This document provides guidance on green marketing, including dos and don'ts. It discusses why businesses should engage in green marketing, noting that it addresses customer needs, tells a compelling story, adds value, and creates competitive advantage. The document also outlines what matters to customers, such as assurance, risk management, and shared values. It identifies emerging drivers like legislation and offers tips on what works with green marketing claims and what practices to avoid, like vague or irrelevant claims that amount to "greenwashing".

1. Sustainable Business Premier Group
Green marketing
Green marketing,
some “dos” and “don’ts”
Charles Burt
The Olive Consultancy
21st April 2009

2. Key issues
• What is green marketing?
Green marketing
• Why do it?
• What matters to your customers?
• What works
• Emerging drivers
• What doesn’t work
• Where to get more help

3. Green marketing Why do green marketing?
• It addresses a need
• It tells a story
• It adds value
• It creates competitive advantage

4. Green marketing It addresses a need…
“SABMiller to cut water use by a quarter”
SABMiller, one of the world's leading brewers, today
announces a major new commitment to reduce water
consumption across its global operations.
The group has set itself the demanding target of reducing
water use per litre of beer by 25% by 2015. This initiative
will save around 20 billion litres of water every year by
2015 - enough to fill eight thousand Olympic-sized
swimming pools.
By 2015 SABMiller aims to reduce its water consumption
to an average of 3.5 litres used to make a litre of beer. In
2008 this figure was 4.6 litres; the industry average is 5
litres.

5. Green marketing It tells a story….

6. Green marketing You can put numbers on it!
Source: Carbon Trust, Brand value at risk from Climate Change (2004)

7. Green marketing Some examples:

8. What matters to your customers?
• Assurance
Green marketing
• Risk management
• Compliance
• Skills
• Do you know how?
• Shared values
• Data
• Relevant
• Honest
• Verifiable – e.g. EMS
• Cost control
• Supply chain pressures
• Competitive advantage

9. Some emerging drivers
• Legislation
Green marketing
• “Sustainable procurement”
• See “Procuring the Future”
• The “Flexible Framework”
• Pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs)
• Carbon footprinting
• Waste minimisation
• “Whole life” costing
• EMS (e.g. ISO14001:2004)
• Marketing opportunities
• Differentiation
• Segmentation
• Fragmentation

10. What works?
• Does it add value?
Green marketing
• Assurance
• Message
• Is it relevant?
• Is it measurable?
• Is it material?
• Does it differentiate?
• Is it “worth it”?
• Can you prove it?

11. What doesn’t work?
• Recognisable?
Green marketing
Own brand Eco-labels???
• Honest?
• Verifiable?
• Relevant?
or “greenwash”?
“Philips Launches Green Logo”

12. What you need to do:
• Assess customer demands
• Public or Private sector?
Green marketing
• Retail?
• Wholesale?
• Relate to legislation and policy
• E.g. Waste:
• Electrical - WEEE & RoHS, Packaging, Batteries, Vehicles
• Landfill taxes etc.
• Energy:
• EU Energy Efficiency, UK Energy White Paper
• Carbon:
• EUETS, CRC, CSH, EPCs, DECs
• Look for opportunities!

13. The choices:
Greenwash – We recycle paper and care for the
planet OK!? – now where are my cheap flight
Green marketing
tickets & the keys to my new Porsche Cayenne?
Burden – More ****** red tape! Its not in the
contract. Its not my problem. What’s the point?
I believe Channel 4’s “The Great Climate
Swindle programme.”
Opportunity – Innovation, differentiation,
improved risk management, new solutions,
competitive advantage, improved access to
market, enhanced brand value etc.
Bring it on! Where do we start?

14. The 7 sins of greenwashing!
1. Trade off – distraction from the real
Green marketing
issues e.g. “0% parabens” (but still
contains carcinogens)
2. No proof – not verifiable
3. Vagueness – e.g. “All natural” (could
still be toxic, mutagenic etc!)
4. Irrelevance – e.g. “CFC free” (CFCs are
now illegal!)
5. Distracting – e.g. “fuel efficient SUV”
6. False claims – e.g. “certified by…”
7. False labels – fictitious “green” badging
Source: TerraChoice www.sinsofgreenwashing.org

15. Where to get more help?
• Business Link – Sales & Marketing
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073861169&site=210
Green marketing
• The Olive Consultancy Ltd
www.consultolive.com
• Greenhouse Graphics
www.greenhousegraphics.co.uk
• Chartered Institute of Marketing
www.cim.co.uk
• Green claims guidance (DEFRA)
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/consumerprod/pdf/genericguide.pdf
• Green claims code (DEFRA)
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/consumerprod/gcc/pdf/gcc.pdf
• Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Put “environmental claims” in the search
www.cap.org.uk
• Greener shopping guidance (Direct.gov)
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Greenershopping/index.htm
• Choosing “green” companies
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Greenershopping/DG_069882
• Business Protection Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/pdf/uksi_20081276_en.pdf
• The Sustainable Business Partnership
www.the-sbp.co.uk
• Envirowise – Free business information & support on environmental issues
www.envirowise.gov.uk
• The Carbon Trust – Free business information on Carbon Footprint and energy
efficiency
www.carbontrust.co.uk

16. Green marketing
Thank you for listening
Any questions?
Charles Burt
The Olive Consultancy
www.consultolive.com
02380 111440