Brand Matters: How Bright Is Your Green Light?

Growing your brand into a sustainable gem

June 2008 By Andrea Syverson

multipage

King Arthur Flour: According to King Arthur Flour’s Web site, the company was certified as a B (Beneficial) Corporation. “B Corporations™ are a new type of corporation that are purpose-driven and create benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. To become certified, B Corporations must meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards, and amend their corporate governing documents to incorporate the interests of employees, community and the environment.”

King Arthur Flour believes holistically that all the processes included in the running of the company should benefit the good of the environment.

Hanna Andersson: Hanna Andersson, founder of the children’s clothing company inspired by her Swedish heritage, built recycling right into her brand essence more than 20 years ago. She calls it the “double bottom line.” “The idea for Hannadowns began with the realization that hannas last for more than one child. Rather than waste, why not pass well-loved clothes on to children in need? During Hanna’s first 16 years our customers have donated over one million pieces of recycled clothes to kids in need.” Today, this promotional program is continued via the “Hanna Helps” initiative. The Web site also notifies customers of other significant environmentally friendly processes: “We’re also the first retailer in the U.S. to have over 50 percent of our products certified by an ecological certification process that tests for over 100 harmful substances.”

Crate and Barrel: Barbara Turf, the new CEO at Crate and Barrel, has stated that expanding the company’s green initiatives is at the top of her to-do list. A quick glance at its Web site shows that being a good green citizen has been a serious focus for Crate and Barrel, and that for this retailer, it all starts at home. “We have prioritized developing thoughtful new products, manufacturing processes, and programs to expand the responsible choices we offer our customers.” The site showcases Crate and Barrel’s wide range of environmentally sound actions: from friendly product “ingredients” without higher prices to how it packages products to printing processes for the catalogs and marketing materials to how its people work toward “zero waste” in running the offices more efficiently.

Nordstrom: Multichanneler giant Nordstrom is well-known for its fanatical customer service. It trains its associates to simply “do the right thing” when it comes to customer care. In a recent company press release, Nordstrom announced “that it will introduce new environmentally-friendly packaging options for customers throughout 2008. Fully recyclable shopping bags and gift boxes and a reusable shopping tote will be available to customers as the year progresses.” Erik Nordstrom, president of stores for Nordstrom, said, “We know our customers care about the environment, and this is an effort to serve them better and reduce our impact. We will continue to look for ways we can be a better corporate citizen.”

Time for an Honest Evaluation
Is your brand doing the right thing? Why not gather your employees together for an environmental evaluation of your brand practices? Be ruthlessly honest. Are you unintentionally committing any of the six sins of greenwashing? Are you as good a corporate citizen as you can be? Are you leveraging your brand strengths in unique and truly meaningful ways that will resonate with your customers’ hearts and pocketbooks? Have you appraised all your marketing “P’s” for environmental effectiveness? Can you color some of them a brighter green? A deeper green? Challenge yourself to be environmentally exceptional.

Finally, have you thought long and hard how you can make your customers’ overall “doing-business-with-you-experience” more humane, more efficient and simpler? Purpose-driven businesses that treat people with kindness and dignity, that respect their time and their hard-earned dollars, are more than beneficial or environmentally sound. They are businesses at their best. We need more of them.

Andrea Syverson is president of IER Partners, a strategic branding and merchandising consultancy based in Colorado. She may be reached at (719) 495-2354 or asyverson@ ierpartners.com.