Austin, Texas: As I watch the Republican Presidential debates over the past few weeks, I am amazed at  the lack of commitment by any candidate on most major issues.

Answers  by all seem to be vague, ambiguous and wishy-washy.  There is certainly no passion that comes across to the viewing public.

Is this like your company’s stand on the environment–vague, ambiguous and wishy-washy?

People can easily cut through this B.S. and tell that you are not truly committed.

Green Washing?  No, too many companies do Green Lying, where they knowingly are not green but pretend to be.

If you are a green marketer or an organization going green, how are you living that commitment?

Jut by having the word “green” or “environmentally-friendly” on you packaging or in your mission statement doesn’t make you a green company.

Where is your passion?

How is your company reducing its energy consumption?

How are you reducing packaging waste?

How are you encouraging car pooling by your employees, inspiring greener procedures at work and changing your green lifestyle?

Going green is like fitness….. you need to be committed to it in order to be successful.

Show some passion to the green movement and get involved.

Practice what you preach.

Live the lifestyle.

Your organization will gain a great deal more credibility..and your commitment will show.

I’ll vote for that!
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Robert Piller, president of Eco Marketing Solutions, is experienced in green marketing campaigns and recycled promotional products.

His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Austin, Texas: Marketers and the media are anxiously anticipating the release of the new FTC Green Guides, which will list the new rules for use of green marketing advertising–a sort of truth in advertising campaign.

Although the dates keep getting pushed back, when it is announced, the Green Guides will shift the landscape of green marketing–in the hopes of preventing greenwashing.

There is a great deal of news that terms such as green, carbon neutral, renewable energy and others will be re-defined… but nobody knows the final rulings.

What should a green marketer do?

Tell the Truth. The Whole Truth. And Nothing but the Truth.

Yes.  It’s that simple.

If you make a claim, back it up.

If you say an item is biodegradable, explain how your company defines this term. How long it takes to break down and in what environment.

If you say something is “green”, describe how it is green. Does it save resources in manufacturing or during usage?

If you say an item is made of recycled materials, tell the percentage and the material used.

Spell it out.

If you define the item and explain it, then your customer can compare it to other products and make an informed decision.

Do we like the government telling us what to say, how to say it, etc? Absolutely not.  But these guidelines are to be created because too many companies abused the lack of definitive definitions.

Promoting your green product or service is not hard.

Explain. Educate. Define.

State your benefits clearly and concisely.

Don’t leave any grey space.

Anticipate the questions and concerns your clients may have, and answer them.

That is all the public needs and wants.

Happy Promoting!

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Rather than admit to being guilty, SC Johnson settled some lawsuits last week over its green certification claims, according to an article in GreenBiz.com.

This should shed a light on green certification programs.

Recently, many companies seem to be trying to cut corners and budget by testing their own products for lead, and certifying their products as green.  Hand held lead testing equipment prices have been falling, while third party certification still remains relatively high, causing many companies of all sizes to trim costs.

I am one for saving money in certain ares, but third party certification is not one of those.  Neither is product safety.

If you are going to make green claims, then back it up with legitimate claims.

Be sure your claims are transparent.

If you are going to put one of the dozens of green seals of certification on your product or product packaging, be sure it is from a reputable 3rd party testing lab.

Saying you are the greatest or greenest or smartest or best looking, etc. does not make it so.  Having third party certification makes it much more so.

Please learn from the SC Johnson situation.  Don’t be penny wise and dollar foolish when it comes to green certification claims.

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.
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In the past few weeks, I have read over a dozen articles and blogs condemning the act of greenwashing.

It seems that “the left” has declared war on the evils of greenwashing– but has forgotten about the virtues of going green itself.

Is greenwashing really a sin?

Can we really even recognize greenwashing?

Is the term “greenwashing” over used and over-hyped?

Sure, there are still too many companies that deliberately exaggerate – or even lie – about the green virtues of their product. They may claim that their product is made from 40% recycled, post-consumer plastic, for example, without using any recycled materials at all.

Greenwashing. No–that would be outright fraud…and should be condemned. This is preying on the unknowing.

I am not advocating greenwashing, at all.  That is certainly not the idea of this blog post.

Instead, I am talking about companies that are actively pursuing policies to “go green” — yet don’t meet the “absolutely green” purity test.

I would argue that there is no product that can be truly green, so people need to expect a little over-exuberance in marketing a legitimately green product.

Most greenwashing claims are from exaggeration, not fraud.

Does that make it right? No. And it should be toned down, and claims should be presented more accurately.

I posed a question on LinkedIn a few weeks asking if a product can be 100% Green–and nobody was able to find one that could be able to be made available for public consumption.

Sure, there were a few answers, such as “getting milk from a cow” or growing your own fruits and vegetables.  However, if you took those products across town in a truck, then it no longer would be considered 100% green.
Read more…

I just received a press release about an organization called  the EcoChamber, which claims to be “the global green chamber of commerce”.  They say that they have  ”more than 1,100 global listings, 2,100 Twitter followers and 700 Facebook fans”, which is a nice start.

