Tagged 'sustainability'

The clean diesel movement: Reinventing a ‘dirty word’

Published by Nina Hämmerling Smith on August 19, 2009 in North America. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

For decades, the popular perception of diesel vehicles was decidedly unpopular: They were noisy, smoke-spewing polluters.

But in a new campaign, Audi is championing its TDI “clean diesel” engine, promising cars that are not only sporty and luxurious but also require fewer stops at the pump—a boon to both environmental- and budget-conscious consumers. (Diesel cars use up to 40 percent less fuel than traditional vehicles.)

Audi’s ads are slick but grounded in history; they don’t shirk diesel’s reputation, but rather redefine it. Even the campaign’s slogan, “Diesel: It’s no longer a dirty word,” nods to the fuel’s murky past.

Sales of clean-diesel cars have nearly doubled since 2000, and projections have them increasing threefold by 2015.

As consumers watch day-to-day expenses—but still prioritize cutting-edge technology and environmental conservation—Audi has adeptly tied its brand to a burgeoning movement.

Video credit: MotorCities

Coca-Cola simplifies green for the mainstream in Japan

Published by Jordan Price - Tokyo on August 12, 2009 in Asia Pacific. 0 Comments Tags: , .

With the stifling heat of the Japanese summer in mind, and tapping into growing green consciousness and environmental anxiety in Japan, Coca-Cola launched a new, greener bottled water here in June. Called I LOHAS, it has a twistable bottle that’s touted as the lightest-ever PET bottle, and at 12 grams, uses 40 percent less plastic than the average bottle of the same size. This means lighter delivery loads, recycling shipments with less wasted space, reduced waste-disposal emissions and less overall waste.

But rather than talking about these more abstract green benefits, communication is focused on what’s easiest to understand and closest to home for consumers: It revolves around the idea of “1. Select… 2. Drink… 3. Twist….” While promoting recycling, the advertising demonstrates how this bottle innovation makes it simple for anyone to make a difference.
While being truly green probably means staying away from bottled water altogether—and there’s likely to be some “greenwashing” backlash—bottled water is unlikely to go away anytime soon. An excellent example of how to make green as mainstream as possible, I LOHAS has the makings of a big success.

In Thailand, Au Bon Pain rewards a green gesture

Published by Shanaree Laohapongphan - Bangkok on August 11, 2009 in Asia Pacific. 0 Comments Tags: , .

cash-voucherAu Bon Pain has launched an offer that appeals to customers’ environmental consciousness as well as their money consciousness. When you order any size of take-away coffee cup without the plastic lid, you get a discount voucher of 10 baht (30 cents) toward your next purchase of a cold beverage. It seems to be a hit, with many people choosing to go lid-free.

Rewarding customers for taking small, easy steps to help the environment is a smart move for any brand, especially in light of recent JWT research that shows the recession has not eroded consumers’ environmental concerns.

Green brands that cost more must explain why

Published by Mollie Hill - Sydney on August 6, 2009 in Asia Pacific. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

JWT’s study on “The Recession and Its Impact on the Environment” found that people are conflicted when asked to weigh a theoretical tradeoff between environmentally friendly and lower price: While Australians accept that greener products may come at a higher cost, most are prepared to trade off on green for a reduced cost.

What does this mean for brands? Green brands that cost more should clearly explain to customers what incremental environmental benefit they are getting. OMO laundry detergent, for example, is clearly quantifying the green benefits of its new packaging. Above the typical value/efficacy story, OMO claims the product “uses half the packaging and half the trucks. Mighty results for the environment.”

Simplicity, sustainability and the LOHAS lifestyle are big in Japan

Published by Jordan Price - Tokyo on July 31, 2009 in Asia Pacific. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

avedapurecafeimagesJapan is the most anxious market among the 10 we have studied in the course of our AnxietyIndex research. The country has become an increasingly fast-paced and complex place in the last few decades, but as anxiety grows, many are seeking a simpler life and reassessing what really matters to them.

So rather than providing ever more options and functions, or pushing the “have it all” aspirations of the ’80s and ’90s, brands would do well to strip down their offering and focus on simplicity, sustainability and the truly important things in life. Already many businesses are taking advantage of the fact that Japan is one of the fastest-growing markets in terms of LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability).

Aveda Japan, for example, has had great success with its LOHAS-lifestyle salon, spa and vegan restaurant, Pure Café. Radish Boya, a company that delivers organic vegetables and additive-free foods to its members, has seen dramatic growth since 2003; it now has roughly 100,000 members, and annual sales revenue of 22.8 billion yen (US$244 million). And Mujirushi, the clothing and lifestyle retail pioneer also known as MUJI, has succeeded with its core philosophy of simplicity, sustainability and stripping away the unnecessary. Annual turnover is around 145.5 billion yen (US$1.5 billion), and its success in Japan has allowed for rapid expansion—there are now 98 stores around the globe.

For more on the recession and its impact on the environment in Japan,  download the presentation from the Trends and Research section of this site.

