BMW makes its excuses and leaves F1

So I was listening to the Today programme this morning and the first item of the sports news was BMW’s exit from Formula One after 10 years of involvement.

As I’m not overly interested in the sport, if you can call it that, I didn’t think much more of it and it seemed to make sense seeing as the team has been under-performing.

However at the press conference today I’ve just heard that Dr Norbert Reithofer, the chairman of the BMW board, has offered a quite different reason for quitting.

Reithofer says that as its strategy is to be premium and premium is now associated with sustainability and environmental compatibility its Formula 1 campaign is 'thus less a key promoter for us’. A weirdly-worded sentence but you get the drift.

I can’t help but view this with a bit of cynicism. Would BMW have quit if it was blazing a trail instead of missing the podium all the time? It did acknowledge that performance was a factor but surely this was the main reason.

Still it is interesting to learn from the same press conference that in line with its ‘Strategy Number One’ BMW reviews all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. This is definitely something the car-maker can be held to account on going forward.  

Let them drink tap

I've just got back from the lovely Greek island of Santorini. One not so lovely aspect was the tap water which tasted like it was flavoured with effluent. So it was bottled water all the way until I got back to London and returned to Thames Water's finest.
While bottled water brands will continue to do well in Santorini while the water tastes as foul as it does they are having some real problems in places where the tap water is drinkable.
Take Bundanoon in Australia. The little-known New South Wales hamlet has put itself on the map by voting to ban bottled water, and installing water fountains around the town as an alternative. Understandably this has horrified the likes of Danone, Nestle et al who have hit back saying it will push consumers to high sugar fizzy drinks and muttered about nanny stateism.
No doubt the water brand giants are trying to work out whether this is just an isolated town full of hard green Aussies or something that could be replicated elsewhere.
If it's the latter then they have a big problem. To me they have yet to come up with a compelling argument as to why consumers should spend money on a product that has a greater environmental impact than its free version from the tap. While the downturn will not last for ever - meaning the cost argument will become less important over time - carbon footprint concerns will only intensify.
The recent marketing efforts by the water industry in this country, orchestrated by the Natural Hydration Council, the alliance of Nestle Waters, Danone Waters and Highland Spring, seemed to have its sights set on fizzy drinks rather than tap water.
But do the events in Oz mean its time to prepare for a shift in strategy? And is taking on tap something they could or even should ever consider doing?

Glass half empty, glass half full

What’s to be made of the news that supermarkets have, in the words of the British Retail Consortium, ‘effectively halved’ the number of carrier bags they hand out?

To be precise the seven-strong group, which includes Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Marks & Spencer, cut bag numbers by 48%, over a three-year period. But the target, set at the end of last year, was actually 50% so strictly speaking, as has been reported elsewhere, it’s a failure.

Maybe I’m just too positive a person but I think that hitting 48%, which is 418m bags across the UK, is pretty good going. For so many years British shoppers have thought nothing of grabbing plastic bags like they are going out of fashion at the checkout only to throw them away half an hour later when they get home. So I’m counting this as an achievement not just for supermarkets but also their customers.

I imagine that as time goes by people who do a weekly shop without bringing some bags along will be viewed as slightly arcane.   But also who wants to be seen with those dreary things? Anya Hindmarch caused a sensation with her ‘I’m not a plastic bag’ bags but my personal favourite and something I’m never without is my Onya bag. It’s made out of parachute material and scrunches up into a little bag that you keep in your handbag so it’s always ‘on ya’ (geddit?).

Tapping into the desirability factor is definitely the way forward on this one.

More hot air?

Oh dear. So the knives are out for poor old EDF Energy’s ‘Green Britain Day’.  British Gas has launched a spoiler press campaign using the strapline ‘Green Britain Day. For us, it’s everyday’. Npower, never one to miss an opportunity for a bit of mischief, also plans something similar tomorrow.
While I feel a little bit sorry for EDF I can’t help thinking that holding ‘days’ and ‘weeks’ is rather jaded as a marketing concept. I’ve only been writing this blog for a short time but there have already been about three on green issues.
The talk these days is all around keeping things simple to avoid bamboozling consumers with too much information. So here’s an idea. Why don’t all the utilities companies put aside their petty rivalries to come together for a single green initiative?
Highly unlikely, I know but the fact remains that a joint campaign would be more effective than piecemeal action.

GreenHeart could win over hearts and minds

I’ve just clocked Sony Ericsson’s GreenHeart strategy.
These are based around the launch of two ‘green’ phones, the C901 GreenHeart and Naite which are due to launch here at the end of the year.
The company says that green innovations showcased in the phones will migrate into the wider portfolio enabling the company to reduce the environmental impact of its other phones.
I think this is a smart move. Brands, particularly in the technology sector, which rely on stimulating consumer demand through constant upgrades will be on the end of an increasing amount of flak so they need to develop strategies to counter this criticism.
Although Apple is a well-loved brand, movements such as Green Thing have already laid into its MacBook Air as an unnecessary new product.