filter by tag: environment

Despite what the pundits may say, few of us are really certain what 2010 will bring – will the economy bounce back or get worse? Will nonprofits survive or fold under the fundraising pressure? Will the environmentally conscious lifestyle continue to resonate? So instead of predicting the future, we’d like to pause and look back at what has occurred in our portfolio of research – these highlights show powerful growth in just a couple of years for cause-related and corporate responsibility initiatives and may signal a positive outlook for the year ahead.

Cause Research:
Growth in Cause Acceptance: Americans’ acceptance of cause marketing increased from 66% in 1993 to 85% in 2008.
Growth in Global Focus: Since 1993, there has been a 6% decrease in consumers indicating they want companies to focus on the quality of life locally, within local communities and a 5% increase in desire for companies to support the quality of life globally, in countries around the world.
Growth in Differentiation: Americans' likeliness to switch to brands associated with a cause increased from 66% in 1993 to 79% in 2008.
Growth in Purchase: Consumers’ cause purchases almost doubled between 1993 and 2008, rising from 20% to 38%.

Environmental Research:
More Interest: 35% of Americans have greater interest in the environment today than they did one year ago.
Higher Expectations: 35% of Americans have higher expectations for companies to make and sell environmentally responsible products and services during the economic downturn.
They’re Watching You: 70% of Americans indicate they are paying attention to what companies are doing with regard to the environment today, even if they cannot buy until the future.

New Media Research:
More Interaction: 78% of new media users now interact with companies or brands via new media sites and tools, an increase of 32% from 2008.
Better Service: 68% feel better served by companies or brands present in new media, up from 57% in 2008.
Stronger Loyalty: 72% feel a stronger connection when companies or brands are present in new media, up from 56% in 2008.
Marketing is Okay: Consumer willingness to be marketed to via new media increased a dramatic 72% in one year - from 25% to 48%.

If the past year is any indication of what the year ahead holds, bring it on! As you plan for 2010, what questions do you have? What are you curious about? We’re listening to your comments - please share your outlook below.

With COP15 in full swing, climate change discussions are heating up – and environmentally conscious companies are joining the conversation. Several big players, including Timberland (Cone’s client) and Coke have launched consumer-focused campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of COP15, which aims to secure a new global climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol.

Image via www.donttellusitcantbedone.com

Because Timberland’s business is the environment, the company has a vested interest in proving companies can make a profit and save the planet – without passing the cost to the consumer. Through its global “Don’t Tell Us It Can’t Be Done” campaign, Timberland hopes to bring the importance of climate change, and the need for binding legislation, to the forefront by giving the public a forum to let their voices be heard. Consumers are invited to get involved by signing an online petition at www.donttellusitcantbedone.com and staying up-to-date on conference happenings with an on-the-ground reporting team, comprised of environmental journalist Olivia Zaleski and Found Objects Films founder Gabriel London, who will post daily recaps and exclusive interviews at www.earthkeeper.com/ActionCenter.

In addition to the “Don’t Tell Us It Can’t Be Done” online campaign, Timberland is connecting with consumers on climate change through global advertising, in-store displays and social networks like Twitter and Facebook. And the campaign doesn’t end after the COP15 conference. No matter the result of the conference, Timberland will continue to call for commitment to the long-term outcome. The company has already achieved a 27 percent reduction in emissions since 2006, committed to building all new U.S. stores to LEED standards and implemented the Green Index, which measures and reports on products’ environmental impact, to help inform the design process.

What’s more, Timberland’s sincere attempts to drive social justice through commerce are paying off. President and CEO Jeff Swartz has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, Fast Company and The Sunday Times, and on Fox Business Network’s America’s Nightly Scoreboard and several major UK stations to discuss the company’s environmental commitments. And Timberland’s Earthkeeper collection, comprised of eco-friendly gear, now accounts for about 5 percent of total sales—proof that companies don’t have to choose between making a profit and doing good.

- Erin Zwaska, Account Executive

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. The 2009 topic is climate change.

Corporate managers are very used to working within budgets. They carefully plan for the costs associated with meeting their departments’ annual objectives and executing strategies. Their budgets likely include the costs of employees traveling across the country or around the world. But what about the carbon emissions associated with this type of travel? Who’s accounting for these?

