Click on Carolyn to hear Eco Jingle Bells

So we’ve gone a little goofy with our holiday video. So what. It’s been a wild year and sometimes you just have to, well, cut loose and have fun. So warm up your vocal chords and sing along with us. We promise, our eco version of Jingle Bells will bring a smile to your face. 

From all of us Mind Over Markets, wish you much happiness and prosperity this holiday and New Year. 

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That’s the true green message that wants to be told. Organic food equals better food, tastier food, fresher food.  Eco- cleaning products are safer for your kids and home.  Zero VOC paints are not only beautiful to look at but beautiful to live with. They don’t off-gas toxins into your inner environment.  In the time of Swine flu, e-coli hamburgers and scary peanut butter, green products need to make the case that they’re better products. 

For instance, for a solar client we recommended as their company tag line, “We Bring Solar Down To Earth.”  That said two things.  Number one, they harnessed the sun.  Number two and even more important, they have made solar practical, economical, every day and something for everyone, not just off-the-gridders.

What does that mean to you?  Simple. Get relevant.  Communicate your reason for being. What you do and what you do better. Make your case personal and close-in. When you’ve educated all of us in simple, down-to-earth terms, than you create a relationship not just a customer.  You’ve done something for them, instead of just selling something to them.

What are you doing to get relevant?  We want to know.  Really.

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A lot has happened in the green world in the last five years. Green went from a movement to a market and with it came tens of thousands of products and services with the marketing message of saving the planet.  A recent Google search for the phrase, “Saving the planet one (whatever) at a time” revealed more than 17,000,000 responses — with everything from “saving the planet one flush at time”  to “one hanger at a time” to “one  bag, one shower, one burger, one carpet, one idea…”  You get the idea.

If you want to break through the green clutter, that won’t cut it anymore.  With the recent economic downturn, the species most people want to save is their selves. There was nothing like the cost of gas skyrocketing to over $4.00 a gallon to drive the sales of hybrids through the roof.

It’s no longer viable to just be green, your product or service has to be great.  It has to marry ecology with economy. How much green does your green product save me?  It has to work. Will that green cleaning product actually clean my counter top?

We call this the 3 e’s of green:

•         Ecology

•         Economy

•         Efficacy

When your product or service has all three, now you have a green story that’s great. Tell it well and you are well on your way to saving your product in today’s competitive marketplace.

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Never before has a candidate wielded the power of Web 2.0 like Obama.  And never before could they.  Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Flickr – many of these platforms didn’t even exist back in 2004. But I must commend Obama and his relatively lean group of tech-heads; they took these tools to a whole new level.  Not just by disseminating his message in mass amounts (that’s so 1990′s), but by encouraging users — or better yet, voters — to take his message and make it their own. 

I remember my almost daily messages from Michelle Obama.  How did she get my email anyway?  Some of her messages I forwarded to friends (there’s that viral thing at work).  But this is just the tip of the iceberg.  The campaign also provided supporters with a multiple tools and asked them over and over and over to get involved.  From easy-to-use how-to’s to asking for a $25 donation to unrestricted permission to share, post and re-purpose campaign content, the Obama frenzy grew and sucked you in.  Vive de viral!

“The Obama campaign embraced this new, open society.  Unlike most of the publishing, entertainment and music industries today, the campaign encouraged the rampant re-purposing of content and thus started a movement that took on a life of its own,” wrote Jalali Hartman, CEO and founder of Yovia.com.  “This distinction gave his supporters the drive and resources to grow the community for him… [He] strengthened his community members by providing tools that would help them to be more successful; he empowered them by refusing to micro-manage and asking them to do it themselves.”  Can you imagine Madison Avenue doing that?   

This is green marketing at its finest.  Full out transparency that builds a community of wired-in supporters by building trust. 

How did his viral campaign reach you? We want to know!

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In the next few weeks, we will examine how Obama took this commandment, and a couple of others I’ll share, and turbo charged it by turning ordinary American’s into advocates.  His primary tools: Inspiration and the Internet.

This week, we begin with one of the most basic rules of marketing, and one that is broken over and over by some of the biggest marketers on Madison Avenue.  But not Obama.    

