On this Earth Day, Here is an post regarding "Green Marketing"

Green Marketing: What it is and how to do it.

By Laura Briere & Bruce Mendelsohn

Consumers expect to double their spending on green products and services in the next year, totaling an estimated $500 billion annually or $43 billion per month, according to new findings from the 2007 ImagePower Green Brands Survey, conducted by WPP’s Landor Associates, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates and Cohn & Wolfe.

The survey also found that consumer perceptions of green continue to change according to various collective definitions and contribute directly to buying decisions.

Green marketing is the responsible way to market your products/services by using technology, conservation and minimizing waste. If you haven’t started green marketing, the information below will help you on your way.

Going green, after all, is just a matter of changing your perception from focusing only on “tried and true” to the creative “let’s try something different.” What used to work still can, but the modern green revolution has opened up a whole new realm of opportunity for new marketing.

Some examples of great new technologies include blogs, social networking, e-newsletters, and online advertising. These complement the “tried and true” methods of public relations, cause marketing, viral marketing, and other activities that leverage the power of the media, word of mouth marketing and human interest.

The easiest way to get started with green marketing is to take a step back from your business and perform a brief green marketing audit. You should already have many of the answers, but it’s in your best interest to ask yourself again and step outside of your comfort zone. You may find it beneficial to consult a qualified marketing professional who can help expose you to a whole new world of green marketing options.

Create your green marketing plan:

• Perform a market analysis and establish your “ground.”
• Where is your company in the market?
• What is your competition doing?
• Segment your business offerings by “who buys what.”
• What do your customers have in common?
• Are you offering too much?
• Are you trying to be everything to everyone?
• Determine your product/service market.
• Is it priced appropriately?
• Does it cost enough? Too much?
• Identify your core “green” messages.
• What green messages are you trying to convey to your customers?
• What is the basic POINT behind your messages? (Note: These are NOT your taglines

Outline what your core green “brand elements” should be/are.

• What does green marketing specifically look like as applied to your company?
• How do you want your customers to perceive your green marketing initiatives?
• Determine if your web site is in line with your marketing objectives and target markets.
• Is it up to date?
• Does it offer the latest technologies?
• Can you manage it yourself?
• Is it up to the highest standards in technology?
• Can you leverage the latest and greatest tools in new media?
• What can you change?
• Align your “green marketing plan” with your overall marketing objectives and target markets.
• Where possible, use metrics to align the two plans.
• Does your green marketing plan take advantage of the latest technologies?
• Can you manage it yourself?
• Determine the promotional areas in which you can get really creative/green.
• Can you leverage your commitment to green to help you spread your message?
• Which segments are going to care about your green marketing efforts?
• How much money can you save?
• How much money can you reallocate from previous methods to green and new freed-up opportunities?

Plan for feedback.

• How do you plan to get it?
• What will you do with it once you get it?

With so much focus on green marketing, many companies try to hop on the bandwagon by launching green initiatives that are in essence “greenwashing” or “green sheen.” These terms are generally used when companies spend significantly more money or time advertising being green (that is, operating with consideration for the environment), rather than investing resources on genuinely environmentally sound practices.

Consumers are increasingly knowledgeable of the difference between “real green” and “green sheen”; companies that invest resources in the latter risk significant negative PR when their greenwashing efforts are exposed.

In December 2007, environmental marketing company TerraChoice gained national press coverage for releasing a study called “The Six Sins of Greenwashing,” which found that 99% of 1,018 common consumer products randomly surveyed for the study were guilty of greenwashing. According to the study, the six sins of greenwashing are:

• Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off: e.g. “Energy-efficient” electronics that contain hazardous materials. 998 products and 57% of all environmental claims committed this Sin.
• Sin of No Proof: e.g. Shampoos claiming to be “certified organic,” but with no verifiable certification. 454 products and 26% of environmental claims committed this Sin.
• Sin of Vagueness: e.g. Products claiming to be 100% natural when many naturally-occurring substances are hazardous, like arsenic and formaldehyde (see appeal to nature). Seen in 196 products or 11% of environmental claims.
• Sin of Irrelevance: e.g. Products claiming to be CFC-free, even though CFCs were banned 20 years ago. This Sin was seen in 78 products and 4% of environmental claims.
• Sin of Fibbing: e.g. Products falsely claiming to be certified by an internationally recognized environmental standard like EcoLogo, Energy Star or Green Seal. Found in 10 products or less than 1% of environmental claims.
• Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: e.g. Organic cigarettes or “environmentally friendly” pesticides, This occurred in 17 products or 1% of environmental claim

Laura Briere is CEO & Founder of Vision Advertising, a marketing communications firm based in Worcester, MA. She is also head of the World Green Business Association.

