Today here, tomorrow the world

A new label has just been introduced, created by a group of companies and a wind turbine maker, Vestas. A label indicating that a product has been produced in part or in full by wind energy.

Is this just another label, joining the thousands of labels we have yet to recognize? Personally, I feel that there are indeed too many labels in the market. Furthermore, many of them are created by companies seeking profit by identifying itself as being sustainable, such as “100% free trade”, “Made from recycled material” or even “15% less plastic”. Yet another greenwashing technique.

Even if this new label, WindMade, is regulated by independent organizations, how are we, consumers to know that which labels are the right ones to use? Which organizations truly support the needs of ignorant consumers?

I was just getting some groceries from Safeway and my friend forgot her recyclable shopping bag she usually carries, and decides to buy one. There are so many varieties now, the lowest quality ones, to the ones with Microban, to one that even keeps your frozen food cold for extended periods of time.

So I decided to research on how environmentally friendly these bags are, since they claim to be so. Apparently, these bags are made from non-woven polypropylene, are designed to have a relatively long life but they are not designed to break down in the compost heap.

Polypropylene is a by product of oil-refining, which may in fact be much more harmful than the regular plastic bags that supermarkets give out, at the rate that everyone is purchasing these “green” bags everytime they forgot, creating a lot of non-biodegradable waste.

This also proves a point: that regular consumers with not much knowledge in sustainability, but would want to be, do not realize the impact this places on the environment. Furthermore, marketing for these “green” bags has developed into more of a fashion trend, rather than being more sustainable and less resource-taxing. So the question is, do we need to be marketing for the right reasons for people to adopt sustainable habits the right way?

These cartoons clearly point out the contradictions of green marketing, yet it has such a dramatic impact on consumer decisions. Many companies undertake “green” marketing for the sake of protecting themselves, like how BP was unfortunately implicated because of an accident.

Is green marketing a trend that will soon fade away as stricter policies are formed to manage the sins of sustainability marketing? It is evident that environmental issues are not just fads, but would the development of these issues, with the cooperation of environmental groups and the government, affect the extent to which companies market themselves and their products as sustainable?

In my opinion, if such changes are implemented, it would only take place in developed countries where there is the political infrastructure to enforce rules regarding environmental marketing. In Canada, US, UK, there have been some guidelines released to deal with the increasing number of complaints about false and vague claims of advertisements.

Not only do developing countries lack the political infrastructure to deal with this problem, but also the fact that there are other more dire issues to resolve, such as its economy, unemployment and health care.

David’s post on the Humourous Green Video inspired me to think about how other companies have utilized Humour to market themselves. Here’s one by Weyerhaeser, a company in North Carolina that specializes in paper products.

And this, done by a Coolon Lighting. Excellent marketing to educate consumers about the truth of energy efficient lighting!

Have a happy weekend!

This is an example of how far sustainability and eco-innovation can go, where dancing generates electricity for the club to function. The world’s first Eco-club, operated by a Dutch company, it seeks to reduce the environmental impact caused by the enormous amount of electricity generated for the club to function every night. Research by Enviu has revealed that an average club operating 3 days per week, consumes 150 times the electricity required for a 4 person family per year.

Based on what we’ve learnt in the team lecture on Integrated Marketing Communications, I feel that this is another way in which we can transcend traditional ways of marketing, especially in the area of Sustainability and the environment we interact with. Furthermore, as Sustainability is still a very new topic, youths would be more open to such ideas, hence an eco-club might be a practical and effective way of promoting sustainability issues.

As what Dongen from the article I’ve read has said, “The key is to utilize the interaction of the clubbers with the environment.”

The article can be found here http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/power-to-the-party-people-ecoclubbing-is-coming-451137.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/power-to-the-party-people-ecoclubbing-is-coming-451137.html

Emma mentioned that the theme for this year’s Blog Action Day is Water, I got really interested. I agree with her that in the countries that we were brought up in, where water is a scarce resource (we are dependent on our surrounding countries for water in Singapore). I was taught to save water on a daily basis. From automatic water taps, to flushing systems and even educated in the ways in which the government has done to “create” water for its citizens.

One very unique thing that Singapore has done is to “create” water from the water we have used through reverse osmosis – it was marketed as NEWater to encourage all of us to accept this idea. Initially it was a really disgusting thought to most of us; imagine drinking water which you have just flushed down the toilet! Some of us even say it has a different taste to the regular water we used to drink. But it has become a very normal thing to us now, and more than 50% of our water we get is mixed together with imported, desalinated as well as water from our very very small reservoirs (they look more like ponds in Canada).

I have never really thought about my experience with Sustainability in Singapore till now.. Bear with me, I am trying to look into other things as well! Anyway, what I thought was that despite NEWater being an excellent proposition in being more sustainable and less reliant on other nations for water, it was not a successful marketing strategy. Although we were given the opportunity to voice our opinions and polls were taken about the issue, we were not given a choice as to whether we support the idea at all. Schools bring student groups on tours at the NEWater plant every year, educating them of the advanced technology that provides us with this precious resource – this could come really close to “greenwashing” in my opinion.

It’s midterm season again, and I was thinking about a topic which would soothe everyone during this stressful period. I noticed many students listen to music when they study, hence I started my research on sustainability marketing through the medium of music.

It was pretty difficult to find a song relating specifically on Sustainability – most of the music I found was founded on more general global issues which may be interpreted into several meanings. I’m not a big fan of Rap, but this is pretty good, the lyrics make a lot of sense and capture many issues in less than three minutes.

