example, if a hotel claims to be green because of an array of practices, it is somewhat of a contradiction when there are no easy ways to recycle plastic bottles, cans, paper, etc. I have seen this too often when traveling on business, and I wish some hotels would give greater consideration to waste management practices.

Does sustainable marketing typically cost more money?

Sustainable marketing shouldn’t necessarily cost more money. In the print business, people can generally use recycled papers, vegetable-based inks and renewable energy in the production process for no extra cost. There are of course premium eco-friendly papers that add cost (New Leaf, Mohawk Options, Neenah Environment, to name a few), but if a marketing professional is working with the right vendor partners, they should be able to reduce their footprint without adding much cost.

What recommendations do you have for businesses to green their marketing without breaking the bank?

As I mentioned earlier, people can use vegetable-based inks, renewable energy and recycled materials for little or no extra cost. Some practices can cut costs – like considering the production of an item during the design stage, so it gets optimized for printing to use the least amount of paper. In addition, when people manage their mailing lists well, they mail fewer pieces to a better audience, thus cutting postage and printing costs.

Are all your marketing services eco-friendly? How is your business greener than your competitors?

Our services are fairly resource intensive, so we try to be conscious of our footprint at all steps in the process. For example:

1) All metal printing plates are collected after use and given to a recycling company.

2) All press solvents and washes are low VOC (volatile organic compound) formulas that minimize impact on the environment as they contain no acetones.

3) All non-metallic inks are vegetable-based (i.e. non-petroleum based). The ink contains approximately 35% oil, all of which is vegetable-based (soy and linseed).

4) Our inks are made from a “stay open” formula – meaning that the top layer does not skim over and form an unusable layer – this reduces ink use by about 10% annually.

5) All waste ink is sent to a recycler where it is mixed with other waste to form a low-grade heating oil.

6) All paper waste and cardboard packaging are sent to a paper recycling company.

7) Our prepress system is entirely chemical free – only water is used to rinse the plate after imaging.

8) All waste oil is recycled with an oil recovery service.

9) All wood pallets are returned to our paper merchants for re-use.

10) In addition, here’s a blog post I wrote about recycling, in which I explain that we allow our employees to bring in batteries, CFLs, fluorescent tube bulbs and paint from home to be recycled by a partner of ours. We recently added a Big Green Box to our office so our colleagues can bring in electrical waste from home as well.

What kinds of mistakes do green businesses generally make that you would advise against?

The worst mistake is to not tell the truth or to make misleading statements and we strongly advise against them. In addition, we make sure that green marketing underpins an organization’s overall commitment to sustainable practices. If they are just surface changes, consumers will see through them. In addition, employees want to work for socially responsible organizations.

What mistakes have you made as a green entrepreneur and what advice would you give others looking to start a green business?

Sometimes I have had the tendency to try to make a product or offering perfect before rolling it out. One piece of advice I would have is to “beta” test everything, as early customer feedback will always help you improve.

You can get in touch with Ben through Twitter.

July 12, 2010 by bgrossman

Presentation Available from Target Marketing “Green Marketing Without Greenwashing” Webinar

I had the privilege of serving as a panelist this spring on a webinar put together by Target Marketing Magazine, titled, “Green Marketing Without Greenwashing – How to legally and ethically back up your environmental claims.” I spoke alongside an excellent group of panelists who covered a wide range of key issues related to green marketing [they included Scot Case, Vice President, TerraChoice; Randi W. Singer, Litigation Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Rick Merdan, Marketing Strategy Manager – Environmental, NewPage Corporation].

Target Marketing has posted the presentation online with the slides and audio. Please enjoy!

In addition, here’s a link to a blog post I wrote in April with some notes I took on Case and Singer’s remarks.

April 25, 2010 by bgrossman

Poland Spring’s Missed Green Marketing Opportunity: A Discussion of Their New Eco-Sense Bottle

My company is a Poland Spring customer. We receive frequent deliveries of their 5-gallon water bottles for various water coolers stationed around our office.

