Basic Idea 1: Avoid the general, go for the specific. By now we should all know that terms like ‘Eco-Friendly’, ‘Natural’, ‘Planet-Friendly’, ‘Green’ and ‘Whale-Lovin’ are pretty vague. OK, I made the last one up. But you get the idea. If you have a legitimate claim, spell it out. Better yet, get your product or service certified by a legitimate third-party organization.

Basic Idea 2: Pay close attention to the ‘able’ in Compostable, Degradable and Recyclable. If your product only breaks down in a large scale, commercial composting facility, better make sure there’s one nearby that your customers can get it to on garbage day if you want to call it ‘compostable’ without further explanation. Same goes for ‘recyclable’. Unqualified recyclable claims should only be made where product or package can be  recovered from the solid-waste stream through a recycling program for reuse or use in manufacturing. Otherwise you have to say something like ‘recyclable where facilities exist’ – which is quite lame.

Basic Idea 3: Don’t claim your product is ‘Free Of’ one toxin if you’ve replaced it with another. There are more synthetic chemicals these days than you can shake a test tube at. If you are removing the bad-boy ingredient of the week and adding something else that does the same thing, better make sure it doesn’t have the same M.O. And no shady semantics with taking stuff out that has nothing to do with the category. ‘PVC-Free Applesauce’ might get you a visit from the FTC.

If you are in Canada, ignore the above. Apparently, our fair nation trusts its manufacturers and snake-oil salesmen a lot more, because even though we launched some similar ‘DRAFT’ legislation back in 2008, it does not seem to yet have been given teeth.

But why not just do it right-ish in the first place? You may have to export to the US or Europe someday, and in the meantime, your Green Karma will build nicely.

This is just one of the conclusions of a study done by OgilveEarth (itself a mainstream version of a green brand) in their latest study, Mainstream Green, presented by Freya Williams.
Ogilve’s main thrust is that most people would prefer not to change the habits and attitudes that Madison Avenue has so lovingly taught them over the last 75 years or so. That is, life is to be lived conveniently while driving fast and keeping up with the Joneses – all at WalMart prices.
For marketers of more sustainable products and services here are a few key points, edited for brevity. And maybe just a bit editorialized. Sorry.

• Most people value themselves first, then their families, then community, then country, while the planet that supports the whole thing falls to a distant 5th.
• 70% of Americans would rather cure cancer than save the environment (presumably not linking the two issues very effectively) In China, where you can cut the air with a chainsaw, the ratio is reversed.
• Keep innovating. Sustainability should be New! Modern! SEXY!
• Lose the burlap, leaves and earths from all green packaging.
• Turn eco-freindly into male-ego-friendly. Apparently carrying a reusable shopping bag is too purse-like (No, I didn’t make this up!)
• Reassure people that they are ‘normal’ in making sustainable behaviour change.

Certainly the report makes good points.
Of course, they are correct when they say the masses are key to massive change. And I would love for all electric cars to have the performance of a Tesla with a Hyundai price. But to me, if Al Gore is a doctor saying we have to exercise or we will die, OgilveEarth’s report is trying to sell us a fat-jiggling belt that melts off pounds while we sleep.
Download the report for yourself here and let me know if you agree.

Insights:
Nike opened with a survey that looked at the attitudes of 17-year olds, but, with an interesting twist. They decided to exclude any participants who self-identified as ‘green’. Thus, their study was much more focused on mainstream attitudes. Their main finding: the word ‘Sustainability’ does not resonate with non-green 17-year-olds at all. A typical response: “Sustainability isn’t easy or compelling. It’s confusing. I want to do the right thing, I just don’t know how.” Nike’s answer: branding their sustainability as ‘Better World’.
Winner: Nike

Technology:
Alexis Olans from Adidas presented their sustainability strategy, ironically titled ‘Better Place’. It focused largely on the significant reduction in samples and waste from their 3-D design and modeling technology, and showcased the ‘Adiverse’ – a full wall-sized touch-screen in-store kiosk that lets buyers review all aspects of the shoes in animated full-screen interactive glory. Had the whole place reaching for their cel phones to get a picture of it.
Winner: Adidas