It’s all about them, not you.

Never before has a candidate molded his message around the people, and not just the politician.  ”Yes, We Can!” became the mantra and millions joined him in the chant.  What he did was ignite the personal power of Americans by making his mantra our own.  A story where we could fill in the blanks.

Take Barack’s “This Is Your Victory” speech:

“This is our moment.  This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth:  That out of the many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can.” 

Inspiration squared.  Now times that by a million American’s making it their own in hometowns across our land and you have an election won by the people and for the people.  Brilliant! 

Next week: How Obama used the internet to drive his message home. – and you can too.               

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One of our prime focuses is to keep abreast of this sector and inform our clients and the business world in general through speaking engagements, blogging, interviews, article writing and in other forms of communications about the movements being made to green the media supply chain. Walk your talk, right?   

Here are a few environmental wake-up calls for corporations to consider concerning their communications:

• Printing 10,000 bumper stickers equals 1.6 tons of CO2
• Printing a 10,000 piece mailing equals 2.1 tons of CO2
• Printing 10,000 yard signs equals 10.7 tons of CO2

The impact of these activities have been largely overlooked but websites such as SustainCommWorld.com are in the forefront of our industry providing research and awareness in this arena.  They found out the 10% of the companies they surveyed had not even considered reporting on the carbon footprint of the publications they advertise in.  In an effort to create meaningful change in the greening of the media supply chain, they publish articles, newsletters and produce tradeshows in order to move the needle for marketers and business owners towards true sustainability in the marketing field.

The challenges are certainly unique in the world of green marketing.  From the media carbon footprint to the lack of standards for determining what it means to be a green product to communicating a message truthfully, authentically and credibly.  This always brings us back to the Golden Rule.  Do to others as you would like them to do to you.  It can’t get any greener than that. 

(Exerpt from upcoming book, “Inside the Minds: Greening your Business” by Thompson Reuters. Green Marketing chapter written by Carolyn Parrs and Irv Weinberg)    

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Irv and I will be featured speakers on November 12 presenting “The Ten Commandments of Green Marketing.”  Other Speakers include Roxanne Quimby, founder of Burt’s Bees, Seth Goldman of Honest Tea, Tom Szaky, founder of TerraCycle, Miranda Magagnini, co-founder of IceStone, Sharon Rowe of Eco-Bags Products, and dozens more socially responsible business pioneers and marketing experts. Workshops cover everything from responsible sourcing of raw goods to cutting edge marketing strategies.

You will:

•  Learn cutting edge marketing strategies to stand out in a field of green
•  Get the coaching to succeed in this growing marketplace
•  Grow your green business with innovative financial models
•  Find out how becoming climate neutral is good for your community, your customers, and your business
•  Network with green businesses like yours
•  Get inspired by innovative business leaders
•  Discover the powerful business case for going green
•  Hold up a beacon of authenticity in the age of greenwashing

Perfect Balance of Work and Play

• After a full day, relax and enjoy the company of your peers with great entertainment and fine organic cuisine

Seventh Generation CEO, Jeffrey Hollander, says, “When it comes to green business, this conference is as good as it gets… the best collection of green business leaders you’ll meet anywhere.”

What others are saying:

“This conference is the leading forum for honing our business skills and inspiring each other to ever-greater success.” — Jan Bruce, Publisher, Body + Soul Magazine

“Green Business Conference is a forum to explore and launch sustainable livelihoods for all, where businesses embrace green collar careers and create pathways out of poverty.” – Van Jones, President/Founder, Green for All

“I can’t tell you how inspiring the last three days have been.” — Phil Baum, Green Exchange and Baum Realty

“Thank you, thank you to everyone for such an excellent, well-planned wonderful green conference. I was really impressed with the speakers and workshops. I’ve heard nothing but great comments from everyone at Clif Bar who attended.” — Elysa Hammond, Ecologist, Clif Bar, Inc.

This conference won’t break your budget

Registration includes all keynote speakers, workshop sessions, entertainment, and organic meals for the entire conference.  To register now for the low price of $450 (a $200 discount) and learn more, visit: http://www.coopamerica.biz/ | 202-872-5330

Right after the conference, stick around for the largest green festival in the country, held just one mile away, Nov. 14-16, at the San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center. http://www.coopamerica.biz/ | http://www.greenfestivals.org/ .