Last week, I noticed that the bottle had changed. It is now made of a darker blue plastic, and has a slightly different shape. When I looked closer, I saw that the label included a new logo, with the phrase, “ECO SENSE BOTTLE.” There is a trademark symbol after eco-sense, which makes the logo look pretty official. Here’s a picture I took with my phone:

Image of the "ECO SENSE BOTTLE" logo on new 5-gallon Poland Spring bottles.

Given my interest in green marketing and green business issues, I looked closer at the bottle, hoping for an explanation of what eco-sense means. Unfortunately, the only language that could be considered an explanation was, “our eco-sense bottle is returned, refilled and recycled.” As far as I know, the large bottles on water coolers have been getting returned, refilled and recycled for years. In fact, when the Poland Spring delivery team comes to our office, they drop full bottles off and pick up empty bottles to be cleaned and refilled.

Unfortunately, the bottle does not have any more information on what the company, owned by Nestle, means by the new logo. Therefore, I called Poland Spring late last week and connected with someone in their Consumer Affairs department. When they learned that I was calling about a bottle typically delivered to businesses, they connected me to a group that fields questions and comments for their business services group.

I spoke with a very nice representative who explained, “We’re trying to use less plastic on the actual bottles.” She also explained that they are made from “an easier plastic to recycle.” I asked a follow-up question about the ease of recycling the material, but she didn’t have specifics available. I made the suggestion that future bottles include this additional information about containing less plastic and being easier to recycle.

The key lesson from this experience with Poland Spring is one that I and others in the green marketing community have been emphasizing for years: when you make green claims, you must be transparent and provide the details behind the language and numbers. Wherever possible, it helps to provide third-party references for your claims. Poland Spring did not do this, which surprised me, given their past experience: Nestle Waters was hammered with greenwashing claims by bloggers when they came out with their eco-shape bottle across all of their water brands in 2007-2008 (of which Poland Spring is one) – here’s another example of criticism they received. I understand why they have been accused of greenwashing for their retail side bottles, as the majority of plastic bottles end up in landfills, and the eco-shape logo gives people the impression that they are being environmentally-friendly by drinking bottled water. Terrachoice, a leading environmental marketing agency, defines greenwashing as “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.” I personally try to drink water out of a reusable bottle whenever possible, and my firm has given them to all of our employees as a way to practice what we preach.

The difference in the case of the eco-sense 5-gallon bottle is that it is not greenwashing, but rather a failure of a major brand to provide clarity on its green claims. Large water coolers enable people to cut down on bottled water consumption in favor of filling up reusable water bottles like those made by Sigg or Nalgene. Poland Spring went to the trouble of trademarking “eco-sense” and creating a special logo for the term, but they didn’t take the extra step of providing consumers an explanation of what the term means. According to Cone, a leading cause marketing agency, 91% of consumers want to hear about companies’ social and environmental commitments. More than the high-level green logo or tagline, conscious consumers want to “get under the hood” and understand the details behind companies’ green claims.

By failing to include further explanation of their eco-sense logo, Poland Spring failed to give their customers the option of learning more. I would strongly suggest they address this lack of transparency, and immediately start adding further information about their eco-sense program onto the larger bottles. It may cost a few more cents per bottle in printing fees, but they will more than make up for it with stronger customer relationships.

April 15, 2010 by bgrossman

Report from Target Marketing “Green Marketing Without Greenwashing” Webinar

I had the opportunity to serve as a panelist last week in Target Marketing Magazine’s webinar, “Green Marketing Without Greenwashing – How to legally and ethically back up your environmental claims.” I spoke alongside an excellent group of panelists who covered a wide range of key issues around green marketing [they included Scot Case, Vice President, TerraChoice; Randi W. Singer, Litigation Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Rick Merdan, Marketing Strategy Manager – Environmental, NewPage Corporation].

Here’s a link to access the webinar and watch it.

Below please find some notes I took on Case and Singer’s remarks. Merdan served as a resource to answer questions near the end.

