Members of the Green Marketing Coalition (GMC) believe marketers have a responsibility to reduce our own impact on the environment, not just promote our clients’ green products.

That’s why, in 2007, a group of marketers banded together to help develop their own best practices for green marketing – and discover what others are doing to reduce their carbon footprints.

Hacker Group invited representatives from Washington Mutual, Kawasaki, MSP, Nahan Printing Inc., Data-Mail, Cascade Land Conservancy, American Recycling, KP Corporation, Optima Health, BECU and FASTSIGNS to join the GMC. The first item on the agenda was to help define and establish green marketing standards and guidelines. Coalition members now meet quarterly and are helping to demystify green marketing, making it accessible for companies of all sizes.

We believe there’s no reason why companies can’t begin to take small steps toward reducing their carbon footprints now.

Here are our current Green Marketing Guidelines

As direct marketers have more choices than ever on how to spend their ever dwindling marketing budget, I thought it would be helpful to pass along some useful information, some from our paper mill partners, that will help marketers as they evaluate various options of how to best get their message out to consumers.

In our personal lives, we have all taken important steps to reduce our impact on the environment and in most cases, we have in our business lives as well. It is important that we each do our part. Recent studies have found the following:

• 43% of companies plan to increase spending on green marketing practices in 2009.
• 82% of consumers are focused on buying green products and services.
• 7 out of 10 consumers pay attention to company practices regarding the environment and 35% have a higher interest today than one year ago.
• 57% of the population is now aware of the term "carbon footprint" up from 38% in 2007

Print communication can be a responsible and effective choice for green marketing. Paper mills and printers have been meeting their environmental goals as recycling and responsible forest practices have greatly increased in recent years. Here are some examples:

• U.S. forestland has increased by 10 million acres in the last 20 years.    
• In 2007, 57% of all paper and paperboard waste (45.2 million tons) were recovered from recycling and 40.3% of standard mail was recovered, up from 23.9% in 2003. 
• The EPA reported that only 2% of municipal waste was generated by advertising mail but many adults incorrectly thought the figure to be substantially higher, at 53%. 
• A recent study concluded that consumers rank direct mail 3.9 out of 5 as their preferred channel of marketing. E-mail follows at 3.7 and all ohers rank below.
• 75% say they have made a purchase as a result of direct mail and catalogs and direct mail generate the second and third highest response rates, just behind telemarketing.

Using environmentally responsible paper for print projects costs less than many people realize as a November ’08 study showed that 2/3 of marketing/creative professionals incorrectly believed that "green" paper costs more, by an average of 23%. In many cases, it often costs the same as "virgin" paper -- and there are substantially more choices available today from every major paper supplier and mill than ever before.  

 

According to the Winterberry Group’s 2009 Direct Mail Trends report, direct mail marketers were focused on promoting efforts to go green in 2008. In fact, Winterberry cites, in 2008, more printing service providers (some 1,492) were certified by the Forest Stewardship Council—an independent body that promotes responsible forest management—than ever before. What’s more, the Direct Marketing Association introduced its Green 15 initiative, setting out a formal set of “environmentally responsible decisions” for its members worldwide. And the Federal Trade Commission revisited its “Green Guides,” introducing new packaging requirements that provide general guidelines for all environmental marketing claims, including popular green marketing terms “recyclable” and “biodegradable.” However, as the recession took hold, businesses and consumers directed their attentions away from green initiatives and refocused on the very real concerns of income and commercial survival.

As marketers grappling with how to drive business and simultaneously committed to employing environmentally sound practices, what are some realistic direct mail program tactics we can recommend and implement that are both financially and environmentally sound’ One to consider might be digital print on demand. K/P Corporation CEO Susan Kelly offers her thoughts on the benefits of digital print on demand in a March 16 DMNews article, “It’s Easy Being Green, with the Right Tactics.” 

In short, by leveraging digital assets that allow for personalized communication and print on demand tactics that make it possible, marketers can create more relevant dialogue with clients and prospects and drive leads, while at the same reducing print, delivery, storage and disposal costs and their consequential environmental impact.

Mr. Brett Olszewski is Chief Marketing and Sales Officer for K/P Corporation.

I wanted to share MSP’s Earth Day/Week activities and inquire as to what others may be planning or doing, and then share a few thoughts regarding sustainability.

Our organization decided to seize the momentum that has been growing related to our green movement and really make Earth Day/Week standout.  Obviously the goal is to raise awareness of the green initative, with our primary purpose this year of focusing our employees on the little things that each person does that can help the environment on a daily basis.  For example, we are sending reminders regarding recycling, encouraging the use of one papertowel instead of five, and just asking for the use of "Good Green Judgment." 

We are also doing the following activities:

• Sending a "Celebrate Earth Day with MSP" card with wildflower seeds for planting.  We ask our clients that we send this to, to please plant the seeds, and we share some other activities we are engaging in, as well as announce our FSC certification.
• Earth Day Slogan Contest.  We are offering a $50 prize for the best entry.  We ask our employees to suggest a slogan for the MSP Green Team which will be the motto for the team for the remainder of 2009.
• "Get Caught Wearing Something Green".  We picked a day to promote green awareness.  All those who are "caught wearing something green" are put into a drawing for two $25 gift cards.
• On Earth Day (April 22nd) we are giving a piece of fruit (apple, orange, banana, watermelon slice) to each employee.
• Seed packet giveaway.  We are putting together several baskets throughout the organization that are full of seed packets.  Employees are encouraged to take a packet of their choice for planting.
• Green Goes Red Blood Drive.  Tying the green initiative into the greater sustainability issue, we are conducting an on-site blood drive administered by the Red Cross. Our target is for 38 employees to donate blood.  Response has been strong.
• Additional activies occuring around Earth week include the planting of numerous trees on the MSP property, grounds clean-up (a daily/weekly iniative within MSP) and the exploration of new lighting options plant wide to reduce electrical usage and increase efficiencies. 

I’d love to hear what you are doing, or your comments on these activities.

One other thought I’d like to leave you with is encouraging you to reflect upon the whole idea of sustainability, which provides an even broader array in terms of making a difference.  As a Human Resources practitioner I am exposed to considerable information related to this growing movement.  In my opinion, sustainability encompasses green practices, but then takes them a bit broader.  Sustainability deals with ensuring the future survivial of our earth on a large scale, but there is the interesting component which focuses on the health of our organizations too -- making sure we have solid policies, procedures, management, fiscal responsibility, etc., in place to sustain the business, meet our customer needs, contribute to the community, the list goes on and on.  I guess the bottom line in my opinion is that being green (and expanding into overall sustainability) is not only the right thing to do - it actually makes sense in terms of the business model too!