Green Marketing

Go ahead, ask her

The Biomimicry Institute "is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to nurture and grow a global community of people who are learning from, emulating, and conserving life's genius to create a healthier, more sustainable planet." Some weighty assumptions feed that statement. As a green marketer, how much time do you spend thinking about fundamentals such as "life's genius"? Sometimes it feels as if nature were just about the most distant concept you could imagine, but nonetheless, it is not going anywhere. We are it, not just in it.

Recently, you might have thought all that's left to environmental marketing is presenting an effective synergy of sustainability and economic benefits to business decision makers and consumers. For now, given current economic conditions, that may well be the case. You need to move elegantly and effectively along a very narrow path. If you do that well, you can be spectacularly successful on behalf of your clients and the environment. If you get tired along the way, find ways  to refresh yourself.

Try, for example, Ask Nature, a community site offered by the Biomimicry Institute. It's currently available in a beta version. Even without registering and handing over all kinds of personal information, you can review articles and discussions that you might find inspiring and surprising, especially if (like me) you never were all that interested in science, because it always ended up with mathematics, which was too bad. Much of what's presented here plays directly into how we live, work, make and market products and services. And you never know when the survival skills of the thorny devil lizard or the self-cleaning ability of the sacred lotus might come in handy for a client, colleague, or yourself. Watch the video if you can stand a handful of fascinating ideas in rapid succession. Enjoy!

Fine green marketing from Microsoft. Expect to see it imitated.

If you've been distracted from environmental concerns by watching successive bailouts sputter, take heart. There are actually companies doing good work in green marketing. In recent months, Microsoft has much increased its visible, public participation and leadership in the green story. As recently as last spring (particularly late this year), I went to a technology event where a Microsoft manager talked about the company's green data centers to a rather reserved, slightly surprised audience. He might have an easier time today. Starting with the Microsoft environment homepage, you can find a wealth of ideas and resources that can help companies understand and realize good environmental practice.

It's refreshing that Microsoft offers very little of the we-are-firmly-committed fluff that so many companies have published to garner ridicule. Instead, the focus is firmly on "find out how." The people in charge of this content must know that green technologists and business people want tools they can use, no preaching or vagueness. The environment homepage connects a visitor directly to practical, interesting material, maybe even more so than the company's homepage.

We'll take a closer look at some of the sections here later, but for now, let's consider the business solutions tab. Once again, the content appears to be pleasantly multidirectional, with a strong emphasis on metrics, savings, and managing costs along with environmental impact. After a glance you realize that most of the links occur a couple of times on the page, once as text-only and once more with imagery next to them. I assume people read in different styles; I looked at the links with graphics first and let the simple listing sit off to the side.

Our case study and white paper writers have already run into the Environmental Dashboard for Microsoft Dynamics AX many times over. If you're not familiar with the Microsoft Dynamics family of solutions, Microsoft Dynamics AX is a full-powered ERP system originally created in Europe, acquired by Microsoft, and  more and more popular with companies in North America.

The dashboard helps companies monitor and control greenhouse gases from energy consumption and business practices as well as from direct and indirect energy consumption, using internationally recognized standards. Companies can use the information to make environmentally sound decisions, if they so choose. The dashboard page recommends doing so, because "environmentally conscious businesses have a competitive edge." And it gives well-substantiated reasons why that is so.

Do take a moment to consider the language and tone used on the dashboard page. My guess is this content is the result of many team discussions, pared down to what needed to be said for it to be meaningful and compelling. It may seem wordy to some readers, but I know from experience with Microsoft Dynamics customers and partners that these people don't want to be tempted by high-level indications. They'd rather absorb documentation and make up their own minds. The writing here treads a difficult-to-accomplish middle ground between providing enough to show that the dashboard is real, without giving away the store or scaring away visitors who just want the giraffe perspective. It's not easy to do, and I'm glad to see it done credibly here.

Keep those microbes motivated: Our first green-marketing contest

As reported in Technology Review, "Researchers at the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany have discovered a bacterial enzyme that creates a key raw material for making acrylic glass and acryclic paints. This enzyme could provide a new pathway to producing acrylics without using fossil fuels or generating much toxic waste."

According to the researchers, those new materials could reach the market in about ten years, assuming they find a way to move the microbes essential to the process to work hard and produce sufficient quantities of acrylic glass and paints to make sense for a manufacturer and the marketers who need to tell the world about them.

Evonik, a German chemical manufacturer, bought the rights to develop the academic research into patentable, sellable intellectual property and products. Because it mentioned sustainability, I clicked on the biotechnology copy on the homepage, which took me to the research and development page. Where did sustainability disappear to? Instead, I saw the following statement, which probably was not offered ironically: "Our R&D activities are determined by the needs of the market. Where possible, we take customers’ requirements into account as soon as new products and applications are designed, especially in our Chemicals Business Area."

I remember working for a company that considered customer needs "where possible." I was one of thousands of people getting laid off when the company realized what customers really wanted. Anyway, I did a site search for "sustainability" and found 1,841 results, most of them a few layers removed from the top levels of the company's website.

If you're a career marketer, you might still be around working when Evonik reaches the market with those biologically created, fossil fuel-free acrylic glass and paints. Now would be the best time to get in touch with Evonik and help them bring their environmental marketing to a higher level of visibility. By the time the acrylics products become available, Evonik could be a deservedly familiar household name.

If you're too busy, don't think these developments are interesting, or find hardworking microbes creepy, you can still join our contest. Here's what you do:

1. Think about what Evonik (or a company much like Evonic, if that makes it easier) could and should do to give its environmental marketing more visibility and credibility.

2. Come up with a few strategic, out-of-the-box, even wild ideas and share them here.

I'll send a box of organic chocolates to the three people who make the most interesting suggestions, and will make sure that you and your ideas get exposure in my green marketing group on LinkedIn. I look forward to hearing from you! Share your ideas by commenting here or mail to me at chris@washburncom.com.