Agency Execs Explore Green Strategies

The International Advertising Association's World Congress recently held a series of speeches and panels that emphasized what we've known for a while: consumers are interested in/respond to green marketing initiatives, but they are also critical of them.  Advertisers need to accept both an opportunity and a risk when "going green."

Posted April 9, 2008, Advertising Age
By Ira Teinowitz

Speakers Warn IAA World Congress Not to Antagonize Cynical Consumers

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Consumers are increasingly interested in green marketing initiatives, but they are also quite cynical, the International Advertising Association's World Congress was told yesterday. That provides new opportunities for improving brand equity and engaging consumers -- but also lots of risk in getting it wrong.

In several speeches and panels, agency executives and a company promoting carbon-neutral solutions said the potential benefits are many, as consumers and businesses are willing to support marketers and ad agencies perceived as being part of a better-world solution. It can also raise the profiles of companies and lead to better image with investors, they said.

At the same time, however, they cautioned that consumers are suspicious, noting that companies have to show that any cause-related marketing really ties to their brand and be careful not to overstate claims.

Environmentalism goes mainstream
"Consumers expect companies to give back as much as they take," said David Jones, global CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide. "Today it's a mainstream issue." He cautioned that companies need to have not only a strong position, but one that is clear. "Be differentiated," he said. "This is one of more cluttered areas of the world."

Mr. Jones said that up to 86% of consumers believe that companies should stand for something beyond profitability and 80% believe that they should censure companies that don't behave.

Mr. Jones said marketers can reap rewards not just from environmental claims, but also other activities viewed as benefiting the world. He cited successful examples of Unilever's campaign for Dove celebrating women of all shapes and sizes and Volkswagen's European campaign for car safety that includes warnings on cellphone use and drinking.

Get your story straight
Yet he also warned there are perils. Mr. Jones cited General Motors Corp., which promoted electric cars in development, and then said the cars will arrive later than projected, as well as Greenpeace's campaign that takes Apple's friendly image to task because some of its iPod products aren't recyclable. He also raised questions about how Unilever can on one hand suggest in Dove ads that women should be celebrated for however they look, while at the same time promote men's deodorant brand Axeusing more traditional female sex-symbol imagery.

Mark Armitage, U.S. president of the Carbon Neutral Co., which promotes carbon-neutral solutions, said some companies have turned carbon-neutral footprints into an asset that they can use as an advantage in touting themselves to potential suppliers.

Success stories
Joe Rivas, exec VP of Y&R, said brands that have made the move to social responsibility have done well, citing Toyota and Ben & Jerry's as examples.

Eric Biel, managing director-corporate responsibility for Burson-Marsteller, agreed but cautioned that the public's cynicism made it incumbent on marketers trying to use the claims to be careful. "It is absolutely critical to show a trace of humility," he said.