Naturalpath Media Blog

Coca-Cola recently announced specific, strategic goals for progress in sustainability. According to Coke CEO John F. Brock. "We continue to embed CSR throughout our business [and] it is playing an increasingly important role in helping us to capture operational efficiencies, drive effectiveness, and eliminate waste."

Coke's recent sustainability document (PDF) reports the following specific goals in the areas of water stewardship, sustainable packaging, and emissions reduction.

Social networking sites – such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Ning – have become popular destinations for internet users. In fact, 50% of 15-34 year olds participate in social networking. Accordingly, brands are capitalizing on the targeted advertising capabilities and self-selecting demographic afforded by social networks. A recent report from SRB Marketing titled Green Social Networks details the potential power of social networks for green brands – and how to tap into it.

Three out of four executives say they are willing to sacrifice at
least 1% of their salaries to fund their companies’ green initiatives,
according to an April 08 Korn/Ferry survey.

A small minority, three percent of respondents would be willing to
sacrifice upwards of 10 percent of their salaries, while about
one-quarter (27 percent) would be unwilling to sacrifice
any portion of their salary to support sustainability efforts. Almost half of executives report that their companies have
allocated existing staff, or hired new staff to support green programs.

Despite this there remains widespread belief green initiatives are not financially sustainable.
69% of the respondents believe that “green” initiatives will take a
back seat to profit-driven activities in these uncertain economic
times. Only 29% believe that the current economic situation will not
have an effect on “going green". 

At the recent Sustainable Brands ’08 Conference in Monterey, CA, Yahoo’s director of social responsibility, Erin Carlson, offered insight and strategies for reaching green consumers online. Carlson states that focus groups, new strategies, and frequent experimentation have resulted in a focused and successful marketing program. For example, the company’s popular Green Centers, located on many Yahoo content channels, draw consumer attention to green products while building a socially responsible image for the Yahoo brand. Below, Carlson identifies Yahoo’s major findings in online green marketing trends:

Media and advertising are awash in "going green". Time magazine's April cover story -- featuring a green cover logo and a mashup of the famous Iwo Jima photo (in which soldiers hoist a tree instead of an America flag) -- symbolizes that a new era of green marketing has arrived.

Although this isn't the only era marketers have used the environment as a central theme, the current green wave signifies a much larger and deeper shift by consumers and producers alike. The view that green is a shift and not a fad is supported by several recent studies of marketing trends (see below), including one by eMarketer called "Green Onine: Growing Awareness", which opines that the shift and interplay between consumer and producer is being driven and played out on the Internet (with support from traditional media channels of course) to much different results.

High energy costs are increasing the attractiveness of green products, according to Environmental Leader. Companies that source raw or recycled materials – which have lower fossil fuel content – can offer end products at a more stable price than their fossil fuel-dependent competitors. Eco-Products, which makes compostable dinnerware, expects a fivefold increase in revenue this year.

According to the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) annual overview of the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry, companies now recognize the importance of sustainability measures to both margin growth and customer loyalty. Key points include reductions in packaging materials, streamlined transportation, and socially responsible outsourcing.

Al Gore announced the “we” campaign, a $300 million effort to raise public awareness of climate change — both the problem and its potential solutions. The goal is to create bottoms-up pressure on legislators to tackle the issue.

Lots of details in the Washington Post and in Grist, so here's some brief observations and links:

This radio interview by GreenBiz of Judah Schiller of Saatchi and Saatchi provides interesting insight on how his firm is helping to encourage Wal-Mart's employees to embrace sustainability. It offers practical tips for companies looking for ways to engage workers on sustainability and wider corporate and community responsibility initiatives.

Transcript of Interview and Links to mp3 download and iTunes

Companies are increasingly motivated to pursue corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs for growth opportunities, rather than a necessitated by public or community relations posturing, according to a new global study released recently by IBM.

Driving this shift is the unique role of the Internet in influencing buying behavior by providing easily accessible, in-depth information about companies, their global supply chain partners, and their impact on society and the environment.

To gauge how deeply CSR has penetrated the core of the corporation — it's strategies and operations, IBM surveyed more than 250 business leaders globally and found that two-thirds of them are focusing on CSR activities to create new revenue streams