A better kind of advertising?

Many people have chronicled the declining effectiveness of traditional advertising, especially the 30 second TV spot. I first blogged about this four years ago.

I think this is doubly true for communicating a company's sustainability initiatives. It always feels a little hollow when I see TV ads for a (slightly) greener auto or computer or oil company (although from time to time I post notable exceptions on this blog). Sustainability just seems to be too nuanced of a journey to cram into .30 TV spots.

So it was with interest that I read the interview with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard on his approach to sustainability in the July, 2009 issue of Fast Company Magazine. In the interview, Chouinard discussed One Percent for the Planet, which he founded and is recruiting other companies to join.

What's interesting is how he recruits companies to join. Here's his response to the question: "How do you convince companies that eco-philanthropy is worthwhile?"

You have to get away from the idea that it's philanthropy...Think of it as a marketing cost. We'll tell a winery, "Okay, your wines are selling for $10. Charge $10.10. Nobody is not going to buy your wine because it's 10 cents more a bottle. In fact, you can add only 6 cents, because you can write off 40% of your donation on taxes." If you're a gas station and your receipt says, thank you for your purchase; 6 cents will go to the environment, I'll bet a lot of people would go out of their way to buy that gas.

Think of giving money to environmental causes as marketing? This may not work for everyone, but for a company like Patagonia it's perfect. It will work for others too. Rather than spending $10 million on advertising how green your company is, why not give $5 million to a charity like One Percent and then spend the other five telling people that you did. Think of it as one percent for the planet and an extra ten percent for your bottom line.

Flygbussarna asks "50 cars or 1 bus?"

Earlier this year, I blogged about guerilla market tactics that were easy on the environment. Along that same vein, ACNE Advertising executed a brilliant piece of advertising for Flygbussarna (Swedish Airport Coaches) touting the eco-friendliness of their option in comparison to driving to the airport. ACNE posted a synopsis of the ad on YouTube:



Why can't the green advertising of more businesses be this good?

Honda Insight vs. Toyota Prius on Madison Avenue

In my last post, I looked at a commercial for a recent entry in the hybrid space: the Honda Insight. One of the commentors to the post liked the ad because it downplayed the fact that it was a hybrid.

Honda is apparent selling the Insight as a vehicle for the masses, even using the phrase in "Beach," another .30 commercial for the Insight: "The hybrid for everyone is here. The Insight. Designed and priced for us all."



In stark contrast is the commercial for the 3rd Generation Toyota Prius Hybrid that I've been seeing so much on the NBA Finals. Rather than muting its hybrid-ness, the commercial "Harmony" celebrates it. See for yourself:



As you can see Toyota is taking exactly the opposite approach of Honda to sell their newest hybrid. In "Harmony," the announcer intones: "You get more power and more space. The world gets fewer smog-forming emissions. The third generation Prius. It's harmony between man, nature and machine." (Jalopnik called it creepy and mesmerizing).

Many stories (Autopia, Jalopnik, Forbes, thedailygreen, New York Times, etc.) have been written already about the Prius vs. the Insight. But whether you the think the Insight is Biblically terrible or a Prius killer is irrelevant to this post. What I think is particularly interesting is that the two companies are selling a car with similar green technologies using very different messages.

Toyota, the incumbent in the hybrid space is going with green as a niche theme targeting those who already care about the environment and are willing to pay more for a car that uses less gasoline and is better for the environment (even if they couldn't bring themselves to say "greenhouse gas emissions" in their ad, opting for "smog-forming emissions instead. Could it be because climate change polls last in a list of important issues with the public?)

Honda is opting for the approach of selling a hybrid as, what Green Marketing Manifesto author John Grant calls, a secondary benefit. It's how we make green the "new normal" so it can be made attractive for the masses.

The differences are even evident in the PR for the two hybrids, with the Insight garnering stories about its mpg or the affordable cost while the Prius is touting new energy-saving ad-ons like a solar-powered sunroof and LED headlights.