NYC quantifies savings from going green

Published by Mark Truss and Ann Mack - New York on July 16, 2009 in North America. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

enviroJust as temperatures started to rise after a rain-soaked June, New York City launched a campaign to encourage people to “Be Cool & Smart” by reducing air conditioning-related electricity consumption. This is a part of an aggressive plan to reduce the city’s carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

One ad reads “Clean your air conditioner filters to save money. Dirty air filters make your A/C work harder & use more electricity.” Another tells subway riders to “Turn up your thermostat to save money. Each degree higher can cut your energy bill by 3% or more.”

Rather than emphasize the bigger, long-term “greener, greater New York” vision—which may be a bit abstract for some, especially during the sweltering summer months—the ads focus on the immediate monetary benefit. This is a much easier argument to make, especially at a time when people are trying to save money wherever they can.

As we found in “The Recession and Its Impact on the Environment,” consumers have adopted a number of behaviors over the past year that could be considered environmentally friendly—turning off lights/appliances when not in use, waiting to replace things until absolutely necessary, reusing things, etc. But as might be expected, the recession is a more dominant motivator for these behaviors than the environment.

For green brands benefitting from the recession, get in with the pockets and keep them with the planet. Leverage people’s concern over money to stimulate environmentally friendly behaviors and then work on changing attitudes (e.g., the impression that going green is more expensive) to help ensure people maintain these habits well past the recession. As the recession abates, brands will need to reinforce that these behaviors benefit the environment, not just the pocketbook.

(Click here to download the U.S. report on “The Recession and Its Impact on the Environment.” Please sign up for our subscriber alerts to be notified when the Australia, Canada, Japan and U.K. versions of the presentation are available.)

Social PR 2.0 and viral marketing in a new form

Published by Said Seihoub - Vienna on June 30, 2009 in Europe. 0 Comments Tags: , .

untitledz2In economic downturns, people are less willing to donate to charity. But then, they are likely more willing to spend their time—the new currency—or other resources to support a good project. The new Austrian platform SOS Mother Nature, initiated by the Austrian environmental organization Global 2000, works with this assumption: It gives people an opportunity to support the fight against global warming simply by creating a profile and spreading the word by providing a new-media channel like a personal Web site, an online banner, a screen saver, wallpaper, e-mail, mobile or SMS. SOS Mother Nature platform gets an enormous below-the-line push for free, while participants get a quieter conscience and little bit of publicity too.

In Japan, collecting Eco-Points to feel better about consuming

Published by Hiroyuki Hosomi - Tokyo on June 17, 2009 in Asia Pacific. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

tokyo11In an attempt to stimulate a sagging economy and get consumers to replace older appliances with eco-friendly models, Japan is betting on an old but still-relevant sales and loyalty tool: reward points. In mid-May, the government launched an “Eco-Points” system in which consumers who buy energy-efficient flat-screen TVs, refrigerators, air-conditioners, etc., can collect Eco-Points based on the product category, size of product and a star rating system.

Although the government is still discussing precisely how consumers can eventually redeem Eco-Points, this ambiguity hasn’t seemed to matter—perhaps an indication that the most important aspect of reward points programs is how they make consumers feel about a purchase. In the first week after the program launched, weekly sales of designated items increased significantly: TVs by 48 percent, refrigerators by 19 percent and air conditioners by 45 percent compared with the previous year, according to data from GfK Japan. And in a joint survey from Nikkei Business Daily and Yahoo! Value Insight in late May, 47 percent of respondents said they were considering buying a flat-screen TV because of the Eco-Points incentive.

Continue reading ‘In Japan, collecting Eco-Points to feel better about consuming’

GM’s ‘reinvention’ barks up the wrong tree

Published by Andrew Ortlieb - Detroit on June 4, 2009 in North America. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , .

On June 1, before the ink had dried on GM’s Chapter 11 papers, the automaker had launched a “Reinvention” Web site and a 60-second spot was on the airwaves. The point is to convince people that this isn’t a funeral, rather a birthday worth celebrating.

The spot is terrible, filled with irrelevant imagery and grandstanding about being “the American Car” (conveniently forgetting Ford, which is not bankrupt). GM is ready to “get down to business,” but what’s visually missing is how it plans on doing so. Using phrases like “leaner, meaner and greener” while flashing a dog with its head out the window is a lot less compelling than actually showing redundant vehicle brands disappear from a showroom.

We often lament the basic creative “see and say” way of doing things, but during a seismic event, communicating in the very plain terms of “We get it. We’re sorry. Here’s how we’ll fix it” can do more for your brand than any cute dog.

The many pluses of the energy tax credit

Published by Andrew Ortlieb - Detroit on May 21, 2009 in North America. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

energySome companies, like heating-and-cooling manufacturer Trane, are finding creative ways of tying together several sources of anxiety for many Americans: the environment, energy costs and how to get a piece of all that “stimulus” money floating around.

As part of President Obama’s federal stimulus package, many billions in incentives were allocated for homeowners to replace old, inefficient furnaces and air conditioners with modern, high-efficiency models. When they do, buyers qualify for a tax credit of up to $1,500, making the decision that much easier.

Everybody wins. Orders for durable goods increase, people save on energy costs for years to come, local installers get more work and fewer greenhouse gases are emitted.

More importantly, consumers can feel like they’re doing something proactive during challenging times, while personally profiting from federal spending.