Boomerang

We’ve got a new Wolfie among our Pack. Cohn & Wolfe has launched Green Wolfie, a blog devoted to sustainability trends and issues from a global perspective. There you’ll learn how companies and consumers are going Green and doing their part to save our natural resources. It will be authored by our worldwide roster of sustainability experts including Geoff Beattie and Annie Longsworth. 

The blog coincides with the latest findings from our 2008 ImagePower Green Brands Survey produced in partnership with Landor and Penn, Schoen & Berland. The research, presented at the Sustainable Brands 08 conference, indicates that two out of three Americans think the environment is in worse shape than it was five years ago, and that lower income consumers have greater concern for the direction of the environment than wealthier consumers. Despite economic considerations, however, consumers are still willing to pay more for green products. For more information on survey results, contact Annie Longsworth at annie_longsworth@cohnwolfe.com.   

While at the Sustainable Brand 08 conference, Cohn & Wolfe conducted several video interviews with business leaders who spoke about their sustainability best practices and activities. You can view these clips on the Cohn & Wolfe YouTube channel and on the Green Wolfie blog.   

In addition, we’ve included additional content on sustainability such as articles, research and case studies on the C&W Sustainability Practice page of our corporate website.

(IMAGE CREDIT: OCCULT OF PERSONALITY)

I have struggled to explain, particularly to my boss, the general shift in thinking around prioritizing the environment over profits. It’s not a new concept – many sustainable companies have demonstrated that being environmentally friendly can also be profitable – but it’s a concept now being articulated in a new way. The idea of “For Good” instead of “For Profit,” with the knowledge (or trust?) that the money will follow, is beyond counterintuitive for most business leaders; it is heretical to say such a thing aloud. But Gary Hirschberg of Stonyfield Farm said it in a way that resonates in its simplicity: Rather than the planet being a subsidiary of the economy, the economy should be a subsidiary of the planet. And, even more simply stated: no healthy planet, no healthy economy.

One of most critical statements made by a presenter at Fortune’s Brainstorm Green was very simple and obvious: The environment has moved to the top of the agenda for CEOs and CIOs. One of the running themes of the event was the need – make that necessity – for NGOs, corporate America and politicians to work together on solutions before our time runs out.   The urgency of these discussions and the need for decisions were brought home by 16-year-old Avery Hairston, founder of RelightNY, who wryly concluded, “It’s great to see so many of you out there and caring for the environment even though you’re not necessarily going to inherit it.”

Many green advocates say it’s easy “go Green.” Try buying organic. Try bringing reusable bags to the grocery store instead of plastic. Try taking the bus. It’s simple to do! Or is it?

The No Impact Man blog paints a clear and vibrant picture of what it looks and feels like to go deeply Green. The blog describes Colin Beavan’s experience with a “no net environmental impact” lifestyle. He asks real and practical questions: “What would it be like to try to live a no impact lifestyle? Is it possible? Could it catch on? Is living this way more fun or less fun? More satisfying or less satisfying? Harder or easier? Is it worthwhile or senseless?”

Beavan’s “experiment” will go on for a year and includes the following: “no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets…” Not an easy task for a New Yorker and his family!

Community leaders like Beavan catalyze experimentation, discussion and awareness about Green alternatives. We will surely learn a lot from Colin Beavan because he is making a huge jump – actually redesigning his lifestyle around Green.

What impresses me most about the blog is Beavan’s honesty. He doesn’t simplify anything and he is sincere in describing the challenges of being eco-focused. You’ll learn a lot about how easy or hard it is to integrate green ways into your life – and for any marketer, that’s invaluable!

With among the lowest approval ratings of any President in U.S history, Bush’s political problems aren’t going away any time soon. His most recent communications push to convince the American public that nuclear energy is the solution for our global warming is what, for me, makes him such an impossible and frustrating leader. I can only image what it does to his numerous communication aides who rally daily trying to control, and having to defend, the Bush brand.

As many bloggers and journalists have pointed out recently, the first problem is that suddenly Bush, a.k.a. Mr. There’s No Such Thing as Global Warming, has stated: “There can be no solution [to global warming] without nuclear power.” Um… okay, so there is such a thing as global warming? For real?

