EcoAmerica News Blog

Marketers, Not Consumers, Need Environmental Education

Marketers are going to struggle walking the fine line between green and greenwashing in the coming years.  New FTC guidelines on green marketing could make it easier for consumers and marketers to understand where that line is, but only if the guidelines are taken advantage of.

'Start With People' - A Successful Model

In its first 18 months, ecoAmerica launched a set of high-impact programs including the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, GreenCareers and the American Environmental Values Survey.

The organization has partnered up with some of the largest names in the environmental and business community including: Environmental Defense Fund, Monster.com,  the Clinton Foundation, National Geographic, The Princeton Review and SRIC-BI.

These partnerships gave ecoAmerica the leverage to engage over 4 million students and 500+ leaders at higher education institutions in all 50 states.

ecoAmerica "starts with people" and uses consumer research, partnerships and engagement marketing to shift the personal and civic choices of mainstream Americans.  Read more in the 2007 Annual Report.

Download the 2007 ecoAmerica Annual Report

Marketing efforts may end up in green blur

This year's Earth Day coincided with a deluge of green marketing initiatives, but will moderately increased consumer awareness result in a change in buying behavior?  And do any of these initiatives have any credibility?  Even if they do, they will have a hard time breaking through the clutter.

Al Gore's Logo Looks Very Familiar

Ken Wheaton at Advertising Age takes a closer look at Al Gore's $300 million new logo...Is this an example of targeted and effective green marketing?

Earth Day, Green Marketing, and the Polling of America, 2008

Green marketing blogger Joel Makower sifted through the many surveys that have come in around Earth Day this year in order to present the most telling nuggets of information.  Consumers are responding to green marketing and sustainability is getting more attention on the blogosphere, but my take-away? - Global warming and the environment are still not priorities to most Americans when compared to the economy and healthcare.

Green Ads Draw Attention, but Raise Doubts

A new online survey by Burst Media reveals something surprising: the greenest consumer audience is the one that is most accepting and encouraging of green marketing initiatives.  Instead of being overly critical of green products in general, greenies are getting behind them as long as their claims are true.

The Birth of Blue

Grist posted Adam Werbach's follow up speech to the infamous, "Death of Environmentalism."  The speech gives Adam's suggestions for a new form of environmentalism that embraces the consumer culture and looks beyond "green" to other aspects of human existence.

Is Earth Day the New Christmas?

This Advertising Age article examines the many green marketing initiatives coordinated with Earth Day and what the potential ramifications are for associating environmental projects and "green" with consumerism.

Early Response to Al Gore's New Global Warming Ad

Posted at Rasmussen Reports

The latest television ad put together by Al Gore and his team touched on themes that all Americans support—the nation’s role in World War II, Civil Rights, and putting a man on the moon. Note, however, the differing responses when the ad moves to its primary topic—Global Warming. The gap is particularly sharp along partisan lines (the bottom video).

This data was prepared by MediaCurves.com and is based upon the responses of 611 participants including 203 Democrats, 203 Republicans, and 205 independent or unaffiliated voters.

Ziba's Eric Park on Green Design and Brand Identity

Green design and green marketing go hand in hand, so why did it take companies so long to make the connection?  In this SLM interview, Eric Park of Ziba, an internationally recognized design consultancy, takes us back to the late 1990s and the beginning of the movement, and explains why marketers’ current concerns over “green fatigue” miss the point entirely.