The Big Picture:
Overall, Adidas’ main sustainability claim seemed to be a beautifully dressed-up version of reducing manufacturing waste through better design and modeling technology.
Nike’s ‘Better World’ initiative, on the other hand, appears to be aimed at their whole system of business. One quote from their top-secret slides: “Embed Better World in everything we do.” The kicker was their Better World manifesto, delivered in a video montage made of “100% recycled ads” and voiced by Phil Knight, Nike founder and a majority shareholder. (Have a look below) If they can lead with sustainability the way they do with branding, it will be a great example to the rest of the corporate world.
Nike, Winner by a knockout.

Each group views the world differently and will experience a different type of cynicism that defines their green skepticism. Have a look at these four points of view and see if you recognize yourself or anyone you know:

• Navy (Absolutistic)  Life is a test. “Global warming is a scam. It’s ridiculous liberal propaganda. It’s arrogant to think that man could change the climate.”
• Copper (Individualistic) Life is a game. “It’s not my job to take care of the weak, the lazy and the incompetent. They’ve got to suck it up and learn to take care of themselves”
• Jade (Humanistic) One human family. “Earth is a fragile system which is collapsing due to corporate greed.”
• Gold (Systemic) Life is a system. “Why am I always the only grownup in the room? This is exhausting. Maybe I should just say ‘to hell with it’ and get stinking rich before the world collapses”

So as a sustainability marketer, how can you better understand the worldview types you may encounter? In one empathy exercise, we were tasked to write a paragraph from a different coloured point of view from our own, as if they were stuck at a sustainability conference against their will. Then we were asked how we might encourage them to stay engaged. Here is my ‘Copper CEO Complaint’

“I can’t believe I am here wasting my time. The corporate jet can’t fuel up fast enough, this fast-talking new-age freak is really getting on my nerves. Can’t he see the bottom line is really the only judge of any business decision? I’d like to see him try pedaling this rainbow crap to the executive! Maybe I can find some way to write this off.”

To counter, Roberts advises framing the discussion with metaphors and language appropriate for the worldview. Copper thinkers fear being low status or losing control. They are also competitive ‘gamers’. So a response to the diatribe above might go something like this:

“Well, Chief, there are bottom line considerations here that may not be evident at first. You know our customers don’t always think like the executive, and we don’t want our competition getting a head start on this sustainability stuff before we do.”

Here are a few more notes on the four worldview types:

Navy Thinkers:

• Associate the word green with hype, crap, scam, lie,nothing, political propaganda
• Value protecting their families (eg, against toxins)
• Hate China
• Eat a lot of organic foods, yet care less about a company’s  environmental record. It’s about purity

Copper Thinkers:

• Top enviro concerns: population growth, resource scarcity
• “If we don’t do it, they’re gonna, and then where will we be?”
• Like fast cars
• Fair Trade (living wage) is most important in product sustainability

Jade Thinkers

• Judge through networks, friends, 3rd parties
• Likely to change if their kids tell them to
• Fear being selfish, of losing social connection

Gold Thinkers

• Look at processes, not brand names
• Choose the environment over personal comfort
• Gold sees everything as a possibility
• Chameleon like qualities of gold thinkers make them hard to pin down

For more on Roberts Worldview, or their recent study co-authored with the Shelton Group, visit their websites.
http://www.worldviewthinking.com/
http://www.sheltongrp.com/

For the rest of the sessions, according to your survey votes, here are some of the talks I should see:

• Inspiring Sustainability in Skeptics
• Managing For Change: Stages of Sustainability Maturity
• Reality Check: Evaluating & Combating Consumer’s Green Fatigue
• Fun and Impact: Making the Connection and
• Dissecting Communications from the Top 10 Green Brands

Networking-wise, most respondents were interested in meeting folks from Disney, Best Buy and Saatchi & Saatchi. But by far the most votes encouraged me to seek out “the (other) freakiest-looking person in the room”. I’m on it.

