When I was a young child, I used to put a certain small 45 rpm Sesame Street record on my Fisher Price record player. The record had Kermit the Frog repeatedly singing, “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green.” Today, as a mature, suit-and-tie-wearing frog, working in a marketing department of a large corporation, Kermit would easily refine his identity-conflict tune to “It’s Not Easy Marketing Green.”
According to the American Marketing Association, “Green Marketing” is defined as the development and marketing of products designed to minimize negative effects on the physical environment or to enhance its quality. However, applying a concrete definition to such a slippery concept, which has taken many forms and shapes over the years, has proven to be anything but simple or manageable. And, as you have seen on our Source and Resource site thus far, green marketing can include a variety of activities in diverse areas.
In general, a company’s green strategies has involved any of the following: 1) improving efficiencies in the production process, 2) changes in advertising style, and/or 3) taking greater account of a firm’s wastefulness of the earth’s resources, pollution and its release of toxins into the atmosphere.
Ever since Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports first emerged in the late 1980s alongside a company’s annual financial reports, firms’ environmental considerations have manifested in various (some may say ‘nebulous’) commitments, promises, and proclamations. Some half-hearted, some gracefully fulfilled. Such actions have ranged from recycling waste in industrial processes to a company exclusively using recycled paper; from a firm’s increased efficiency in the utilization of energy and materials, to improved logistics management for cutting down transportation emissions; and, even from transforming plastic waste into pencils, to donating employees’ used eyeglasses to a program called Vision Aid Overseas.
As we have all witnessed, consumer and corporate environmental consciousness has dramatically elevated in recent years. Related news, events, and proposed legislation seem to emerge and change at warp speed. More apparent causes and effects of global climate change, depleting fisheries, deforestation, and the current energy and impending water crises have all caused people to reassess what they put in their cupboards, dishwashers, and gas tanks, along with what they do with such things once they’ve been used.
Because of this intensified environmental awareness, it has become increasingly important how a firm deals with such global challenges. Or, one might argue, it may be even more crucial how a firm is viewed in approaching such issues. In this manner, CSR environmental behavior and “cleantech” investments have become essential to a company’s core operations, regardless of the sector in which the company operates. That is, companies are not only sensing the rising accountability demands of shareholders, the public, and governmental bodies, but also the opportunities involved in a “green products” market estimated at US$209 billion.
Along the years, many corporate executives acquired newfound headaches attempting to navigate through the ever-shifting Green landscape. Sometimes, it would seem as if all good deeds went punished, or, at best, unrecognized, and all “regular” activities were hyper-scrutinized. Yet, nearly all will tell you that such experiences were tremendous learning opportunities and that it is quite important for companies to stay active, involved and persist in the green marketplace. Unlike the first environmental movements of the 1970s and 1980s, this Green Marketing movement is a core business paradigm that is here to stay. And, as executives are quickly learning, businesses not only need patience, but also much guidance along the way.
In addition to what Greg has been doing with critical updates on resources and news on sustainable, green business practices, this column provides the latest innovative approaches to green business strategies and corporate environmental marketing. This will include a greater background understanding of the issues, theories, and policies involved, as well as insight from leading experts of where the green marketing movement has been, what it has learned, why, and where it is today. We will explore how firms are overcoming the green marketing challenges and where they are seeking and finding new opportunities; how they are positioning themselves and where they are investing. We will search for answers to the key question, “How do firms embrace the holistic approach to green marketing that, although initially seems quite daunting and elusive, could provide a wealth of innovative and environmentally sustainable opportunities?”
