1. Getting Green Advertising Right
Mike Longhurst
A new era is opening up for green
communications....and it will not be the same
• The situation that drove brands to communicate on a sustainability
platform in the mid-late 2000s is fundamentally changed
• Realistically few achieved as much as they hoped to and will look to
the new era to gain significant competitive advantage and
reputation growth
2. Since the recession, there is a crisis of green
leadership
The green lobby has vastly over-exaggerating the
positive image and sales effects of a sustainable
reputation...
...and the ability of the consumer to tell the difference
3. Sustainability driving ranking....or vice-versa?
What is the reality?
• The Greens exaggerated, but their theory was right
• The benefits are there but we have not been smart enough in many
cases
• Brands are not getting the image reward and effective consumer
response from sustainability R&D that they need
• And consumers are not getting the best leadership towards more
sustainable consumption and lifestyles
4. The fall-out from Deepwater Horizon?
• Greater pressure on corporations
to walk the talk – more holistic
sustainability
• Public cynicism devaluing
communications
• Perception that BP were great
talkers...who else?
• We have to re-engage people
and cannot assume interest or
belief
Many corporate websites and PR spin-offs are great, but
targeted ATL communications can be vital to build image
5. Key Insight
• In the future there will be Thought Leaders and Action Leaders,
with others following behind
• Both will have finally learned how to apply true creativity to this
subject....
• ....and will have stopped taking consumer interest and involvement
for granted
COPYCAT SELF FOCUS ISSUE FOCUS
Thought Leadership
is about having a unique
point of view on a generic
issue
12. So what have we learned so far?
• Most advertising based on “What we’re doing...” is devalued by rising
expectations and becomes an entry stake
• Campaigns that put the brand behind the issue are more effective than
those that try to put the issue behind the brand
• In the debate between Thought and Action leadership, thought leadership
is key to developing brands, but action is needed for credibility
• Action leadership attempts lead frequently to an inward view and corporate
chest-beating, that is not differentiating and is too easy to ignore
• Generic visual clichés act as a warning sign and are avoided
• Creativity is needed to surprise, involve and persuade
Creativity behind sustainability issues has
never been more important than now
• To cut through consumer confusion
• To overcome apathy
• To inform and motivate
• To reassure and reward clients
.....But what is creativity in this context?
13. Is this creative?
Or just self-obsessed?
Is this creative?
Or just self-indulgent?
15. Preaching to the
converted?
Creativity is recognising that not everyone is as
interested in sustainability attributes as in
product performance...in fact very few are
16. It’s about staying true to who you are and not
trying to be something else
It’s about putting the brand behind the issue,
not the issue behind the brand
“Please preserve the environment ... unfortunately it’s not as easy as this”
17. Brand firmly behind the issue
Ericsson – leading with the
issue, not corporate chest
beating
18. It’s about putting best brains on the job, not the
juniors
“STIB buses are setting an example. They’re giving up smoking.”
Lateral thinking
“We wash our busses and afterwards we wash the water
that washed our busses”
19. It’s about Win / Win
Energy saving appliances in China
“In ten years you save enough for a new fridge”
P&G Lenor. Empowering you to make a
difference...and winning a Euro Effie
20. E Waste Lithuania – Having fun with the issue
and winning a Lion in Cannes
Quercus – Portugal. Promoting the issue
emotively, with more heart than head
21. But....
• Budgets have been too low...toes in the water
• Brands have a “Fear to Tread” that we must
help them to overcome
• They need reassurance
• That it can work positively without attracting criticism
• That we understand the rules and are not creating
“Greenwash”
More and more corporations and brands are getting
onto the sustainability bandwaggon
All this is creating a more sensitised environment for
marketers to promote into
22. But the real point is:
It is costing them a lot and
they want at least reputation
enhancement for it and at end
of the day…SALES
But often the pressure to communicate is leading to ugly
corporate chest-beating and excesses that bring us into
disrepute
23. And that is sometimes leading to exaggeration
and “Greenwash”
Headline banned as the car still has a petrol engine and emits CO2
Or shooting ourselves in the foot
24. Worst thing is several local SROs approved
this!
There is no bigger threat to consumer credibility
and advertising freedoms than the “Greenwash”
issue
25. The NGOs are hypersensitive, hypercritical and
hyperactive
They are reporting on us and communicating
brilliantly
“BA’s answer to
climate change”
26. And they’re creating a semantic minefield
Destroying the planet less than before
is not a “benefit”, or “friendly”
Can we ever define “Green”?
Who decides the
threshold where
“improvements” are
meaningful?
More sustainable than
what?
But how does that fit with other
things you are doing?
Which part of the product life-cycle
exactly are we talking about?
The sustainability opportunity is a massive one
for marketers
• Closer bond with things that really matter to consumers
• A real basis for relationship-building
• A route out of the “No Logo” negativity of the past
• Premiums from product developments designed to
make a real difference
• Enhanced brand value
27. We need creativity to drive the issue and
achieve stronger consumer response, not
devalue it
Thank you