Best suggestion for non-conference gonzo-journalistic activities: “Strippers. How to live green by wearing less.”

The survey is still posted, so there’s time for a few more entries in the ‘Green California Souvenir’ contest.

Otherwise it’s off to Monterey….

Remember, you can follow all the fun in real-time on my Twitter feed @GreenBriefs.

The report, entitled Unleashed: How New Consumers Will Revolutionize Brands and Scale Sustainability (March 2011), features ‘videos and photo journals from representative consumers, as well as insights from some of the world’s most powerful and forward-thinking brands.’ It is a very well-designed document, and is a great rich-PDF viewing experience. Definitely worth a download for sustainability-focused marketers.

So what of this new group of responsible purchasers? Are they really taking over? Well, BBMG is a strategy and marketing group who makes their living creating programs targeted at the ‘New Consumer’, so it’s no surprise they paint them as the next great wave destined to sweep the consumerscape. All the same, it’s no secret that everyone is more aware of ingredients and supply chain, and how many people do you know that actually want ‘more stuff’?

I certainly see myself in the ‘New Consumer’ group. Which may not be that great a thing for corporations hoping for a consumer-spending-fired economic recovery. What would happen to the world’s economy if shoppers all suddenly switched to riding their 15-year-old bikes to the Thrift Store and only buying a car every 10 years? At least the microbreweries would flourish.

All speculation aside, the main impression I got from the report was one of inspiration and optimism. There are some brands doing very interesting things, and now I don’t feel quite so alone in my quest for the most environmentally-benign toilet cleaner.

Any marketer with sustainability on the radar would be wise to take the ‘New Consumer’ into consideration. And Wal-Mart better hope they don’t take over completely.

Sustainability more than a feel good initiative
Bob Willard brought a big corporate boardroom table approach with his presentation, ‘Communicating the Business Case for Sustainability’.
Quoting from a new Harvard Business Review study, Willard now describes corporate sustainability as a ‘business imperative’. Using the oft referenced symbol of the 3-legged stool, he urged green champions to abandon the ‘save the world’ rhetoric.
“Laying a guilt trip on someone is no way to connect with them” Willard suggested.
“It’s important to be flexible in language that you use. When talking with business types, use business language.”
So instead of ‘People, Planet, Profits’, consider sustainability as ‘Asset Management’ with categories like

• Financial Capital/Built Capital
• Natural Capital
• Human/Social Capital

Through his experience and research, SME companies that embrace these virtues stand to increase profits by at least 66% over 5 years.
And this is not a temporary thing. Willard describes the most recent economic upheaval as unique in that it’s the first recession where the corporate focus on green issues actually increased.
“The Sustainability Imperative is a Megatrend, magnified by escalating public and environmental concern,” Willard continued. Quoting from a May Harvard Business Review article, he explained that “Environmental issues have steadily encroached on businesses’ capacity to create value for stakeholders. That’s why companies must convert this threat to an opportunity.”

The most exciting developments are happening at the local / municipal and provincial / state levels
Willard encouraged everyone in the room to continue down the green path, no matter what the scale of their enterprise.
“Get on with it. Do not wait. People are taking ownership locally. It’s happening. The timing is perfect.”

For a room full of small businesses branding themselves as a ‘Green Zone’, these were welcome words, indeed.

The Green Briefs 2 Bits: Taking ownership and offering connections at the regional level may have greater effect than it first appears. I suspect we may well see more local neighbourhoods, communities and business groups take a similar sustainability approach, as the business case for green outpaces big business and big government’s ability to adapt.

– Post From My iPhone

You would think that companies as large and bristling with lawyers as Unilever and the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group would know better than to play fast and loose with health claims. Apparently not. On August 23 the FDA slammed them, saying to Canada Dry that “…the soft drink does not meet federal requirements to carry the claim that the drink is “enhanced with 200 mg of antioxidants from green tea and vitamin C.” and the ingredients “are not nutrients with recognized antioxidant activity.” To Lipton they said their labeling is misleading because it suggests Lipton tea is designed to treat or prevent disease. Ouch.