If emissions associated with corporate travel were regularly included in carbon footprints, they could account for some 20 percent of a company’s total emissions. In fact, Motorola included business travel in its most recent carbon footprint. If my math is correct, the company’s business travel accounted for 20.5 percent of its overall footprint.

Today, most companies calculate their carbon footprints by only including direct and indirect emissions from their manufacturing facilities and internal operations – known as Scope 1 and Scope 2 – while not including emissions from corporate travel, which falls into Scope 3. But things may change soon, as new emissions regulation and carbon disclosure standards are on the horizon.

For now, corporate managers may want to start rethinking how they budget for employee travel expenses by including a cost associated with travel-related carbon emissions. The city of San Francisco is ahead of this curve. Last February, the mayor ordered all city departments to not only declare how much they plan to spend on air travel, but to also pay 13 percent of their air-travel costs into a city carbon-offset fund, which will be used to pay for local emission reduction projects. This is a good tactic that may actually work to trim corporate travel – and related emissions – in the future.

- Liz Gorman, Vice President

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. The 2009 topic is climate change.

Is climate change today’s Y2K? A hyped-up, get-on-the-bandwagon cause that is misguiding our limited attention and dollars? Or, is it the struggle of our generation which will be the root cause of expanding poverty and political instability? We know it’s the latter, so how can any of us make a difference and ensure consumers see it with the same urgency? It’s our responsibility to go beyond the numbers, beyond 350 parts per million, to inspire people to believe that they too can have an impact on something that feels so big and intangible.

The threat is real, the science is in, and we must change our perspective and our actions. As consumers, we need to rethink how we consume - from the products we buy for our kids to the investments we make in our homes. As marketers, we need to build the case for urgent action. Our new sense of pragmatism with the economy is today's opportunity. If cost savings is the driver, let it reign. Whatever it takes to make a difference for planet Earth.

‘Tis the season for major storms and Ana, Bill, Claudette and Danny have already joined the festivities. Although it’s said that hurricanes are arriving fashionably late this year, there is still an active forecast ahead, and The American Red Cross is encouraging the public to be proactive. Its new campaign, “Do More than Cross Your Fingers,” focuses on disaster preparedness and is using a multi-channel approach to urge consumers to develop an emergency kit and plan. It features an online resource center, offline media outreach, celebrity spokesperson Jamie Lee Curtis, corporate partnerships with Clorox and FedEx and an online store where consumers can purchase emergency kit items.

As the hurricane season carries on, consumers may not only be thinking about their own emergency plans, but also how they can help others in the event tragedy strikes. To aid fellow citizens in the aftermath of natural disasters, consumers will seek to donate time, money and goods to organizations addressing domestic needs. One of the biggest motivators for consumers when choosing a cause or organization to support is the assurance that their contributions can have a direct and significant impact on the issue, and it’s easy to see these results when it’s in our own communities or on the local news. For this reason, it is no surprise that the domestic social needs sector was found to be the most valuable in The Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100.

However, it’s important to remember that natural disasters require more than reactive support after a storm hits, as there is often long-term rebuilding necessary for full recovery. By proactively partnering with service organizations that provide relief for and recovery from national disasters that are close to home, companies can position their brands in a relevant way around an issue that resonates with all Americans.

Check out Cone’s guidelines for how companies can most effectively support disaster relief efforts.

Shared Responsibility is a new What Do You Stand For? series from Cone’s Corporate Responsibility team that focuses on addressing the sustainability challenges of our time.

I’ve spent the past year attending many conferences. Green conferences. Sustainability conferences. I’ve also spent time counseling clients on corporate responsibility thought leadership strategies and how to engage with key influencers. Some of these discussions go down to the pedantic, such as being appropriate in terms of the brand’s presence at shows.

At every show, there are branded reusable shopping bags. I have so many – too many – strategically placed in my office, in my car, etc. There are also a variety of other tchotchkes. I use the word because its definition is: inexpensive, showy trinket. I wonder if we could do ourselves a favor and not buy trinkets for the sake of branding, but instead spend time, money and resources on doing, connecting and making a collective difference in the issues that matter.

