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3. Presentation outline
▪ Why Green?
▪ Sell Green
▪ Work Green
▪ Be Green
▪ Green Returns
▪ Green to Go
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5. Why Green?
▪ Increase profit
▪ Build brand and market exposure
▪ Build brand confidence and relevancy
▪ Build consumer goodwill
▪ Being good is good for business
[Anita Roddick, founder, The Body Shop]
▪ Can result in profit increases up to 38% for large
companies and 66% for small companies
[The Sustainability Advantage, Bob Willard]
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6. Why Green?
▪ Customers appreciate accountability
and clear corporate values
▪ 83% of Canadians believe corporations
should go beyond their traditional economic
role [GlobeScan poll]
▪ 79% of Canadians think that companies should
be held completely responsible for protecting
the environment [GlobeScan]
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7. Why Green?
▪ Consumer beliefs backed by buying decisions:
▪ Over 50% respondents have punished a socially
irresponsible company in the past year
▪ 79% of Canadians said they were willing to alter
their lifestyle significantly to stop climate change
[Ipsos Reid poll]
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9. Sell Green
▪ Appeal to the buyer’s real desire to support change
▪ Identify areas in which greener products or services
make sense
▪ Develop environmental products and services
▪ Know the environmental impact of your product or
service
▪ Communicate those green benefits clearly using
hard numbers
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10. Sell Green
▪ Energy Star label makes a product more
attractive to consumers: 66% of consumers said
they were more likely to purchase versus one
without the label
▪ A certified recycling logo made 54% of consumers
more likely to select one product over another
▪ Products that are the same in function and quality
can become instantly differentiated through
environmental labeling
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12. Work Green
▪ When green products and services are not an
option, consider other alternatives
▪ Revisit your business practices and processes
for green impact
▪ Look at all aspects of the product life cycle for
green opportunities: manufacturing, packaging,
logistics, etc.
▪ Carbon footprint, ethical sourcing and packaging
waste are all key sustainability issues
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13. Work Green
▪ Ask key questions:
– Where are the raw materials purchased?
– How far have they travelled?
– Is the packaging excessive?
– Are there are non-toxic alternatives to chemicals?
– Are production facilities energy efficient?
– What mark do your products leave?
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14. Work Green
▪ Check out options such as recycled packaging,
chemically-reduced manufacturing, natural dyes,
carbon-offset transportation alternatives, or
minimizing facility emissions
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16. Be Green
▪ 96% of people believe that more needs to be
done to ensure the health of the environment
▪ Pursue an overall sustainable corporate culture
and image
▪ Customers relate to those that share their values
▪ Engage consumers in a green conversation
▪ Look inward to see what sustainability initiatives
are within your doors
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17. Be Green
▪ Successful companies supplement externally
green initiatives with internal ones that can be
relayed to customers to highlight global
responsibility and accountability
▪ Campaigns can including power-usage
reductions, waste reduction and recycling,
in addition to monetary support for local and
national green initiatives
▪ Companies also benefit from reduced energy
costs, less waste, financial incentives tied to
green production and efficiencies
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19. Green Returns - Patagonia
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20. Green Returns - Patagonia
The Common Threads Pledge:
I'd like to become a partner in the Common
Threads Initiative to reduce excess consumption
and give the planet's vital systems a rest from
pollution, resource depletion and greenhouse gases
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21. Green Returns - Patagonia
Patagonia agrees to build useful things that
last, to repair what breaks and recycle what
comes to the end of its useful life.
I agree to buy only what I need (and will last),
repair what breaks, reuse (share) what I no
longer need and recycle everything else.
website
http://www.patagonia.com/ca/common-threads
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22. Green Returns – Patagonia
▪ Common Threads: a brilliant brand-within-a-
brand that offers a roadmap for companies
trying to promote themselves as
environmentally friendly
▪ Aims to minimize the environmental cost of
clothing through its programs to reduce, repair,
reuse, and recycle clothing
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23. Green Returns - Patagonia
▪ Patagonia is perceived to be an active
environmental player
▪ Excellent example of how branding can help
tell the story of serious environmental programs
▪ Without Common Threads, Patagonia would
have less impact on the world and on their
own brand
▪ Connection to one percent for the planet
(Keep earth in business)
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24. Green Returns - Cisco
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25. Green Returns - Cisco
▪ One Million Acts of Green (OMAoG)
▪ Joint venture between Cisco Systems
Canada and the CBC
▪ Goal: create a social network of Canadians,
linked together in their commitment to change
their habits for the greater environmental good
▪ Invited Canadians to post their Acts of Green
online
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26. Green Returns - Cisco
▪ Cisco wanted to take a leadership role in
reducing its overall environmental footprint
▪ Tied into Cisco’s corporate philosophy of
connecting people through its networks
▪ High-profile, non-profit organizations
participated as environmental partners
▪ Users could see immediate impact of their
actions via a greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions calculator
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27. Green Returns - Cisco
▪ Massive advertising and outreach campaign
▪ Pre-launched on Hockey Night in Canada
▪ Launched on CBC’s The Hour
▪ Aligned with NHL All-Star game
▪ Schools, businesses and individuals embraced
the program
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28. Green Returns - Cisco
Results
▪ 1.8 million acts of green in less than
eight months
▪ Over 100 million kgs of GHG emissions saved
▪ Initial launch generated significant buzz,
with over 150,000 acts logged in week one
▪ Cisco measured three million brand
engagements and 7,300 clicks to cisco.com/ca
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29. Green Returns - Cisco
▪ 161 newspaper and magazine articles (78%
with Cisco mentioned)
▪ The program went global and had participants
from over 50 countries
▪ Best corporate social responsibility initiative
of 2009 as voted by Canadian marketers
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31. Green to Go
▪ Assess your corporate CSR strategy and
employee engagement for green inclusion
▪ Engage corporate leadership to seek
mandate for green as a business imperative
▪ Look for green opportunities within your
product/service mix that benefit your
customers and differentiate you
▪ Review your corporate practices, processes
and products for green impact
▪ Identify internal green champions
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