– Carolyn

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Their reason? A sense of responsibility to give back to society and make the world a better place. 

Whether this decision is guilt or gut, as marketers we should celebrate these finding in all our communications. For many years, marketers focused heavily on the 18-24 demographic and usually ignored the 55+ consumers. All that needs to change.

These 55 plusers have shown the willingness and the consciousness to opt for greener, healthier and better products that not only benefit them but the planet — and the rest of us. Their vibrant purchasing patterns show how easily they adapt to a changing marketplace and how significantly they have changed it.

How we portray this group is of maximum importance. Make them as alive as the products they overwhelmingly buy and support their wisdom in doing so.        

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The first “E” stands for ecology.  Ecology and planetary concerns.  It’s the initial engine that got the whole movement started in the first place.

The second “E” and equally important is economy.  There isn’t anyone standing with a gas nozzle in their hands that isn’t thinking hybrids and alternative energy sources.  Just the other day, there was a package of $2.99 corn I saw in Trader Joe’s that made me think that the price of corn is spiking as quickly as oil.  Then there’s the unknown effects this year’s weather will have on the fall crop yields that we’ll all be paying for soon.

Take note green marketers, the economic benefits of green products is the great story that needs to be told as bank accounts shrink faster that glaciers.

The last “E” in green is efficacy.  Green doesn’t only have to do good, it has to work good.  Think of the clever naming of the new line from Clorox called ”Green Works”.  That makes sense because many early adapters to green products gave up a lot of performance for their conscience.  But that’s no longer true.

If you want to successfully sell green products in a market governed by today’s realities, you have to get your priorities in order and balance your message accordingly.  Grand-dads in trout streams, Kermit the frog, lofty lyrics and make-believe messages aren’t going to do it.

Tell me how you’re going to respect my needs, my values and my intelligence first.  Then we can talk.   

Irv

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Today more than 90% of peer-reviewed scientific studies say climate change is real and humans are contributing to it in one form or another.  Images that flash across the Weather Channel compete with the Chiller Channel for sheer horror as tornadoes devastate, rivers rise and flood, heat sears the nation, and cyclones leave thousands homeless or dead.  

All this attention, plus record-breaking energy prices, are motivating consumers across the globe to demand action.  

Billions of dollars are being invested in companies developing alternative energy and other sustainable technologies. Customers, shareholders and employees are pressing companies to reduce their carbon footprints and adopt other sustainability initiatives.  

The risk of inaction overwhelms the benefits of taking action to protect your hard-earned reputation and standing. We live at a time when opinion-driven news and commentary spreads like a virus. What does it say about your company if you don’t say or do something positive and proactive?  Can you afford to sit in silence on the sidelines?  The answer I think is a resounding no.

It is incumbent on every organization to state its actions and intentions. Not with platitudes and hot air, but with substance.  You have to say what you are doing and what you intend to do and state it clearly, precisely and without grandiosity.

Energy company commercials with central casting Granddads teaching their cherubic Grandsons how to fly fish are not going to do it.  We need to hear how much they are investing in alternative sources of energy that will get us off our addiction to foreign oil.  They need to show us that they are not just sucking money out of our pockets, but rather investing profits in a more sustainable future.  We have reached the point where it’s not just polar bears that are endangered, it’s us.

Once again it comes back to our basic premise that meaningful change is beginning to take place because the issue has become personal, not just planetary. With the East Coast boiling, the Mid-West flooding, and the West Coast burning, climate change is no longer something we can just talk about; it’s something we all have to do something about. Buying green, thinking green, talking green and insisting on green may not be the entire answer, but it is a start.

Developing, implementing, and effectively communicating a coherent sustainability strategy will cost real money, but failure to act will cost a lot more. Are there steps you can take now to protect and enhance your reputation?  What actions can you take to enhance your competitive position? Can you grow your business by developing green products that educated consumers will want to buy?  Those are just a few of the questions every business leader has to answer — not someday, but now.

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