Instead of another pin, bag or magnet, why not sponsor an extra networking session, a special guest speaker or a donation to an important cause on behalf of attendees? Your company will still benefit from the brand recognition, but instead it will be tied to a thought-provoking discussion or issue, not desk drawer clutter. We can and do work with companies, NGOs and others to make this world a better place – one less trinket at a time.

- Jonathan Yohannan, Senior Vice President 

Like a proud parent, we couldn’t be happier knowing our client, PNC Financial Services Group Inc., has both social and environmental commitments. PNC, who has made an unprecedented 10-year, $100 million investment in school readiness, recently announced plans to install a soil-based living wall on the exterior of the company's Pittsburgh headquarters building. The living wall, which will be installed September 2009, will be the largest green living wall in North America, and just in time for the G20 summit, which will be taking place in Pittsburg this fall.

Certainly, the wall will provide cooling benefits for the building, but by timing it with the G20 event, it will also draw notice to the bank’s large inventory of green buildings and bank branches. PNC Director of Corporate Real Estate Gary Saulson commented, "The wall will be a fitting reminder that PNC is the world-leader in green building."

Cone has been working with PNC on its cause program, Grow Up Great, for six years, and we are thrilled that it also recognizes the importance of committing to the environment.

Worldwide, a record number of companies are reporting on their sustainability performance. Whether these companies are reaching their employees with these messages is another story.

Two new studies uncover a disconnect between corporate responsibility efforts and employee awareness. According to a Public Policy Polling survey, nearly one-quarter (24%) of survey participants indicated their company has made sustainability a top priority in business decisions, yet only 17 percent said sustainability efforts are frequently communicated to the workforce. The 2009 Corporate Citizenship Survey, conducted by a group of firms, found a more startling figure – a full 70 percent of employees say they are not aware of any socially responsible practices their own employer is taking. A company’s social and environmental practices can affect everything from recruitment to employee pride, loyalty and retention, so inadequate communication has far-reaching implications inside a company’s own walls.

What’s more, employees serve as natural brand ambassadors for their organizations. Failure to adequately educate them about corporate responsibility efforts and initiatives hinders a powerful, cost-effective and credible channel for reaching consumers and other external stakeholders.

Spring is in the air, and Cone is revving up for an exciting (and busy) conference season. Here is a sneak peek of where you can find us in the next two months:

The Better Business Bureau of NY

CSR Forum II: Leading the Recovery and Restoring Transparency and Trust in Business

May 12, 2009

Carol Cone will be moderating a panel entitled “Responsibility Strategies for Rough Times.” The discussion will include representatives from Verizon, Time Warner and Pfizer.

Sustainability 50

May 12, 2009

Jonathan Yohannan, SVP, will join a candid discussion among business leaders about effective environmental communications.

Entrepreneurs Foundation

May 14, 2009

Carol Cone will lead a roundtable discussion entitled “Anatomy of the Corporate Soul.”

The Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Summit

Expanding the Value of PR in the Digital Age

May 18, 2009

Mike Lawrence, EVP and Chief Reputation Officer, will speak on a panel entitled “Lightning Response: Surviving the First 24 Hours of Crisis.”

The 2009 Cause Marketing Forum Conference

May 27, 2009

Carol Cone will help kick off the event with a keynote at the opening dinner about trends in cause marketing and Cone’s latest cause research.

CECP’s Corporate Philanthropy Summit

Under a New Lens: Corporate Philanthropy in a Changed Economy

June 2, 2009

Carol Cone will moderate a panel entitled “Beyond Cash: Leveraging Your Resources.” The discussion will include representatives from Cisco, American Express Foundation and The Eli Lilly and Company Foundation.

Sustainable Brands 2009

June 4, 2009

Mike Hollywood, Director of New Media and Jonathan Yohannan, SVP, will lead a half-day workshop on “Sustainable New Media” where participants will learn how to successfully integrate new media into corporate responsibility communications strategies.

We are honored to be speaking at these leading conferences and hope you can join us!