Engaging a Booth Visitor

DSC_0394
Originally uploaded by The Advertising Research Foundation

When you get it right, the visitor responds and you can enjoy a short but substantive conversation. If they leave with a smile, odds are good that they'll remember the interaction positively.

Working the Booth at ARF's Conference in NYC

DSC_0393
Originally uploaded by The Advertising Research Foundation

Make no mistake: Working exhibit hall floors at conferences is mentally and physically demanding. Every visitor demands personal attention, and being bombarded by unscrupulous salespeople makes visitors naturally reticent to engage in conversations.

I use expansive hand gestures, a wide smile, and small talk to engage a visitor, and gradually go into a soft sales approach. Only after I know the visitor's name, their company and some of their unique business challenges do I pose my organization as a potential solution.

The Next Brilliant Marketing Idea: Official Dirt

While on a recent Southwest flight, I set down my latest read (The Coldest War, by David Halberstam) in favor of Southwest's entertaining in-flight magazine. In an article about St. Patrick's Day I read about a new product available for Irish people who miss the Old Country: Official Irish Dirt.


You can check out their web site at http://www.officialirishdirt.com/, and there for $20 purchase four small bags of official Irish dirt, shamrock seeds, and get free shipping.

The concept of Official Irish Dirt got me thinking about other official dirt-selling opportunities, which I have listed below:

• Official West Bank Dirt: For the Palestinian in All of Us


• Official Afghanistan Dirt: When You Miss Your Taliban Roots


• Official Iraq Dirt: Nothing grows in it, but under it you may find WMD


• Official D.C. Dirt: (So many directions to take with this one--it's just too easy)


• Official New Orleans Dirt: Comes with official sea water, so you can submerge it


• Official French Dirt: Start Your Own Vineyard


• Official Ukraine Dirt: Invade it, Rebuild It, Contaminate It


• Official Green Bay Dirt: Maybe Brett Favre Will Come Back, After All


• Official North Korea Dirt: No Matter What You Do, Nothing Grows in It


• Official German Dirt: Deutschland, Deutschland uber Alles in der Welt
• Official Saudi Arabia Dirt: Dig Deeply Enough and You May Strike Oil

In so many ways, official Dirt is a brilliant product for the sole reason that even as our attachments to each other become more electronic, we remain nostalgic for physical places--to have a sense of place. With Official Dirt we can take that place with us wherever we go.

I think I am going to buy some DC Dirt right now: Maybe I can get some from near the Mayflower Hotel and see what pops up.

While Other Local Airports Thrive, High on a Hilltop, Worcester's Airport Remains Disused

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal featured an article in the Personal Journal section about the potential success rural regional airports can have in relieving congestion at larger airports closer to urban areas.

Referring to the notion that "the idea has worked elsewhere," the article mentioned airports around Boston as examples of this success. Providence and Manchester are the prime examples, along with "fledgling development" at Worcester, Mass., and former military bases in Portsmouth, N.H., and Bedford, Mass.

I'm assuming here that the "fledgling development" at ORH refers to the $15.7 million white elephant of a terminal, $1.4 million invested to expand the airport access road (which as all locals know is just a shortcut to avoid Webster Square and get to Paxton), and $12 million to enhance operational reliability including a Surface Movement Control Guidance System (SMCGS).

Propaganda from the Worcester city "machine" about ORH says there is "strong commitment from local, state and federal officials to ensure the airport's future viability" but beyond the aforementioned efforts I have uncovered no concrete manifestations of that commitment.

Rather, there are the high-profile "committees" comprised of local functionaries, the cash-cow feasibility studies that go to local firms, and the back-and-forth recriminations that mark business as usual in Worcester.

So I wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal to help clarify why ORH remains disused--and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

* * *

Dear Editor,

Regarding Scott McCartney's article in which he highlights the growth of Stewart and similar airports located near highly congested urban areas, the airport in Worcester, Massachusetts was once positioned as "Logan East." However, beset by internecine local politics and notoriously bad weather, there is currently no scheduled airline service to Worcester.

I assume Mr. McCartney's "fledgling development" refers to the $15.7 million terminal and the more than $12 million invested in operational reliability enhancements, including a Surface Movement Control Guidance System (SMCGS).

What exactly the SMCGS is controlling and guiding is to be determined: ORH hasn't had commercial service since August 2006, when Allegiant Air cut ties with the airport, citing high fuel costs and passenger loads in the 75% range. ORH was last year snubbed by low-cost carrier Skybus Airlines, which opted instead to serve Chicopee's Westover Metropolitan Airport.