My issue is not about content – many experts have agreed that nuclear is a direction worth exploring – but cadence. Hearing Bush promote his nuclear energy strategy on NPR, I was struck, as I have been so many times before, at the staccato ineffectiveness of his speech patterns. These are subtleties and will be hard to “hear” in a blog, but next time you listen to Bush speak, take notice and you’ll know what I mean.

His main message is “nuclear power is safe.” Given that, for a variety of obvious and historical reasons, many people hear the word “nuclear” and think “death, destruction, war,” you’d think Bush would want to come off as reassuring, confident and ready to educate. But instead, by talking in his distinct whine, speaking too quickly and emphasizing the wrong words, Bush manages to make nuclear sound even scarier that many already believe it to be.

It’s not easy to change adult speech patterns, granted, but this is so fundamental: Speak slowly. Speak clearly. Emphasize, in this case, the words “is” and “safe.” Have some empathy for your audience; learn to listen even when nobody else is talking, to compromise, to persuade and to convince. Most of all, please learn that you can’t change a person’s mind simply by hammering them on the head with a message over and over – that only dulls the noise.

If you want to learn more about living a green lifestyle you should start by talking to others that are knowledgeable about the topic. You can find lots of those people at SustainLane.com, a social network for people to find and share reviews on all things green, from organic macaroni and cheese and chocolate bars to eco-friendly furniture and electric scooters.

In addition to providing great pointers on where to find the green goods, Sustain Lane provides “US City Rankings” that illustrate how people’s quality of life and preparedness will fare in the face of our changing environment. San Francisco, “still a shining example”, ranks #2, (right behind Portland) on the list due to its innovative sustainability efforts. With so many green alternatives in my new hometown, it’s convenient to have a resource like SustainLane.com to help locate them.

For over eight hours, a few hundred communications professionals minimized the use of their Blackberries and cell phones to focus on one topic: the environment. PR Week’s Target Green event, held at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel on May 10, was a great success. The majority of top PR firms, along with many Bay Area and national companies, were in attendance. Just a few years ago this event would have been a much harder sell — but now, people were flying in from England and China to attend. More importantly, the event was a solid indicator that the environmental movement is no longer on the fringes of society. Given the breadth of topics covered – from fuel cells to fisheries; from green products to green brands – it was clear that Green has gone (or at least is in the process of going) mainstream.

Although the event was very positive, there was still room for improvement. For decades, the environmental movement has been driven by grassroots organizations that challenged the mainstream. High-profile organizations like the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, as well as smaller groups like the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, have played a critical part in getting us to where we are today. Unfortunately, their voices were conspicuously absent at Target Green. The panels would have been a lot more interesting had they included, or been moderated by, some of these players. In fact, a panel that focused on the communications challenges of these organizations would have been extremely interesting and informative.

I used to wonder why grassroots environmentalists found it so easy to criticize large companies that did anything environmentally positive; but I think I get it now. It would be so easy for corporate America to completely co-opt the Green movement – ultimately making it nothing more than a marketing gimmick – that the grassroots voice, one not motivated by profit, is needed to keep things in check.

I’m certainly not saying it’s bad that corporate America is interested in being Green; quite the opposite, it’s great! Today an increasing number of companies are striving to create more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly products; and that benefits us all. But the opportunity to loosely use the term “Green” in the same way some loosely use the term “Organic” is dangerous. One way we can keep this from happening is to make sure the people who dedicated their lives to this cause don’t become marginalized simply because the movement has grown in popularity. This is one area that will always benefit from people outside the mainstream pushing us to do more.

If there is a second Target Green, I’d love to see this perspective included.

Before I sound too negative, I should say I walked away from Target Green feeling very positive. I hope PR Week holds more of these events. Things have changed significantly over the last few years. So many businesses now look at the environmental movement and see an opportunity. That’s great! Best of all, we’re part of an industry that has the ability to play a major role in making a difference in the future of our planet. That’s powerful stuff. I can only hope we never forget there’s more than profit at stake.

What a difference a year can make! Last year’s Green brands study indicated that only a small percentage of the population cared even slightly about the environment. This year’s study, which Cohn & Wolfe did in conjunction with Landor Associates and Penn, Schoen & Berland, tells a completely different story.  

We found that all consumers are a shade of green. The majority (34%) are a vibrant, active green while 11% are a duller and more passive green, but we all fall somewhere on the spectrum and we all cognitively acknowledge a role in the environmental problem. The Active Green people very pointedly blame themselves for global warming and can identify steps towards improving their own green behavior. The Dull Greens, while not entirely convinced the problem is as dire as some say, make a minimal effort to be part of the solution. 