This week Sony joined a roster of companies providing in-store recycling kiosks for any electronic product, regardless of its brand. Waste Management also launched a new CFL bulb that comes packaged in a postage-paid box. Consumers can use the container to return dead CFLs to a recycling center, ensuring the bulbs, which contain a small amount of mercury, will be properly discarded. And earlier this month, the Estee Lauder brand Origins announced it will accept and recycle used cosmetic containers from any manufacturer (cosmetics packaging like lipstick tubes and shampoo bottles account for a third of landfill waste!) at all of its stores and counters nationwide. What does this mean for consumers? It’s getting easier to be “green.”

Step one was creating and providing environmentally responsible products, but the cost of a corporate environmental commitment today goes far beyond the store shelf. Companies are stepping up to help ease the common barriers which prevent consumers from proper use and disposal of their products. They are extending their commitments by offering turn-key solutions for responsible engagement throughout the product life cycle, minimizing not only the manufacturing impact of their products, but also accommodating the safe disposal or reuse of materials they contain. And frankly, they are eliminating, one-by-one, the excuses consumers have for not being green.

Today, greenbiz.com highlights the activities many companies are undertaking to celebrate Earth Day internally.  The activities, according to the post, fall into one or more of four major categories: on-site events, creating or acknowledging “green teams,” awarding and recognizing achievements and engaging in community service efforts.

At Cone, we’re pleased to report that we’re engaging in all four.

New research finds that 63 percent of workers in the U.S. feel their companies should be doing more to reduce their power consumption. A simple step? Power down PCs.

The PC Energy Report 2009 found that businesses in the U.S. are wasting $2.8 billion a year in energy costs by failing to turn off computers. According to the report, “If all the world’s 1 billion PCs were powered down just one night, it would save enough energy to light up New York City’s Empire State Building – inside and out – for more than 30 years.” Shutting down office computers during the evenings and weekends when they are not in use can save individual organizations thousands of dollars each year, while helping to minimize overall office energy use.

This weekend is a perfect time to start. Saturday, March 28th marks the third annual Earth Hour event – a global initiative organized by the World Wildlife Federation to raise awareness about climate change. At the time of this story, an impressive 2,848 cities, 21,014 businesses, 6,299 organizations and 8,742 schools within 84 countries signed up to participate by turning off their lights between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. local time on Saturday.

Take this symbolic act, which is designed to raise awareness, a step further to something that can have a sustained impact on your energy use and your bottom-line: encourage all employees to ensure their computers and monitors are turned off for the entire weekend. Earth Hour is an awareness builder, but only if it translates to true, ongoing action.

Business and consumer news could hardly be more grim, but corporate environmental efforts seem to be coming through relatively unscathed. Companies are maintaining their investments and consumers continue to buy.

So why is “green purchasing” proving so resilient?

Three driving forces:

• Small Change – Companies are providing easy, cost-effective opportunities for consumers to make a difference through everyday purchases and activities (e.g, Marriott’s “Celestial Seasonings Trees for the Future” and the ongoing success of Clorox Green Works).
• True Value – Consumers evaluate much more than price when determining a product’s “value.”
• EcO-bama – The Obama administration’s continued attention to environmental policies and green stimulus spending have brought complex environmental issues into living rooms across America.

Trendspotting.com also lists 12 of its own eco-trends fueling today’s “eco-bounty” in its latest trends report, but we want to know what you think. Why does consumer environmental purchasing continue to grow despite the economy? Vote in our poll, located on the blog sidebar, and share your thoughts on what is motivating consumers to shop with the environment in mind even as they pinch pennies.

Economy does not eclipse environment. It’s not a tongue-twister; it’s the very real, very encouraging takeaway from Cone’s newly released research, the 2009 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey. The brief survey explored the environmental attitudes and shopping behaviors of American consumers during today’s economic crisis and found that American interest, shopping habits and expectations of companies to act responsibly have not been blunted by the state of the economy. Key findings include:

• Purchasing: 34 percent of American consumers indicate they are more likely to buy environmentally responsible products today, and another 44 percent indicate their environmental shopping habits have not changed as a result of the economy
• Interest: 35 percent of Americans have higher interest in the environment today than they did one year ago
• Expectations: 35 percent of Americans have higher expectations for companies to make and sell environmentally responsible products and services during the economic downturn

Another key takeaway: Even if they are not buying today, consumers are still holding companies accountable for their sustainability efforts over time. A full seven in 10 Americans say they are paying attention to what companies are doing regarding the environment today, even if they cannot buy until the future.