So, which approach will sell more hybrids? A recent Associated Press story said that the Honda Insight was the top-selling automobile in Japan in April - a first for a hybrid (is their messaging strategy working?). As for the Prius, a week ago they'd received 80,000 advance orders. With both of these vehicles hitting the market at fairly similar times with opposing marketing strategies, it's like we were gifted a controlled experiment in green marketing. What's your bet to sell more: niche green or mass appeal?

Let it Shine: .60 commercial for Honda Insight

What do you think of the commercial for the 2009 Honda Insight?



The spot was Created by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam for Honda Motor Europe. There's even a Making of video from W+K.

The Simpsons do Earth Day...again

I didn't post or tweet on Earth Day. Life was just too busy. I was also too busy to get to my DVR until this weekend, when I watched the latest episode of the Simpsons. Episode 17 of season 20, called The Good, the Sad and the Drugly, has Lisa's concern for the environment as one of its storylines.

Courtesy of Hulu, you can watch it here:



Lisa overcomes "environment-related despair" by taking a new drug called Ignorital. The episode is decent, but not even close to as good as the Earth Day Simpsons episode from 1997 called The Old Man and the Lisa. From season eight, it's one of the best Simpsons' episodes of all time. I should know, I think I've watched them all!

Green tech is the future of Silicon Alley Insider

Don't you wish you could listen in on some of the conversations between PR pros and journalists about the future of those professions? Well, unless you work for the FBI, the next best option is to follow their blogs.

This week I picked up an interesting tip reading the blog of Richard Edelman recapping a conversation he had with Henry Blodget of Silicon Alley Insider. The entire conversation about the future of media and PR was very interesting and well worth the read. It was even picked up by Shel Holtz in the April 16 episode of For Immediate Release.

But the most interesting tidbit for me was this: "Our future is to move into green tech, deep tech, bio-technology" (emphasis added). The Insider already has a section of their site called the Green Sheet, with sub-topics in oil, solar, wind, nukes, cars and garbage, so it will be interesting to see where they go as they expand into the green tech topic in the future. In the meantime, if you're pitching green tech, don't overlook Green Sheet writer Jay Yarow.

The Green Issue of PRSA Tactics

I retrieved my PRSA Tactics from the mailbox and discovered that April is The Green Issue. My first reaction was "it's about time." As environmental communications have drastically increased in importance over the past few years, I haven't seen much from PRSA publications. This is something I pointed out a long time ago.

The lack of coverage for the issue has been even more noticeable in light of the coverage that PRWeek has given to Green through a blog (now idled and moved to The Cycle), conferences and a dedicated section of their web site. Heck, PRWeek had a green issue 18 months ago.

All that aside, there were a few decent articles (despite the title, it isn't the entire issue). I was pleasantly surprised to see fellow green bloggers Maria Surma Manka and Willie Brent quoted in an article about green public relations.

Hopefully this issue represents the start of expanded coverage of environmental issues by PRSA and not just a one-off issue. I recently renewed my membership with PRSA and joined the Environmental section so I'll let you know what they have to offer.

Richard Edelman on the next phase of Green Marketing

For those of us in green marketing and public relations, Richard Edelman had a very interesting post on his 6 A.M. blog: We're Entering a New Era of Mutual Social Responsibility. In the post, Edelman calls this era the fourth phase of green marketing.

You have to read all the way to the end to find what role Edelman sees for PR people in this new era. He writes:

We need to offer people a full set of information on brands, their ingredients, their efficacy and the manufacturing process, while securing their continued insights and help. We can help ensure that business is values based--we can do the right thing for customers, communities and people-- that these values are part of clients’ DNA, affecting every part of how a company operates. We can partner companies with NGOs, who are constructive critics and advisors on supply chain or communications. Since mainstream media (68%) is the most trusted source of information on a company’s sustainability activities, interaction with reporters is essential.

The entire post is well worth reading. But, if you followed my Twitter stream...you already knew that.

