USA TODAY Being eco-friendly can pay economically
" Marketers are seeing green over green. Whether for environmentally friendly stores, products or causes, marketers are pegging their brands to programs that help aid the Earth's natural resources, and using that hook as a means to bolster sales
"Green marketing is a good thing," says Jack Barkenbus, executive director of the University of Tennessee's Energy Environment and Resources Center. "Consumers have begun to respond to it. That's why you've seen so much growth."
Going green:
•Retail. Wal-Mart (WMT) in July began a sustainable store test starting with the construction of a 206,000-square-foot store in Texas. The eco-centric design deploys 26 energy-saving and renewable-materials experiments.
•Auto Japanese automakers have made hybrid vehicles mainstream. Toyota expects to sell more than 150,000 of its popular Prius cars, which might soon get a special emblem to flag their gas-saving and emissions-reducing status.
•Water. Starbucks (SBUX) recently rolled out its own Ethos bottled water in stores, along with a commitment to donate a nickel from each bottle toward a $10 million donation to help improve drinking-water conditions around the world.
•Cleaning products. San Francisco start-up company Method combines natural ingredients and sharp design for its household cleaning products. The brand is a hit with consumers. Since 2000, the company's second year of business, sales are up 250%. "We're reaching a broader audience and bringing more people into the green movement who previously didn't care," says Adam Lowry, co-founder of Method with Eric Ryan.
Even corporate behemoth General Electric (GE) is looking to be more eco-friendly. In May, the company announced a sweeping corporate initiative, "Ecomagination." It's a play on an eco-centric philosophy and imagination, the focal point of GE's ongoing ad campaign, "Imagination at work."
Ecomagination includes: a $1.5-billion annual investment in research and technology into cleaner technologies; plans to double GE revenue to $20 billion in 2010 from sales of products and services that provide big environmental advantages; and a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions.
"We looked at trends, and it became quite apparent that environmental issues are a bigger challenge for companies around the world, to our customers, as well as for GE," says Judy Hu, global executive director of advertising and branding.
GE is telling the world about Ecomagination through a series of ads that tout an environmental benefit for a specific product or service.
Ads include sexy models mining coal to promote clean coal technology and a tower of animals stretching high into the clouds to promote the fuel-efficient GEnx jet engine. A third ad, subject of USA TODAY's weekly consumer Ad Track survey, features an elephant doing his best imitation of Gene Kelly as he dances through the rainforest to the tune of Singin' in the Rain.
People are singing its praise. Of those familiar with the ad, 49% like it "a lot," vs. the Ad Track average of 21%.
"It is by far the most popular spot and rates high on likability," says Hu. "It's important to us because we want people to stop and listen to the advertising."
The dancing elephant — created through computer graphic images generated from the dance moves of two men wearing elephant legs — was supposed to be a dancing chimpanzee. Hu stomped out that idea after this year's Super Bowl.
"After the Super Bowl, we said 'Oh, my, chimps are overdone,' " says Hu. "But it's the cliché, animals work."
- USA TODAY ,Theresa Howard
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