Scott Case, Vice President, TerraChoice

Discussed growth of green products and claims in the marketplace
Covered environmental claims and how the FTC is investigating and enforcing their regulations to counter questionable environmental claims
Defined greenwashing as misleading consumers about the environmental details of a product or service
Terrachoice has developed 7 Sins of Greenwashing
Discussed various leading green labels (EcoLogo, Energy Star, Green Seal)
Suggested do’s and don’ts of green marketing. His key suggestion was one I strongly agree with and advocate – “If you’re making a public claim, provide public proof”

Randi Singer, Litigation Partner with Weil, Gotshal & Menges

First rule of advertising is that it needs to be true
Discussed FTC’s “Green Guides”
All claims must be specific, transparent, supported by science
Need to avoid general environmental benefit claims
Specific claims must be true and not deceptive (e.g. “Biodegradable” must completely break down and return to nature in reasonably short period of time; “Recyclable” must be able to be collected and reused)
FTC has been reworking their Green Guides for several years, held 3 workshops in 2008 (1st focused on carbon offsets and RECs, 2nd focused on green packaging claims, 3rd on buildings and textiles)
Expects new Green Guides to be released in 2010

Q&A – Excellent session – starting at around the 45-minute mark, covering some of the following topics:

Supplier verification
Paper choices

I hope you enjoy the webinar!

June 21, 2009 by bgrossman

Direct Mail Insight: Green Envelopes and the Big Picture

bigstockphoto_Mail_Box_With_Letters_2482928 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.

Here’s a link to the full article.

August 21, 2008 by bgrossman

Advertising Age: How to Avoid Eco-Fatigue

I came across an interesting article yesterday in Advertising Age titled “How to Avoid Eco Fatigue.”

The article, written by Jennifer Maxwell-Muir of Maxwell PR, a firm with a wide range of experience in the natural/organic industry, states that consumers are getting tired of the massive news coverage and marketing campaigns surrounding the “green” movement. Maxwell-Muir provides some helpful tips on how companies can cut through the noise and reach consumers with a green message:

7 Tips to Avoid Eco-Fatigue

Be remarkable. You can make the “greenest” product on the planet, but unless it solves a significant consumer problem, works or tastes better than anything in the market and offers a good value in ratio to price, consumers won’t buy it.
Be green because it’s something you value, not as a marketing gimmick. Can coal really market the industry as being green and clean? What is Kermit the Frog doing with the Ford Escape? People smell falsehoods, and you go from bad to worse.
Don’t be bashful. A lot of truly “green” companies are afraid to speak up because it feels too self-righteous. Consumers actually appreciate your efforts, no matter the size, as long as they’re earnest and a step in the right direction. The amplification of your message can increase with your commitments.
Make it fun and engaging. Green doesn’t have to be staid. The average consumer doesn’t even know that the “hip” home cleaning products (is that an oxymoron?) made by Method are even green. And that’s entirely the point. This fast-growing brand wants consumers to love its product first — because they’re well-designed, smell beautiful and work well. They’re also planet friendly. Method’s attitude is: Why wouldn’t they be?
Partner with an established nonprofit. When Kettle Foods wanted to add a cause element to its new Backyard Barbecue flavor, it immediately thought of wildlife habitat protection because it’s something it does in its own backyard. To inspire consumers to apply the same principles at home, Kettle partnered with a respected nonprofit, the National Wildlife Foundation. Then it encouraged people to get involved by creating their own backyard wildlife habitats. Who wouldn’t want a bag of free chips as thanks for attracting local birds?
Invite consumers to join you. A flushable diaper doesn’t sound like a product that would inspire a cult following, but gDiapers realized early on that its core consumers were a vocal bunch. So gDiaper empowered them. By creating gMums and gDads, the company arms independent, trusted “spokespeople” with free product and the tools they need to spread the word. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Move beyond green. Green is a fad. Sustainability is continual improvement. If you’re only looking at energy consumption, you’re just scratching the tip of the iceberg. Businesses that endorse a “triple-bottom-line” approach — Organic Valley Farms, New Belgium and Clif Bar, to name a few — also address their affect on society in their communities. Environment is the third leg of the stool, but without the other two, you wouldn’t have a place to sit.

Please click here to access the entire article.