DDi - July 2011 - (Page 17)

Greentailing | 17 Vendor focus: Build credibility through sustainability N o company intentionally sets out to mislead or make inaccurate claims about the sustainable attributes of their product or service, but let’s face it: the word “green” is vague and has different meanings to different people—making it difficult to know what is safe to say or what is a stretch. What marketing and communication professionals are really trying to do is market their offering as having some level of environmental benefit through its use, compared to their conventional counterparts. So, when tackling how your organization can successfully communicate sustainability, consider the following tactics when developing your marketing and messaging platform: 1. Be accountable and transparent. Every product or service has some level of environmental impact, and the starting point for any team is an audit of your operations and the lifecycle of your product(s), so that you understand the largest environmental impact or benefit of your offering. This should be inclusive of sourcing, use and disposal. This aspect of your marketing campaign should not be underestimated in the current environmental climate, as it will dictate whether you are touting benefits that are “real” impact areas of your business. Way back in 1996, flooring manufacturer Interface Inc. conducted a formal assessment of its supply chain and identified that its major environmental impact areas were from the use of petro-based materials and the waste streams produced from manufacturing, as well as the end-of-life disposal of its carpet. Using these findings as a starting point, metrics were established to track the progress of both supply chain and product improvements. What was reported and marketed was far from environmentally benign. It also was quite bold at the time, because the company revealed its flaws and openly discussed the good, the bad and the ugly. Interface had accountability and used the metrics and findings to drive system-wide improvements to its processes and products—telling its story all along the way. 2. Be credible. Use metrics and benchmarking to build credibility. Avoid vague statements at all costs—if you can’t substantiate your claims, then it’s best to not mention them. Within your product category, establish a means to measure and verify your claims through benchmarking systems or thirdparty certification. Although not always necessary, third-party certification systems do provide the credibility needed to make specific claims. Let’s take the green cleaning products industry, for example. It’s not enough in today’s climate to simply state that your product meets or exceeds VOCemissions thresholds for indoor air quality or make vague statements like “healthy” and “less-toxic.” Companies need to validate their claims through either independent laboratory testing or third-party product certification systems, such as Greenseal, Environmental Choice, Greenguard, EU Flower and Nordic Swan. Green cleaning products manufacturer Diversy has made the strategic decision to third-party certify its green cleaning products line. Its marketing campaign relies heavily on the robustness of these certifications to lend credibility and add value to its suite of sustainable products. For Diversy, this has proven to both enhance the brand and increase market share, which has positioned the company as one of the top two green cleaning suppliers in the world in 2010. 3. Be valuable. After you’ve tackled the steps above, determine how your product or service adds value. It’s critical to understand your retail clients’ challenges in sustainability and demonstrate how your product or service enables environmental improvements through its use. A great example of this is the building products manufacturer USG. The company has developed a robust toolkit to assist its clients when pursuing LEED certification. Through its suite of tools and resources, retailers gain a very clear understanding of how using various USG products can contribute to LEED credit compliance. USG makes specifying its products easy and assists its clients with documentation—adding value beyond product. 4. Be innovative. Lastly, do not underestimate innovation. Research and/or ask your clients what corporate sustainability commitments they are being asked to accomplish and help them tackle the solution—become the go-to resource for them and the market. Retailers are seeking new and innovative solutions to some of their most stubborn sustainability initiatives, and many vendors are positioned to grow business through this new demand for solutions. Just be sure that you can provide the metrics and data to support the solution you bring to the table. Sustainability claims shouldn’t be entered into lightly. A claim is built on trust: once lost, it’s hard to repair. That’s why it’s so important that organizations get this right. If you’re going to make claims about your product or service, then they have to be transparent, credible and backed by metrics. When this happens, everyone wins and the confusion that currently exists around green claims will begin to subside. Number 26 at www.ddionline.com/readerservice Justin Doak Founder, Ecoxera – Green Business Strategy for Retail Send green retail questions to justindoak@ecoxera.com. www.ddionline.com | July 2011 http://www.ddionline.com/readerservice http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - July 2011

DDi - July 2011
Contents
From the Editor
From the Show Director
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Design Snapshot
Channel Focus: Big Box
Carlo Pazolini
2011 Fixture Super Section
State of the Fixture Industry Roundtable
2011 Fixture Leaders Listing
2011 Fixture Leaders Company Index
Fixture Products
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

DDi - July 2011