Arnold on ethical marketing

CHRIS ARNOLD

It’s a shocking fact that green ads are less trusted than normal advertising. So now is a good time to take a different view and follow the Americans and move from green to blue.

With a wise public who see through the spin why do we keep seeing new greenwash ads daily? It seems some marketing directors (or maybe it’s the agencies) don’t take responsibility for their budgets, wasting it on pointless green waffle. And in these recession times that’s just as shocking as MP’s wasting public money on dubious expenses. Spending precious company cash on ads that don’t work, or worse actually alienate consumers, is plain stupid.

I could write a list of brands but I won’t (naming and shaming isn’t the game), making people think is.

Adam Werbach, a highly controversial environmentalism guru in America, is the man behind the Blue movement. He was founder of Act Now (which Saatchi’s in the US bought and renamed Saatchi S). He believes that green tokenism isn’t enough and in many cases bad as it allowing consumers to do token things, which means they think they are making a difference when they really aren’t. It’s like putting a pound in a charity box and thinking you’ve cured cancer, or saved a nation from poverty. As he says, “most people say they care but few really act.”

Werbach, like other wiser ethical driven visionaries have discovered that green is a narrow form or ethicalism and that people are just as important as the planet, if not more so. Don’t just think planet think people and planet (this is a big theme of my book Ethical Marketing & the New Consumer).

Werbach lists 4 elements of Blue as: social, cultural, economic and environmental. This is pretty much the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit). He believes that the real challenge is to get people to change their view of the world, not use small token acts as a form of salvation. You can imagine the scene at the gates of Heaven as St Paul asks why each should deserve to be in Heaven. “I recycled my bottles, bought Fairtrade tea, organic vegetables and took the bus rather than the car to work.”

Putting environmentalism aside, we have a number of serious social issues that are also cultural ones as well. Health and obesity, alcohol abuse and a loss of social values. Here’s a real shocking fact, 826 million people in the world go hungry (UN figures) while over 1.6 million people are suffering health problems from eating badly or over eating. Over 1 million people in the UK are clinically suffering from malnutrition due to poor diet (fast food, snacks and ready meals). 50% of healthcare costs in the US are linked to bad diet and lifestyle.

The challenge is that consumers are time poor, now cash poor and junk food is an easy option. As much as they will tell surveys that they care about the environment, society and their health, the reality is very different (which is why I think most green surveys are wishful thinking).

The problem isn’t trying to sell the consumer an organic or a Fairtrade carrot instead of a normal carrot but getting them to consider a carrot over a fatty, sugar enhanced snack or a bag of crisps.

The left wing green lobby has done a great job of making people and brands think that green is what it’s all about but it isn’t. Consumers care but they don’t want to compromise their indulgent, affluent lifestyles unless they get some benefit. Cost savings make installing low wattage lights desirable. Better quality food makes organic desirable. Feeling less guilty makes Fairtrade desirable. Doing anything that makes the Jone’s respect you more is very desirable.

I’ve developed a number of different consumer segmentations to help brands understand the different purchasing dynamics of consumers. The most interesting group are the suburban off-setters. The biggest spenders they love the illusion of being eco-ethical and see it as a way to off-set their indulgent lifestyles. They can fly long haul by paying to plant a tree. The 4X4 is offset by the wife’s Prius. And so on…

For some it’s about being an evangelist, having a purpose or cause. We’ve all met that classic middleclass eco-evangelist at dinner parties who preach their ethics (though usually know few real facts). They spread guilt and try to force feed their beliefs upon others. At my local climbing centre they have banned Coca-Cola, Walkers and a group of other products from the café for some very dubious reasons (many inaccurate) whilst still selling pasties, sausage rolls, non Fairtrade coffee and a range of snack and organic sodas loaded with calories. Eco-ignorants do little for the real cause.

Werbach is a man who follows common sense rather than common opinion or emotional obsessions, which is why he managed to upset a lot of followers when he signed up to advising Wal-Mart. Many followers thought this was like the Pope advising the devil. But Werbach points out that the average American shopper spends an hour a day shopping and lot of dollars. Wal-Mart is one the biggest buyers from China, one of the world’s largest corporations. It employs 1.4 million people, 89% of Americans visit one at least once a year and spend over $125 a week there.

Werbach is very smart, and has balls, he knows if you want to change the world you need power and using the most powerful retailer, and the biggest customer base, the difference he can make is dramatic. Running an organic fruit stall at Borough Market may be very ethical but it’ll make bugger all difference to the world. He also knows that Wal.Mart had woken up to ethics as a business need, the really wanted to have zero waste, use renewable energy and sell greener, more ethical products. When someone as big as Wal-Mart wants help to reform only a fool would say no.

One of the great things Werbach has introduced to their employees is the Personal Sustainability Projects (PSP), these are acts that each employee agree to do that will make a difference. When over a million people do this the difference is dramatic.

Big brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Unilever, P&G  and McDonalds may be demonised by the green left but in reality their eco-ethical activities are making significant differences.

(A little experiment. Many PR agencies claim to monitor blogs so lets put it to the test. I’ve written (on Creative Orchestra letterhead) to the UK heads of Coca-Cola, Pepsi Co, Unilever, P&G, McDonalds and Wal-Mart (Asda) asking them if their PR companies pick when they get blogged on Brand Republic. I’ll let you know the results next week. With over 600,000 members it’s one of the biggest platforms for brands so you’d though they’d be monitoring.)

Finally, as I listen to Passion the Planet (great radio station) and scan various eco websites I came across this gem. Something that makes for a very odd marketing positioning - a square toilet roll. Yep, that’s the USP of a new eco product that claims that having a square tube in the centre is more eco friendly. If that’s not enough, you can get a toilet roll holder that makes a noise when you try to take too much. What next!?



Links:
http://www.saatchis.com/birthofblue/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ethical-Marketing-New-Consumer-Economy/dp/0470743026/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243128516&sr=8-1