Being Seen To Be Green

Green Branding is the popular marketing strategy of the moment for businesses, with many tripping over themselves to promote their environmentally friendly values. It is good to see the focus on sustainable, ethical, and renewable practices to the fore as these are critically important to ensure the health and survival of society and the environment, now and into the future. Our practices of the past have failed us, and even our present effort at change still has a long way to go to break the habits of several generations. In reality, it’s a no-brainer.

But is branding this message going to do more harm than good in the long run? Perhaps the shift in focus that this vitally important issue experiences when it is promoted under the mantle of marketing is towards commercializing the core message. And by branding this message it is implied that here is a marketing option that businesses can adopt to gain advantage over the competition. An important message reduced to a few promotional buzzwords, commercial one-upmanship, or a social meme?

Brand Green could end up representing just another lifestyle choice, instead of the permanent lifestyle change that is required for environmentally responsible living. When commercial interest is the main driving force, the message becomes diluted, cynical, and distanced from reality.

Recently, I noticed that there is still clearly a difference between idea and action - the message is generally being assimilated by society at large, but not put into action effectively. One recent example, a blitz of activity with countless messages being sent via Twitter and other media, encouraging each other to send more messages via email, texts, or by whatever means, to turn off the lights during Earth Hour 2010. Even during the hour itself! All this activity uses energy - to tell people to use less energy. Did anyone catch the irony here?

I understand the argument that it was good because less energy was used than would otherwise have been used, and it was mainly to raise awareness. So to extend that logic, if I send a little dog to crap on my neighbour’s lawn am I a good neighbour because at least I didn’t send over a bigger dog?

Surely by now the “green” message must be getting through, I mean, really sinking in. Do we understand that to really make a difference we must radically change the way we live and use energy, not just a perform a few token efforts here and there?

Time to brand less and Just Do It .. Get Real?

What is the future for Brand Green?

Who can really say for sure, but I am inclined to think that the idea of “being green” will become diluted and eventually become less defined, as more and more people adopt principles of sustainability and change their attitudes accordingly. Green, as a brand, will die off as the central ideals of sustainability in the environment become accepted standards, and not just a fad, or the preserve of environmental advocates and “tree-huggers".

In much the same way as smoking is no longer tolerated in the interior environment, pollution of the natural environment will no longer be considered an acceptable norm, and so there will be no extra virtue or new marketing advantage in claiming to be “green". Those who are both actively and genuinely interested in promoting environmentally sustainable practices will practice what they preach, and develop their branding from other platforms.

Ethical and sustainable practices will become the way things are done in everyday business as we realise the damage we are doing to ourselves in our global environment. Those who are trying to jump on the green bandwagon to exploit it as a marketing pitch will find that they are promoting yesterdays news, as the rest of us will have moved on …

Here’s hoping, anyway