Marketers need to be better at sharing their green stories and be more transparent while doing it, according to a panel of experts.
The American Marketing Association hosted the roundtable discussion called “The Many Faces of Green – What it Means for Today’s Brands” in Toronto on Thursday.
“Stop acting like marketers,” said Bernard Hellen, business development manager at Cascades Fine Papers Group. “Tell better stories, do better communications and don’t use vague terms,”
Hellen acknowledged that some marketers are fearful of criticism, which is why they chose not to talk about their green initiatives. He called it “green-muting.” But when green efforts are communicated effectively, marketers can leverage them to build brand equity among stakeholders, he said.
However, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, said Melissa Steadman, senior manger of global brand marketing at RBC. Companies need to tailor the way they communicate their efforts to different segments such as stakeholders, clients or customers.
In the case of RBC, “green” communications are sometimes part of a product or service strategy, or an overall brand strategy, said Steadman.
Hellen said marketers are “logo crazy” and have done themselves a huge disservice by simply putting the image of a tree on their packaging rather than have products third-party certified.
“A lot of companies exaggerate to look like they’re doing more than they are,” added Owen Ward, national director at Air Miles for Social Change. While adding new logos may be an improvement over the original packaging, the product can still be bad for the environment.
Author Jim Harris said it’s important to communicate how the consumer personally benefits in the long run from purchasing an eco-friendly product, using the example of the Prius he bought several years ago. While he paid $4,000 more in capital costs for the vehicle, he saves $2,500 a year in gas.