For Cohn & Wolfe, the important question is how to develop Green platforms that help our clients communicate to customers along the entire green spectrum. In working with our clients on Green strategies, the fundamentals of CSR and reputation management certainly come into play, but we also have to address more intuitive aspects of the topic. Last year’s study, for example, indicated that companies with green-colored logos may subconsciously sway consumers into thinking they’re healthier or better for the Earth. (Lesson for those companies that already have green logos: You have a built-in advantage!) 

For many well-known companies, such as Whole Foods (the brand identified as the “greenest” by consumers in the 2007 study), communicating Green is fundamental to the brand. Other companies are testing various techniques to see what consumers respond to but have already learned — for example, that programs such as carbon offsets are only acceptable in conjunction with a concerted effort to actually reduce emissions.  For many companies, the thought of becoming a Green business is still in a nascent state and the communication piece is far away. 

No matter what stage of developing a Green strategy a company is in, I do know that if consumer concern expands in 2007 as quickly as it did in 2006, communication will play an increasingly important role. We already know that consumers are suspicious of the word “natural” and confused about the differences between “recyclable” and “biodegradable.” What will happen when people really care?

I envy the Extreme Green who, in stereotype, is the happy treehugger who would lay down for her cause, has been committed to saving the environment long before it was trendy and can comfortably glorify seitan and other vegan delights. These are the people who deserve credit for their dedication and for making us all aware, and there’s an appeal for me in being that pure, that simple and that full of conviction. But I also know that’s not really who I am and it’s not who most of us are.  

The New Green person, though, is one to whom I can more comfortably relate and aspire to be. She (or he) recognizes that her behavior affects the environment and she wants to be part of the solution, but does so without sacrificing the things that make her happy and keep her sane. This is the approach, I think, that will ultimately drive innovation around green and allow us to find earth-friendly solutions that can be more easily integrated into and accepted by society.  

A new client of ours, Tastybaby, is the perfect example. Co-founders Liane Weintraub and Shannan Swanson are absolutely dedicated to making their frozen organic baby food and lifestyle brand environmentally friendly. They spent months developing and testing biodegradable containers for their baby food before determining that the technology was just not there yet to keep the food safe. So they opted for recyclable plastic containers and continue the quest for a biodegradable answer. Liane calls the day they switched to the recyclable plastic “the darkest day of the company,” but I have no doubt their determination will be a catalyst for a solution in the near future.  

You’ll see this for yourself when you check out www.tastybaby.com, but one of the other cool things about the company is the unique take on healthy and balanced living. Because they are almost interchangeable, I can use the same words to describe both Liane and Shannan and Tastybaby the company: intelligent, captivating, dedicated and balanced. If they have their way, and I think they will, we will be living in a Tasty World.     

This February, during London Fashion Week, designer Anya Hindmarch unveiled her newest handbag.  Immediately after its catwalk debut, the bag was featured in fashion magazines and photographed in the hands of celebrities all over the world.  Inspired by the movement to reduce waste, the carrier is made out of lightweight white cotton, and only costs £5, or $10.   

The most remarkable part, however, is that the eco-chic tote sold out on Hindmarch’s Web site within hours, and reappeared shortly thereafter on eBay for prices up to £200, or $400!  I have a cotton shopping bag from Albertsons that cost me a whole 10 cents, and I thought that was a bit steep. Novelties aside, San Francisco has become the first city in the U.S. to ban the plastic bag.  Personally, I think it will be interesting to see what sort of solutions people come up with.  I predict shoppers in Chinatown will soon be rolling around mini-wheelie carts like they do in Europe. 

Mission hipsters on the other hand, will develop some sort of cooler, crunchier type of transport; baskets on the front of their fixies, perhaps? The SOMA crowd will enlarge the already popular messenger-style tote, that’s an obvious one.  But what about Richmonders? 

I see the end of the plastic bag as the beginning of a new form of self-expression.  Only having one expansive purse myself, I manage to carry an extra outfit, lunch, wallet, book and extra shoes around every day.  Throwing a few groceries in there will only complement my Mary Poppins strategy.  Looking at how people choose to carry their essential possessions will be like looking into their soul.  My “soul” takes the shape of a black leather satchel.  What about yours?