As Andrea Learned states on her blog, “Don’t assume your brand can give up on ‘green’ to ride out these tough times. If your customers are sticking to their environmental ways through thick and thin (or at least trying very hard to so do), they’ll expect you to do the same.”

Please click here to access the complete 2009 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey release and fact sheet.

To see Cone’s past consumer environmental research, including the 2007 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey and the 2008 Green Gap Survey, please visit www.coneinc.com/research.

I have lived in the city for years, and for years getting around this joint has never been pleasant. It’s just something you have to deal with. Whether it is the increase in train fares, the parking tickets, a place to put your car, the traffic or the price of gas, navigating you way around any metropolitan area never goes into the pro column of “reasons to live and work in a city.” But a few years ago, all that changed.

Even though I only lived five miles from work, it was taking me over an hour to get there and I was in search of a better way. A co-worker of mine was riding her bike to the train every day, and I thought that was great idea. So I started riding as well. But since I was already packed and ready to go on the bike, l just started riding all the way into work instead of just to the train. I am pretty sure it is one of the best choices I made since not only am I saving a ton of time and money because riding a bike is cheaper (free) and faster than taking the train, I am reducing my carbon footprint. So now my commute is 100% Leesa powered.

There is a bike for every skill level . From an easy-to-ride mountain bike to a fixed gear with no breaks, you can find a bike that works best for your skill level. At first it was a bit tricky to ride with traffic since, where I grew up, you rode on the sidewalk. But once you get used to that, you are all set. Don’t like the way a big clunky bike helmet looks on your head? There are assortments of cool skate and snowboard helmets to help keep you looking hip, keeping you safe and warm in the wintertime while you ride.

It seems to be catching on. There has been a surge in folks riding to work, and many companies are now rewarding their pedi-pedestrians with some great benefits , from money toward bike purchases and repairs to a safe, covered storage facility for employee bicycles.

On top of all that, bike riding is a multi-taskers dream. I ride a total of 10-12 miles a day, which means I get my workout in while I am pedaling to and from work. Biking can be low to high impact. Ride in leisurely and enjoy the view some days or really push it and give yourself a high-impact workout on other days. I burn anywhere from 300-700 calories a day biking to work. The best part is it fits right into my day; I don’t have to plan or rush to the gym after work.

Biking is hip . Back in the day, bike riding around where I grew up was reserved for kids or people doing it for pure sport. There was really nothing cool about it. Since then, biking has had a makeover, and now it’s hip. And why wouldn’t it be... With concerns about the environment being one of the hot issues in this election, the bad economy and the gas prices, people are looking for ways to help mother nature and to keep money in their pockets. Plus biking is just easy. You show up, you lock your bike, and you are on your merry little way. No more waiting for the train! No more circling around Harvard Square for an hour waiting for that open metered space!! No more paying over 20 bucks to park somewhere!!! And you are bettering your health and the environment all at once. You can’t go wrong with it. Personally, I think bike messengers are like the cowboys, and America loves its cowboys . Ride a bike not a (gas) hog.

-Lisa (Leesa) Coyne, Designer

Like everybody else in a down economy, Americans are doing whatever they can to stretch what little money they have as far as it will go.  So you can imagine how attractive a new offer from Citizens Bank promising customers an additional $120 a year in their checking account sounds; especially when people are being forced to pay higher prices for everything from home heating oil to milk.

Citizens’ Green$ense is designed to encourage customers to transition their checking accounts to a paperless, electronic funds transfer system by offering to “pay” the customer 10 cents every time they use their Green$ense debit card to make a purchase or pay a bill online, up to $120 a year.  By eliminating the paper associated with most bill-paying transactions, Citizens Bank hopes to do its part to reduce its impact on the environment. It’s a clever way to help save the planet, especially in these tough economic times when environmental concerns are competing with economic concerns as consumers struggle to make ends meet.