Their mission seems lofty and innocent enough as it is listed in the release: “Our mission is to help the growth of green businesses worldwide,” commented EcoChamber’s founder Tia Diaz-Balart. “By helping deliver customers, investors and other stakeholders to companies and organizations who are doing right by the environment, we can not only encourage other companies to adopt sustainable practices, but also help have a positive cumulative net impact on our ecosystems through the global green economy.”

However, does a need for a non-profit “global” chamber of commerce  exist — or will its certification lead to more confusion and uncertainty in the marketplace?  Because of all the seals of approvals and certifications from an alphabet soup of organizations, the FTC has come down hard on green washing claims to help avoid confusion in the marketplace in its new Green Guides.

If we can have just a handful of seals that can be used–one for organic, one for biodegradable, one for recycled — like we do for recyclable materials, I think we will all be better served.  Just as the government has stepped in to make Nutritional Labels standardized, I think it will need to insist on a certain structure for all green claims in order to avoid potential for greenwashing –whether inadvertent or not.

That being said, do you think a global green Chamber of commerce is needed?  Please share your thoughts.

Let’s Make Every Day, Earth Day!

Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and recycled promotional products,  has worked to help plant over 25 million trees through his live tree seedling gift program over the past dozen years.   His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green.  The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

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According to a recent article in the Green Computing blog, American companies are exporting their e-waste to Asia — either for recycling, or possibly for dumping.

One company alone in California, Electronics Recyclers International, has been alleged to have shipped 6.9 million pounds of waste, aboard 189 sea containers to be “recycled” overseas.

“Recycled” in this example, is usually a euphemism for “dumped”.

High tech companies in America need to do a better job of recycling their e-waste before this problem gets out of hand.   Most major manufacturers claim to recycle their wastes by sending it to a third party recycling company, without bothering to look into the final result.  Is it because the e-waste comes off their books – or is it because they are truly misled?

E-Waste recycling needs to become more transparent so the public understands what happens to this waste. Will it make a difference?  Do people really care, or is it better that the dumping is not in our own backyards?

I suggest a two pronged approach.

1) An E-waste Deposit on electronics, like the bottle bills in many states and cities.  This deposit Read more…

It has been reported that ULC Standards has acquired TerraChoice, the managers of Canada’s EcoLogo program.  This consolidation might make it easier for consumers to differentiate between green claims—so as to compare apples to apples.

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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green.  The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

According to an article in Advertising Age, the Federal Trade Commission is planning to introduce a  new set of so-called Green Guides that are used by the FTC to guide enforcement of existing laws. They are the first environmental-marketing guidelines in 12 years and could radically reshape how far marketers can go in painting their products, packaging or even corporate images green.

These guidelines should help to clarify terms that are used by many manufacturers and retailers to promote sustainability.

Currently there are nearly 300 different Green Seals of Approvals used to grade a products “level of eco-friendliness”, and these guidelines will help to clarify these terms and definitions for consumers once and for all.

This can help to render much of today’s green washing claims obsolete.   However, as with any new rules and guidelines, it is important that the American consumer learns to read the labels and to understand these labels.  However, after a recent trip down the candy, cookie, soft drink and cereal aisles of my local grocery store last week proved, just because labels are out there, doesn’t mean anybody will be reading them or paying attention to them.  Sugar, fructose, corn syrup and other sweeteners are still high on the ingredient list of many of these products, and they are still selling quite well.

Let’s hope the public takes the time to learn these new guidelines — and supports those companies that are helping to make a difference to make the planet greener.

Let’s make every day, Earth Day.

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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green.  The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Although BP advertising, like the one online at WSJ.com tries to portray the company as fighting 24 hours a day to clean up their oil spill mess, WSJ.com points out today that BP’s incoming chief executive said it is time to scale back the effort to clean up the spill — but stressed that the commitment to rectify problems hasn’t weakened.

Bob Dudley, who heads BP’s spill-recovery effort and will take over as CEO in October, said it is “not too soon for a scaleback” in the cleanup, and “you probably don’t need to see people in hazmat suits on the beach” in areas where there is no oil. He added, however, that there is “no pullback” in BP’s commitment to clean up the spill.

As they say on SNL—REALLY!??!!?!?! Not too soon for a pull back in the cleanup?!?!?

I find it hard to believe that there will be “no pullback” after this statement.

Just because they used chemical dispersants that sunk the oil from the surface does not mean that the oil has miraculously disappeared.

I hope Congress and the public does not let BP off the hook this easily. They have helped to destroy marine life in the gulf region and should not leave until all oil has been cleaned and the area returned to its previous condition.

Write to your Congressmen.
Boycott the company.
Get involved.

Here’s to a greener tomorrow, today.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

As a green organization, what are you doing to reduce your energy consumption?

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, in the commercial sector, energy consumption is broken down the largest percentage of energy usage:

• 25% lighting
• 13% heating
• 11% cooling
• 6% refrigeration
• 6% water heating
• 6% ventilation
• 6% electronics

I recently read where HP is looking to turn cow manure into energy at some of the data centers. Surely, if companies can convert manure into energy, your company can cut its annual energy usage by 5-10%. Perhaps the hot air from some of your colleagues can be harnessed into wind power for your office?

Be creative and keep looking for ways to become more green-friendly. After all, you cannot promote yourself as a green company or do green marketing without pushing the envelope and finding ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Here’s to a greener tomorrow, today.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.