Obama's support of cleantech provides communication opportunity

As I blogged recently, President Obama's support for green programs in his stimulus package provided communications opportunities for renewable energy companies. Those same companies were presented with another opportunity by the President's remarks to a Joint Session of Congress tonight.

He started by giving fossil energy some of the blame for our current crisis. "We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy," said Obama. "Yet we import more oil today than ever before." Green jobs were also front and center as he went on: "Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector – jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit."

But the real support came when Obama talked about what his government will invest in. "It begins with energy," he said.

We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient. We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea.

Well I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders – and I know you don’t either. It is time for America to lead again.

Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years. We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history – an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine, science, and technology.

We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines that can carry new energy to cities and towns across this country. And we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills.

But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. And to support that innovation, we will invest fifteen billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America.

It will be interesting to see what companies take advantage of this communications opportunity.

Carlton the wealthy eco-hypocrite strikes back!

While every business is scrambling to burnish their green credentials, every now and then we get a reminder that not everyone is on board. Especially these guys who run the following ad:



Hat tip to current, which I found through @current_green.

Expanded Energy & Environment Coverage from National Geographic

At a time when many mainstream media outlets are cutting back on their staff in the science, energy and environment beat, it was interesting to see that one well-respected publication headed in the other direction.

In late January, National Geographic announced that they were expanding their editorial coverage of energy and the environment with a specialized team. The Columbia Journalism Review has an interview with executive editor environment Dennis Dimick. In the interview, Dimick talks about the issues they'll be covering and the approach they'll take.

But if you followed my Twitter feed, you'd already know that. Now go renew your subscription and update your contact lists.

How do reporters cover the economics of climate change?

The issue of climate change influences green communications more than any other single topic. So knowing how reporters view this topic is enormously important. In a very interesting discussion paper (pdf), former Time editor Eric Pooley argues that reporters can not simply be stenographers on the debate over the economics of climate change. Far better for a reporter, says Pooley, to be a referee who calls it straight.

Pooley also laments that climate coverage has been declining since 2007 and calls on editors to treat climate policy as a permanent, important beat. He applauds the New York Times for their Environmental S.W.A.T. Team, which comes closest to what he advocates for climate coverage. (To see this team's work, read Environmental Views, Past and Present, which several of them wrote for the Times over the weekend).

The paper sparked some discussion between Pooley and a reporter at the Washington Post that provides an interesting debate. But the paper itself is very valuable for the information it provides on how reporters cover the economics of climate change. It's well worth the read.

Hat tip to Climate 411, the blog of EDF, for alterting me to this paper.

Make a clean energy ad - win $10,000!

SmartPower announced another contest for the :30 ad that best shows Americans how to be smarter about their energy use. Here's a video from Andrew explaining the contest rules:

Advertising that's easy on the environment

Advertising has an environmental footprint. Some advertisers are lessening that footprint by using alternative energy, recycled materials or even an eco-friendly font.

Other advertising agencies take their low-impact advertising a step-further. Take British ad agency Curb, for example. According to their web site, they offer a unique portfolio of sustainable media types that create maximum impact at minimal cost to the environment. One of those offerings is clean advertising. Literally. Check out the video:



I have to say that I really like this concept. Some of the impact of communicating a green message would undoubtedly be lost if the advertising itself was bad for the environment. (Side note: In a former role as a public relations practitioner, a manufacturer of pressure washers was a client of mine. Maybe I could work something out?)

Similar agencies include Street Advertising Services and GreenGraffiti. Hat tip to Springwise.

What do you think of this approach? Do you know of any other agencies that are doing innovative things to lessen the environmental impact of advertising?

GE Scarecrow Superbowl Ad for Smart Grid Technology

The first ever Superbowl Ad for GE ran in the fourth quarter and was for their Smart Grid Technology. Here is the :30 spot, Scarecrow:



What did you think of the commercial? GE also ran another ecomagination commercial for wind turbines in the Super Bowl. To view all Super Bowl commercials, click here.