Green Advertising
Posted By Carolyn on March 9, 2009
So you probably think this article is going to be about advertising Green products to consumers. While I could fill an on-line text book on the subject (and probably will at some point), I’m going a completely different route today. I’m talking about environmentally-friendly advertising. And I’m probably taking a detour along the way.
Let’s start with the basics. A newspaper, no matter how recycled the paper is, is still paper. With the Internet and 24-hour a day news available almost everywhere you find yourself, the death of print media isn’t an “if”, it is a “when”. And the earth will be a happier planet.
DETOUR: Here’s a thought. Circulation is down 40% but rates, amazingly, are not! The Cincinnati Enquirer breaks with a market tradition and moves from a Sunday homes section to a Saturday Home and Life section (you can look up last week’s soap opera summaries or look for a new home – all in the same section…that makes sense) but doesn’t change rates more than a negligible amount. We’ll see how that works out.
Back on message now. For every news paper that dies, there seems to be a direct mail campaign popping up to replace it. The advent of DVR has made television advertising less effective. Let’s face it, most people don’t want to watch commercials. I’m in Marketing and I don’t want to watch them! So marketers are turning to direct mail more and more. I’m over simplifying why we use direct mail but I’m trying to make a point: Too Much Paper! It is estimated that over 40% of all direct mail is thrown in the trash and never even opened!
So what is a Green marketer to do? Well, TV…but we just covered the down side of that! Radio is nice. The Internet is very nice (except the number of computers and web-enabled cell phones that end up in landfills). Billboards? Clutter the visual landscape.
Maybe the 50’s had it right: Walking, door to door sales people - we’ll conquered obesity and created a green campaign. Coming soon to a door near you!
About the author
Luckily for the planet, direct marketing has taken a hit in growth and is now being replaced more and more by email marketing. There will always be a need, however, for printed marketing. I don’t see this going away for quite some time.
Luis P
You are right, it won’t go away completely but I do believe Marketers need to become smart about what is direct mail appropriate and what isn’t. Thanks for the comment.