Though not everyone is buying into Green$ense—an AdRants blogger says it will lead to layoffs of bank tellers—Citizens Bank does make an effort to justify the campaign by quantifying the impact of going paperless.  According to the Web site, after one year [http://www.citizensbank.com/greensense/why.aspx]of using Green$ense, consumers could:

• Save 6.6 pounds of paper
• Prevent 171 pounds of greenhouse gases
• Conserve 63 gallons of water
• Reduce 4.5 gallons of gasoline usage

The Web site also provides a payment impact calculator, green tips and articles and scrolls quick “did-you-knows” across the top of each page to further illustrate the effects of the campaign.  For instance, “If just 1 in 10 of our customers switched to Green$ense, that would be the equivalent of taking 5,000 cars off the road.”  The program is not perfect—you have to throw away a perfectly good debit card to make room for a new recycled-plastic Green$ense card—but it does offer consumers an easy incentive to keep the environment relevant in a down economy.


- Andrea Larrumbide, Insights Associate

To reduce the environmental impact of one of its laptops, HP is thinking inside the box .  In a thoughtful approach to getting its product both into stores and home to consumers, the computer company is wrapping a line of its PCs in the HP Protect Messenger Bag, made from 100 percent recycled materials, before shipping to retail stores, thereby eliminating product packaging by 97 percent. 

But the positive impact does not end there.  The laptops will be both displayed and sold in the messenger bags, eliminating the need for additional boxes or shopping bags and allowing consumers to tote their new product and accessories home in earth-friendly style.  To complete the product lifecycle, the Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations where the product is sold will offer free recycling of the old computers when the new laptop is purchased. 

According to Cone’s 2007 Consumer Environmental Survey , when it comes to ways Americans want companies to help preserve the environment, minimizing product packaging is key.  In fact, 69 percent of Americans said designing products with more environmentally-friendly contents and minimal packaging was important.  Their other environmental expectations include: 

• Reduce pollution through office and manufacturing operations - 71% 
• Design products/packaging with more environmentally friendly contents and minimal packaging - 69% 
• Distribute and transport products more efficiently - 69% 
• Communicate environmental efforts to consumers and employees so each group can support those  efforts- 62% 
• Donate money/services to support environmental causes - 59% 
• Lobby for environmentally-friendly policies - 57%

For more Cone research and insights, please visit our Web site .

Everything seems to be turning green. And there is nothing wrong with that – companies creating new, innovative products and services that are good for them and good for the environment. But consumers haven’t completely bought into this yet. A number of green products aren’t flying off the shelves the way companies anticipated. Why is it that the green revolution has taken companies by storm, but not consumers? With the environment at the forefront of consumer concerns, it makes one wonder why consumers aren’t dropping the bad stuff and buying the good stuff. We build it, but they just won’t come. Why?

Some products are a big hit with consumers – the Prius and CFL light bulbs are taking off in a big way. So why aren’t they buying green shoes, food, computers, etc.?

There are many reasons why people buy certain products and not others – price, functionality, “coolness,” brand loyalty, etc. One often overlooked factor is: how do the environmental aspects of the product help the consumer?

A column in yesterday’s Environmental Leader addressed the so-called “green noise” or “green fatigue” some believe is beginning to plague consumers.  Is the deluge of often contradictory environmental messages overwhelming consumers?  The answer is yes and no.   

Cone’s most recent environmental research, the Green Gap Survey, found consumers are not as apathetic or cynical as many recent headlines would have us believe.  Yes, many consumers admit they are overwhelmed by the amount of environmental messages they hear and see, but more than a third say they feel informed or educated when hearing messages about the environmental practices and impacts of companies and organizations.  The takeaway is that although the breadth of environmental messages and marketing may be overpowering, individual messages can still resonate.  And frankly, there is merit even in the environmental debates (organic versus local?  incandescent versus CFL with trace amounts of mercury?) that are ensuing- it indicates a high level of environmental consciousness in the marketplace.

There is no doubt that as exaggerated claims and irresponsible messages mount, so too do fatigue and skepticism.  Amidst the environmental noise, however, the opportunity still exists for companies to make their messages educational and realistic and to demonstrate to consumers how they can continue to make changes in their daily lives.  By providing turnkey opportunities that empower consumers, companies will serve as a trusted resource as Americans navigate the increasingly complex “green” landscape. 

