New business has been won with new clients bringing exciting projects on board, we’ve said goodbye to some staff and welcome to others, sponsored another Australian Marketing Institute seminar and kept our eye on some spectacular stock market volatility. Brian hit the slopes of NZ with a snow board, while Paul scouted some locations in London for the new Enso office (well maybe not quite yet) and Grant has been learning to fly planes (scary).

Lots of great work in progress at the moment which we look forward to sharing with you shortly.

The corporate seasons greetings message is an opportunity to spread the spirit of the season and thank everyone for their support over the year. It is also an opportunity to send out something fun, interesting and different from your usual business communications to engage your contacts on another level, and demonstrate another side to the personality of your organisation.

DEPENDING ON YOUR SITUATION OR REQUIREMENTS, A SEASON’S GREETING CAMPAIGN CAN ACHIEVE A NUMBER OF COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES THROUGH A PLATFORM THAT IS OFTEN LESS RESTRICTIVE THAN OTHER CAMPAIGNS. IT CAN BE USED TO ADDRESS PR ISSUES, BUILD STAKEHOLDER CONFIDENCE AND EVEN BECOME A SOPHISTICATED VIRAL MARKETING AND PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN.

Your festive season message is a ideal medium to remind your customers that you are more than just a money making machine. Promoting your organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility program or credentials is a popular and well received message that ties in nicely with the season of giving.

What’s more, taking your campaign electronic and distributing online via email can make it fun, interactive, measurable and environmentally responsible. Electronic greeting cards, or e-cards as they’re often called, can include animation, audio, video and interactivity to deliver true brand engagement, and can be easily personalised to the recipient from their specific contacts within the organisation. They can also include personalised messages or targeted content depending on your contact segmentation. Because they can be developed to dynamically retrieve information from a database, personalisation can be based on any data that you hold. You can also easily measure the readership of your communication through the usual email and web metrics.

However, if you do wish to distribute a traditional hard copy card, environmentally responsible options are available to minimise the environmental impact of your campaign. There are many options available in recycled, unbleached paper stocks from green paper mills. Printing can also be done with organic, vegetable based inks using water efficient processes.

So whatever you choose to do, remember that Christmas creeps up on you quickly, so now is the time to act and start planning to ensure you make the most out of your festive season communications opportunity.

However, it is important to recognise that it is fundamentally a market driven trend that can and is influenced by company advertising and communication. Initially the market wanted greener products and services from more sustainable companies, and companies have been responding to fill the demand. Rapidly growing markets have emerged for green, sustainable and ethical products and services as consumers take environmental action through their purchasing decisions – decisions which are largely based on advertising and corporate communications (in the context of global environmental concerns). As more and more people choose ‘green’ products or companies, more and more businesses are encouraged to innovate in sustainability and clean up their environmental act to position themselves for the emerging green economy.

And as more business promote their green credentials, more consumers are subject to the green message which can influence awareness and potentially lead to consumers taking action through green purchasing decisions. Theoretically a positive feedback loop is established with both the consumer influencing the supplier, and the supplier influencing the consumer towards more sustainable ways.

The problem is that many companies and their marketing departments have started to exploit the green market through the use of unsubstantiated or irrelevant environmental claims, commonly known as greenwashing. Greenwashing can be intentional and explicitly deceiving, or unintentional and vague. Greenwashing is any type of environmental claim, alignment or suggestion which is really more about cashing in on the hot topic rather than expressing the true nature or credentials of a product or company.

Greenwasing can consist of outright lies, the suggestive use of green images or claiming a product is slightly greener than others in a category, even when the whole category is very environmentally damaging. It could be a green product manufactured by a dirty company or some fluffy, non specific communications about eco-friendliness. Greenwash is commonly the term used to describe an organisation that seems to invest more money or effort in advertising their green credentials than they invest in actually establishing and improving environmental practices.

Greenwashing is unsustainable and dangerous as it threatens to undermine the positive consumer-business environmental feedback loop. Consumers, being a savvy lot are wising up to the practice of greenwashing, and are beginning to distrust ‘green’ advertising and communications. In fact, according the the publication, What Assures Consumers on Climate Change ,  only 10% of consumers trust the green message they receive from business and government – that’s a pretty skeptical crowd that’s out there.

As greenwashing becomes more common, and more people become aware of it, more distrust is given to green claims, and consumers become unlikely to form purchase decisions on the back of those claims. With fewer consumers making green purchasing decisions, fewer business have the incentive to go green, and the positive feedback loop is broken. In order to prevent this from happening, marketing, advertising and communication agencies and their clients need to be vigilant about preventing incidences of greenwashing and campaigns which could be ‘perceived’ as greenwashing.