Compounding ORH's inconvience is the lack of a direct connection to an interstate highway (potential passengers must travel at least five miles on winding surface streets to reach the airport).

While more than six million potential passengers live within a 50-mile radius of ORH, the airport's marble floors and plate glass windows have made ORH a dusty, disused, out-of-the-way example of why some rural airports cannot attract the passengers and commercial airlines so vital to alleviating air traffic problems across the U.S.

You'd Think Worcester Would Make It More Affordable to Drink...

But, alas, no. In yet another sign that Worcester's elected representatives are utterly misguided and out of touch with those whom they purport to serve, we have this nugget from a recent edition of the Worcester Business Journal:

The Business of Booze: Worcester's Liquor License Fee Increases 38 Percent

Written by the clever and indefatigable Matt Brown (who manages to come up with pretty interesting stories in this desultory town), the article discusses how Worcester's license commission almost a year bumped up the annual liquor license cost from $2,000 to $2,750.

The increase is squeezing the purveyors of a substance that makes tolerable the fact that one is consigned to live in Worcester--that is, drink enough and you'll forget you're here.

The justification for the increase is laughable if you aren't familiar with the irrepressible attitude of Kevin O'Sullivan, chairman of the commission. I've met Kevin several times and he by God is a believer in Worcester. He's highly energetic, incredibly well connected, and believes strongly in Worcester's prominence as New England's second largest city.

His reasoning is that as New England's second largest city, Worcester should have liquor license fees similar to comparable cities like Boston, Hartford, and Providence. (Aside: I've been to Providence and I work near Hartford. The former is sufficiently attractive so as not to induce residents to want to drink themselves into a stupor to forget where they are; the latter closes down at 5:30 so there's no opportunity to do so.)

Quoted in the article, O'Sullivan says, "... I think Worcester has proven to be business-friendly." Let's review:

• Mass pike pass through Worcester? REJECTED
• Municipal government structure design? UNWIELDY
• Municipal services? REDUCED
• Main Street? HIDEOUSLY UNATTRACTIVE
• Opportunities for newcomers? MINIMAL

If the failure of well-intentioned initiatives to attract, bring and retain businesses Worcester (see "Destination Worcester", "Choose Worcester", etc.) is any indication, Worcester has proven repeatedly that it is NOT business friendly.

With respect to Mr. O'Sullivan, applying perfume to excrement makes the latter temporarily smell nicer. You look at it, it's still shit. Civic pride and blowsy rhetoric aside, the fact is Worcester has a long way to go before it can be considered either within or without the Commonwealth as "business-friendly."

Until Worcester has the kind of services that define world-class cities (like Providence and Boston), it's unfair to charge world class city license fees to hard-working restaurant owners. The increase represents precisely the kind of backward thinking that has relegated Worcester to joke status.

Now where's my drink?

From the Halls of Montezuma (NOT) to the Shores of Berkeley...

There are times, my friends, when the political pendulum swings so far in one direction as to render moderate citizens (like me) shaking their heads at the sheer lunacy of one side. In this case, I vent my ire at the Liberal left, as not surprisingly represented by the fine citizens of Berkeley, California.

Even as the father of a Marine is about to secure the Republican Presidential nomination, even as our Marines battle in Baghdad, assault in Afghanistan, and project our country's might and right throughout the world, these brave warriors are spurned in Berkeley.

Last week the Berkeley City Council approved a measure urging the Marine recruiters to leave their downtown office. "If recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders," the measure declares.

It goes on to say the council applauds residents and organizations who "volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley."

Berkeley's declaration, which was introduced by the city's Peace and Justice Commission, accuses the United States of having a history of "launching illegal, immoral and unprovoked wars of aggression and the Bush administration launched the most recent of those wars in Iraq and is threatening the possibility of war in Iran."

Reached for comment, Marine spokeswoman Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin blithely said "there is no plan for that office to move." Marines very rarely cede territory once they've gained it; and they certainly don't leave any of their comrades behind.

"The Marine Corps is here to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which does guarantee the freedom of speech," Franklin said. "In terms of the situation in Berkeley, the City Council and the protesters are exercising their right to do so."

Which the Marines--and the Army, Navy, and Air Force--are defending. Berkeley citizens: Where's your gratitude?

Fortunately, the Federal government has noticed Berkeley's stance. Several moderate Republicans introduced the Semper Fi Act of 2008. The Act would rescind more than $2 million of funds for Berkeley and transfer it to the Marine Corps.

Whether your representative is a Republican or a Democrat, this is one Act you should encourage him or her to support.