So what happened? Did some over-zealous white lab-coat type come screaming up to the marketing department carrying a rat recently in remission, claiming a glass of green tea ginger ale had anti-oxidated it back to health? Or was it a shady boardroom deal, where nefarious marketing types cackled with glee as they crafted the offending labels to deliberately mislead an unsuspecting public?

Probably neither. It looks to me like a simple case of ‘claim creep’, whereby a small side-benefit gets gradually built up until it finds itself leading the marketing pack. Usually with little backing from the research department.

Have you got a product or service claim with less than stellar credentials? Is there one thing you’ve been saying for so many years now that no one really knows if it’s even true? Take a look and do something about it.

Because if you don’t, someone else might.

When I see some of the big-money idiocy that passes for brand advertising these days, (Yes, the ad you see above is real) I want to throw this smart little book at marketing heads left and right. That’s one of the reasons I bought a box of them. The other, I must admit, is that Unicycle Creative (the agency behind Green Briefs) is featured as one of the brand examples.
Branding Basics for Small Business has a lot of information packed into its pages, from classics like 10 Key Questions for building your strategy to sections that address today’s issues (“I know my brand strategy… it’s to build a Facebook page!”) And author Maria Ross’ Brand Building Blocks format makes it easy for busy businesspeople of all levels to visualize a process that has stumped more MBA’s than a Sudoku with a typo.
I was proud to have been interviewed for the ‘Choosing a Name’ section. It was a chance to remind the world that a name with a good story behind it is well worth the up-front investment. It’s one step that, done right, can help market your business forever.
If you want a free copy of Branding Basics for Small Business for yourself, leave a comment below and offer up your best brand advice. If you miss this little promo (quantities limited, etc etc) is easy to order a copy online at Norlights Press (one of the friendliest virtual booksellers I’ve met) and it’s a bargain at only $15.95.

The 5th Annual ImagePower® Green Brands Survey is out, with some encouraging and surprising results. First, the environment is not going away, despite our best attempts to kill it. With over 9000 people polled in eight countries (Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India and the United Kingdom) this study concludes that overall, concern for the environment is up 3.5%. And the growth is coming from some very interesting places.

Emerging economies are the new eco marketing goldmines.

While cost remains the biggest hurdle to buying green in mature markets like Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, the environment still trumps the economy as the issue of greatest concern in the emerging economies of India and Brazil. While 30 percent of all survey respondents plan to spend more on green products next year, in Brazil, China, and India that number rises to more than 70 percent. In China and India, this is a 9 and 3 percent increase, respectively, over 2009. HELLO makers of green products!! Massive Market ALERT!! In China, confusing labeling makes purchases a struggle; shoppers can’t figure out which products are truly more ecofriendly. I guess their packaging communications problems aren’t limited to bad English translations. Seriously though, China could really benefit from a well-managed certification system. Green certification agencies like Canada’s Terrachoice (managers of Canada’s successful ECO-LOGO program) have their work cut out for them.

Message from the world to corporations: Stop poisoning us.

Across the board, consumers want to buy from environmentally responsible companies. And their #1 concern: reducing toxics. It has become the cost of entry for brands in most markets, the survey says. As Google becomes a global verb, the transparency of toxic ingredients, manufacturing processes and disposal issues will only increase. Water conservation takes second place in Australia, Brazil, China, and India, while consumers in France, Germany, and the United States focus on the use of recycled materials. British consumers show the most interest in reducing the amount of packaging used, ranking it second behind toxin removal.

The Green Briefs Two Bits:

While this survey focuses on global brands and attitudes, there is learning for local green brands as well.  The good news is that consumers generally trust green advertising, especially in developing markets. But people decide for themselves what ‘green’ means, so it’s up to you to find out what your customers value most. Clear communication and transparency will always be in style. And best of all, we’re on the side that’s winning. So stay the course. The world will beat a path to our door.