So, with an overwhelming temptation to spread the green word, how can one avoid their communications being perceived as greenwashing? A good place to start is following the guidelines outlined by the ACCC in their 2008 publication Green marketing and the Trade Practices Act. A simple checklist for marketers at the back of this publication allows you to quickly test if your communications could be perceived as greenwash.

Every organisation has a responsibility to minimise their environmental footprint through efficiencies in waste, water and energy, and strive towards providing sustainable, future focused products and services. And in the current climate of economic change, it’s an ideal time to focus on the part you can play in a more sustainable and green economy. For organisations implementing and achieving significant and legitimate progress in this area, promoting green credentials can be a powerful marketing message, one that not only boosts the bottom line, but also contributes to influencing attitudes about caring for our planet. But beware of the dangers of greenwash.

However, it is important to recognise that it is fundamentally a market driven trend that can and is influenced by company advertising and communication. Initially the market wanted greener products and services from more sustainable companies, and companies have been responding to fill the demand. Rapidly growing markets have emerged for green, sustainable and ethical products and services as consumers take environmental action through their purchasing decisions – decisions which are largely based on advertising and corporate communications (in the context of global environmental concerns). As more and more people choose ‘green’ products or companies, more and more businesses are encouraged to innovate in sustainability and clean up their environmental act to position themselves for the emerging green economy.

And as more business promote their green credentials, more consumers are subject to the green message which can influence awareness and potentially lead to consumers taking action through green purchasing decisions. Theoretically a positive feedback loop is established with both the consumer influencing the supplier, and the supplier influencing the consumer towards more sustainable ways.        

The problem is that many companies and their marketing departments have started to exploit the green market through the use of unsubstantiated or irrelevant environmental claims, commonly known as greenwashing. Greenwashing can be intentional and explicitly deceiving, or unintentional and vague. Greenwashing is any type of environmental claim, alignment or suggestion which is really more about cashing in on the hot topic rather than expressing the true nature or credentials of a product or company.

Greenwasing can consist of outright lies, the suggestive use of green images or claiming a product is slightly greener than others in a category, even when the whole category is very environmentally damaging. It could be a green product manufactured by a dirty company or some fluffy, non specific communications about eco-friendliness. Greenwash is commonly the term used to describe an organisation that seems to invest more money or effort in advertising their green credentials than they invest in actually establishing and improving environmental practices.  

Greenwashing is unsustainable and dangerous as it threatens to undermine the positive consumer-business environmental feedback loop. Consumers, being a savvy lot are wising up to the practice of greenwashing, and are beginning to distrust ‘green’ advertising and communications. In fact, according the the publication, What Assures Consumers on Climate Change ,  only 10% of consumers trust the green message they receive from business and government – that’s a pretty skeptical crowd that’s out there.

As greenwashing becomes more common, and more people become aware of it, more distrust is given to green claims, and consumers become unlikely to form purchase decisions on the back of those claims. With fewer consumers making green purchasing decisions, fewer business have the incentive to go green, and the positive feedback loop is broken. In order to prevent this from happening, marketing, advertising and communication agencies and their clients need to be vigilant about preventing incidences of greenwashing and campaigns which could be ‘perceived’ as greenwashing.

So, with an overwhelming temptation to spread the green word, how can one avoid their communications being perceived as greenwashing? A good place to start is following the guidelines outlined by the ACCC in their 2008 publication Green marketing and the Trade Practices Act. A simple checklist for marketers at the back of this publication allows you to quickly test if your communications could be perceived as greenwash.

Every organisation has a responsibility to minimise their environmental footprint through efficiencies in waste, water and energy, and strive towards providing sustainable, future focused products and services. And in the current climate of economic change, it’s an ideal time to focus on the part you can play in a more sustainable and green economy. For organisations implementing and achieving significant and legitimate progress in this area, promoting green credentials can be a powerful marketing message, one that not only boosts the bottom line, but also contributes to influencing attitudes about caring for our planet. But beware of the dangers of greenwash. ]]> http://enso.com.au/green-is-the-new-cmyk/feed/ 0 http://enso.com.au/video-donald-welch-on-creative-thinking/ http://enso.com.au/video-donald-welch-on-creative-thinking/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:30:14 +0000 Michael Mottarelly http://enso.com.au?p=227 Donald Welch
MVA (Griffith), BA(Hons) (Coventry), DipT (BCAE), FDIA.
Senior Lecturer & Convenor of the Design Department QCA
Convenor of the Master of Design program QCA

Donald has experience as a designer in both the UK and Australia. Specialising in visual communication design, he has worked on major wayfinding projects such as airports and other public/private sites, branding for government and private institutions, as well as publication design. Formerly an Associate of Minale Bryce Design Strategy, he was for many years a consultant with the company.

His research interests include developing a methodology for divergent creative problem solving applied to visual communication. He has taught at Shandong College of the Arts, China, and is an advisor of post-graduate students at the Communication University of China, Beijing. He is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia and a member of the Australian Graphic Design Association.