Visit www.earthkeeper.com to see how Timberland (a Cone client) is using new media to engage environmentally conscious citizens in its Earthkeepers initiative.   And, for a few Cone guidelines on effective eco-marketing and more about the Green Gap Survey, please visit our Web site . 

As Earth Day approaches, an occasion Ad Age has likened to Christmas due to its paradoxically commercial slant, it is critical for companies to communicate their environmental commitments accurately and responsibly. The FTC is taking notice of the abundance of environmental messages in the marketplace and is holding a second workshop in late April to reevaluate its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims.

In light of these events, Cone, in collaboration with The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, this week released the 2008 Green Gap Survey exploring Americans’ understanding of and attitudes toward environmental marketing claims, as well as their desire for oversight of such messages.

The findings revealed that although Americans are trusting of companies, there is a disconnect (the “Green Gap”) between the environmental claims they hear and what they conclude these messages to mean.  Almost half of the population (48 percent) erroneously believes common environmental terms such as “environmentally friendly” or “green” best describe products that have a positive (read: beneficial) impact on the environment.  In reality, these terms more accurately describe products that have either a lesser impact than previous iterations or than competitive products.  A majority of Americans also indicate they would welcome oversight of environmental marketing claims. 

The combination of these findings underscores the precarious nature of the environmental marketing landscape.  Currently operating under a “trust, but verify” assumption, American consumers risk disillusionment and possibly disaffection as they begin to realize that the environmental claims they hear are not necessarily what they may seem. 

For more on the research findings and some guidelines for companies, please visit our Web site . 

In the green-obsessed world of journalism, it's big news when a major retailer —or US city for that matter—decides to join in the effort to eradicate the plastic bag.  I’ve become quite accustomed to learning of the efforts of, say, IKEA’s anti-plastic-bag campaign while leafing through newspapers and magazines.  So, when I picked up my recent Newsweek , I fully expected to read about retail’s latest green initiative.

I just didn't expect to learn about it on the first page—on the inside cover to be exact.

Staring up at me right inside the April 14 issue was a proposal from Target.  Send them your used plastic Target bags, and they will send you a coupon for a free reusable tote.  They'll even pay the postage by turning the cover of Newsweek , which features a pre-paid business reply label, into an envelope.  How delightfully simple!  You can bet I tore through my collection of plastic shopping bags looking for those iconic red bull's-eyes.  Heck, I even considered running out and buying something at my local Target just to get the plastic bags so I could return them.

Target, which already prints 10 ways to reuse on the side of each plastic bag, partnered with TerraCycle, an eco-capitalism company, and Newsweek to turn plastic bags into reusable “Retotes.”  Not only do the totes help to minimize the environmental impact of shopping, they provide an added consumer touch point and act as a gentle reminder of all the ways Target works to better its community.

I've come across a lot of cause ads in my time at Cone, and it really encourages me to see companies addressing greater social and environmental needs.  But, never have I been so inspired to act as I was when I saw Target's spread.  Why can't all retailers make it this easy?  I have an entire kitchen cabinet dedicated to used plastic bags just waiting for an initiative like this.

So thank you Target for inspiring me, for reminding me that the smallest efforts can affect a greater change.  I can only hope that you inspired your retail brethren to do the same.

You should be receiving my plastic bags any day now.

-Andrea Larrumbide, Insights Associate

Every single day we are bombarded by someone telling us to be more eco-friendly in our lives - and in the choices we make. But can we really be eco-friendly?

Maybe the problem starts with what we define as eco-friendly. Do we mean something that is good for the environment or something that is just less bad than the alternative? Too often we are told something is eco-friendly when it is really only eco-friendlier than the alternative. For instance, anything made out of plastic will have an impact on the environment - even the biodegradable stuff. In fact, almost everything uses resources and will have a negative impact on the environment. So it can’t really be eco-friendly - can it?

You drive a hybrid - is that eco-friendly? Not in a million years would you suck on the exhaust pipe - it still uses oil. It is just better than the alternative Hummer.

You’ve changed your light bulbs - does that make you a tree hugger? Hmm, it still uses electricity that will most likely not be from a renewable source.

You eat organic foods - makes you feel green doesn’t it? Hope you planted them yourself because they don’t get to the shop or your house via wind power you know.