My thoughts on using music as an instrument to market Sustainability is that it could potentially be more effective than other forms of media. Contemporary songs such as the one above trigger greater mass interest. Take for example, you are at a store deciding to buy which brand of cereal. Your interest in a particular is largely based on what you SEE and what attracts you at a very personal level, which affects your decision to purchase the cereal.

Similarly, the appeal of music affects how many people are interested enough to look more into the song, and its purpose. Therefore the pop culture of today’s society is very applicable in the song I posted above. What I am suggesting is that perhaps sustainability marketing – whether it is of a product, service of just awareness of issues- should take a more indirect approach to trigger interest and action by individuals, rather than the more traditional style of claiming a certain product is ‘100% Fair Trade’ or ‘Made of recycled materials’ etcetera, etcetera.

Finally, efforts have been done to promote sustainable awareness through Music Festivals supported by popular bands who take an interest in Sustainability, as well as having music concerts being carbon neutral, or food at the event being fully home grown. An example is Scotland’s first sustainable Eco-friendly Music Festival held in May this year.

As a student who lived in the East and West, I realized something about the different approaches to the issue of Sustainability, and how culture plays a huge factor in the way governments are dealing with it.

In terms of corporate social responsibility, I feel that companies from the East and West have played an almost equal role in achieving public support as well as environmental standards. This might be further explained by the fact that corporations from the East are increasingly compelled to set these standards because of the influence from the West, who are concerned about the company’s image as a whole. Therefore, for corporations which stretch across borders, sustainability marketing is effectively implemented to complement their CSR objectives as well.

However, what differs between the East and West in their methodology. There are policies in the East to cope with the needs of the environment, but the West probably does not see this because of the lack of marketing – or rather, marketing at a more basic level.

In the West, marketing through different platforms are more sophisticated – they are also much more aggressive. In addition, the issue of Sustainability does not only start from the government’s call for change; there are also non-for-profit organizations educating the public about these issues and this could also be a part of sustainability marketing. In the West, there is a lot more freedom to communicate these issues as a non- governmental group. The culture of democracy and how a country is managed is much more liberal in this sense.

From my experience in Asia, people in the East respond to sustainability marketing only if it applies to them; they are mostly Conventionals. This is not to say they are less sustainable in their daily living; the culture in Asia is based on a more practical sense. For instance, there are almost none dish washers in Asia because so much more water is wasted; almost everyone installs fluorescent bulbs because they are more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs – not because fluorescent bulbs release less mercury than incandescent bulbs. Furthermore, Asian countries have governments who play a much central role in their administration. A lot of advertising surrounding environmental issues, products and practices are established by the government, but they are also effective.

Another point I would like to make is that while most people in the East are Conventionals, there are a huge portion of Conventionals who practice energy saving, environmentally friendly yet practical practices, as compared to the percentage of people in the West who are categorized as LOHAS and Naturalites.

I am not saying that either methodology is more effective – in fact, I was amazed by how much concern my fellow friends have for the environment, but the different marketing approaches people have in different parts of the world because of the culture.

Of course, this is based on my interaction with people in Canada, Singapore and my travels. I am generalizing and there are definitely many exceptions.

This idea came to me when I recalled participating in a recycle bin design competition three years ago. The competition triggered public interest due to the creativity of the participants, which led to the implementation of more recycling bins across Singapore. I came to the conclusion that Art, plays a huge part in successful marketing.

The amazing use of recycled materials, the natural colour schemes and the simplistic forms all integrate to connect with the world on the things we can do with the things we deem as worthless.

I feel that Art connects with people, and it should also be considered as a marketing tool in educating the public on issues regarding sustainability. The above exhibit originates from Re-Gallery, an art gallery specializing in making art from re-claimed materials which are re-visioned and re-purposed, with the environment in mind. Art such as this brings out the importance of caring for the environment at a more subtle and personal level, which could be effective as compared to mass marketing and advertising.

Here is a clear example of a business utilizing marketing through art to bring out their company’s sustainability philosophy to a more practical level. Home furnishings inspired through materials such as cardboard, these designs are engineered to withstand the rigours of heavy use.

Designed by Paper Tiger Products, the company’s success is attributed  to their innovative and sustainable products. They are also published both nationally and internationally, and won the 2007 Launch Pad award for Sustainability.

In the coming future, with increasingly more environmentally conscious consumers, corporations would be forced to take up such practices in order to maintain their competitiveness in the various industries.

What better way to communicate the importance of sustainability than Art?

How many of us have read something in a newspaper, in an online article, or heard something in the radio about the rising price of oil, or the amount of fish in the world depleting to the extent that fisheries have collapsed? I’m sure most of us have interacted with such news in some way or another, but how many of us have been affected by it – that we actually take preventive action against it?

Just to compare 2 ways of translating information about the environment, and how our actions have affected the world we live in.

1) Time line of the amount of Atlantic Cod available in the world

2) A trailer of the documentary movie about the devastating effect of overfishing

How did you feel about the timeline? and the video? I thought that the video really played on the emotions of the public. Skeptics may be convinced that the video is meant to manipulate the public, however in my opinion, marketing in innovative and affecting ways is increasingly important in our aloof and desensitized society. News and graphs to illustrate the drastic impact of our actions has become so common, that we barely notice what environmentalists and conservationists are telling us: this is not something that is happening in the future, it is happening NOW.

P/S: The End of the Line is the first major documentary about the devastating effects of overfishing, which premiered in 2009 in the Sundance Film Festival. It was awarded the Environment Award in 2010 – which also led to many governmental actions against fishing, including WWF’s calls for industrial fishing boats to be scrapped in June this year.