Last night, I attended an Auckland based PRiNZ event called ‘Communicating Sustainability: Green is the New Black’ which examined whether the words ‘business and sustainable can ever live happily together in the same sentence’ and what PR’s role should be in helping clients and customers get to grips with ‘green’ issues. Tim Rainger from Creo Sustain and Andrew Melville, Director of Communications and PR at consultancy, Spoke Ltd, were our presenters for the evening. However, in order to keep my posts to a reasonable length, this entry will focus purely on what Tim had to say.
Tim, who has been involved in a number of environmental groups such as ‘Surfers against Sewage’ in the United Kingdom, ‘Patagonia’ in the USA and KASM (Kiwis Against Seabed Mining), here in New Zealand, certainly provided us with some food for thought.
One of the things that he warned against was sending out mixed messages to audiences.
Tim cited the now infamous Noel Leeming advertising campaign, featuring Erin Brokivich, as an example of a company sending out confusing messages and the extreme negative backlash that can occur because of this. Ironically, if Noel Leeming had told the story of what the corporation itself was doing to help climate change, the response from the public would have been a million times more positive. The expensive TV ad only invited cynicism (especially since the woman featured in the advert had claimed, on numerous occasions, that she detested large businesses...)
At the other end of the scale is the New Zealand company, Grove Mill Wine. Rather than investing in a glossy, over the top advertising campaign, Grove Mill are living what they preach. They are part of the carboNZero programme and are members of the Sustainable Winegrowing NZ. They also have put some great systems and innovations in place to reduce their impact on the environment, including: an energy efficient waste heat system, a commitment to recycling, use of organic fertiliser, insulated warehousing and the use of eco-friendly packaging. There is no consumer cynicism here- it is clear that they are doing what they do because they are interested in preserving the environment and producing good quality wine. As a nice side effect, their sales are booming.
Tim cited the now infamous Noel Leeming advertising campaign, featuring Erin Brokivich, as an example of a company sending out confusing messages and the extreme negative backlash that can occur because of this. Ironically, if Noel Leeming had told the story of what the corporation itself was doing to help climate change, the response from the public would have been a million times more positive. The expensive TV ad only invited cynicism (especially since the woman featured in the advert had claimed, on numerous occasions, that she detested large businesses...)
At the other end of the scale is the New Zealand company, Grove Mill Wine. Rather than investing in a glossy, over the top advertising campaign, Grove Mill are living what they preach. They are part of the carboNZero programme and are members of the Sustainable Winegrowing NZ. They also have put some great systems and innovations in place to reduce their impact on the environment, including: an energy efficient waste heat system, a commitment to recycling, use of organic fertiliser, insulated warehousing and the use of eco-friendly packaging. There is no consumer cynicism here- it is clear that they are doing what they do because they are interested in preserving the environment and producing good quality wine. As a nice side effect, their sales are booming.
I think that the overall message from Tim was that if you want sustainability to work as a part of your business, you cannot treat it as a bolt on attribute. Transparency, honesty and effort go a long way. As Tim said, ‘It has to be lived, not just paid lip service to’.
1 comment:
You raise some valid points about lip service sustainability in NZ. Many NZ companies have not woken up to the fact the being sustainable is a visionary concept and that being sustainable is not only good for the environment, employees but it is good for the bottom line.
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