EnviroBusiness is hosting an event in Guildford on 4 June to introduce environmental innovators to its new support programme for high-potential businesses.
The support programme is designed to help high-potential enterprises in South East England increase sales, create new products and take advantage of the growth in environmental markets.
The launch event, to be held at the Guildford Holiday Inn, is being organised with support partners Pera and BVG.
Topics to be covered during the event include:
How to access top-quality global market research and intelligence on environmental technology and service;
Assistance available for trading in the key global markets;
How to find new business partners and sources of business support;
The routes to market for innovation to create new products;
How to identify markets and sales opportunities in the private and public sectors; and
How to benefit from the supply chain opportunities in the wind and marine renewable energy industry.
What’s the secret to high-tech startup success? One-time tech company founder Mark Goldenson offers some words of wisdom for cleantech entrepreneurs in an enlightening commentary titled, “10 lessons from a failed startup.”
Goldenson and parter Dev Nag co-founded a firm awhile back called PlayCafe. The Internet television network for games was a hit with users who found the site, but didn’t draw in users in large enough numbers to generate success.
Goldenson’s hard-earned lessons from the experience?
Line up funding as quickly as possible, rather than hope for top-name investors who might not come on board fast enough;
If you’re starting a content-based business, realise it’s an “order of magnitude harder than technology”;
Aim for speed and “good enough,” rather than take too much time trying to achieve perfection;
Understand that your time is worth money;
Unless you yourself are an expert at marketing, hire a pro;
Know — and manage — the cost of attaining each customer;
Take advantage of partnerships, even informal ones;
Raise more money than you think you’ll need;
Always leave yourself options in negotiations; and
Realise there’s a difference between knowing and doing.
The majority of ‘green’ claims made in advertising are justified, according to research by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA’s survey found 94 per cent of ads with environmental claims were compliant with the advertising codes.
The research was prompted by a significant rise in ‘greenwash’ complaints about consumers being misled or confused by ethical claims in ads last year.
The ASA has also clamped down on greenwashing this year, publicly rebuking Shell and ExxonMobil over environmental and sustainability claims made in advertising material.
Of the 195 ads assessed across TV, radio and non-broadcast outlets, just 12 (six per cent) breached advertising codes.
Director general of the ASA, Christopher Graham, said:
“The compliance survey demonstrates that the ASA is making real progress in ensuring environmental claims do not mislead through exaggeration, ambiguity or omission. The ASA will continue to listen to consumers and work closely with advertisers to improve standards in green and ethical claims even further.”
The full ASA Environmental Claims Survey 2008 Survey can be found here.
Adding a bit of green to marketing can help financial services companies keep their heads above water even as the economy tumbles.
Mintel Comperemedia has observed more US financial services companies going green in recent months and says While not only an good thing to do, green marketing and eco business tactics can help save companies money and help them attract new customers. Mintel spokeswoman Susan Menkes said:
“Going green can help financial services companies cut overhead costs, attract environmentally aware consumers and stay ahead of the competition. Although the economic crisis is the story of the moment, it’s important for companies to look beyond market ups and downs to the long-term trends of tomorrow. We expect ‘green living’ to affect businesses for years to come.”
Mintel sees numerous companies going green in direct mail and email advertising. Paperless statements and online bill pay, which eliminate waste and save on printing and mailing costs are becoming extremely popular. Some companies plant a tree for every customer who stops paper statements with others rewarding customers with green prizes and sweepstakes for paying bills online.
Other companies promote their green credentials to set their products and services apart in today’s market. Menke said:
“With economic woes top of mind, many Americans are looking for tangible real-life benefits from companies who go green. Incorporating green elements across business and marketing plans can help financial services companies stand out today while setting a course for growth tomorrow.”
A press release hit Greenbang’s inbox this week touting an “eco-friendly online CD recycling service”. It was enough to catch our attention, boldly stating that 2,500 tonnes - more than 30 million CDs - are discarded and sent to landfill each year. Even worse, shock horror, tens of millions more are simply left lying around unplayed, it went on.
So what is this green service? Brace yourselves - it’s a website, called Music Magpie, that buys your unwanted CDs for cash, and then sells them.
Forgive us for stating the bleeding obvious here, but isn’t that just what has technically been known for many years as a ’second-hand CD shop’? Greenbang used to take bags full of CDs by obscure German thrash metal bands to the CD Warehouse and get 10p for them. Maybe, but that doesn’t stop Craig Dawson, head of operations at Music Magpie, who says:
“Every year over £21 million in old CD’s are thrown away in the UK when they could be recycled and converted into credit-crunch busting cash. The beauty of this is that as well as letting people make some extra cash – fast, it lets them cut down on the amount of rubbish they throw out, making it a greener, and more profitable solution to getting rid of unwanted CDs.”
Good try guys, and there may indeed be some marginal benefit to the planet from this, but we think you’ve really stretched the green angle here and marketing like this does the whole eco cause no favours at all by further fuelling public scepticism over green claims. If you’re going to make grand eco claims, make sure they stand up to scrutiny or prepared to be shot down.
Following on from slapping down Shell over a newspaper advert about sustainability claims the advertising watchdog has now banned a TV ad for ExxonMobil over claims that natural is “one of the world’s cleanest fuels”.
Four eagle-eyed viewers, who understood that the use and production of liquefied natural gas caused significant carbon emissions, challenged whether the claim misleadingly implied liquefied natural gas was environmentally friendly.
The agency acting on behalf of ExxonMobil responded, saying the statement “natural gas is one of the world’s cleanest fuels” was factually correct and did not overstate the environmental benefits of natural gas as a fuel. They also submitted an extract from the American Gas Association website, which supported their statement that natural gas was a cleaner source of energy than most other fossil fuels.
But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld the complaints and said there were likely to be carbon emissions generated by the liquefying and transport process of liquefied natural gas and that, as a fossil derived fuel, it was a major contributor to carbon emissions and was not therefore environmentally friendly.
The advert can not be broadcast again in its current form and the ASA’s adjudication said:
“Although not Exxons stated intention, we concluded that the ad misleadingly implied that natural gas was one of the cleanest sources of energy and that liquefied natural gas was environmentally friendly.”
ExxonMobil is reported to be considering a challenge to the ASA ruling.
Oil and energy giant Shell has received a slap on the wrist from the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over an advert that appeared in the Financial Times under the headline “We invest today’s profits in tomorrow’s solutions” and touting Shell’s sustainability credentials.
The ad went on to claim that Shell’s investment in unlocking the vast Canadian oil sands deposits was part of this sustainable future.
A complaint was made to the ASA by the World Wildlife Fund UK, challenging whether the oil sands project and plans to build the US’ largest refinery were in fact helping sustainable energy production.
Shell responded with a rather long-winded and detailed explanation of it’s reasons for the ad and debated the definition of the term “sustainable development”, arguing that readers of the financial pink sheet would understand what the company meant.
But the ASA upheld the complaint and ordered that the ad must not appear again in its current form. The ASA also advised Shell to seek copy advice in the future for guidance when preparing similar ads.
This ruling comes just a month after the ASA met with the National Consumer Council and environmental campaigners over the increasing amount of greenwash put forward as fact. With every Tom, Dick and Harry touting their environmental and sustainability credentials right now this is a warning anyone attempting a spot of greenwashing.
American sport hasn’t been doing too well on the green stakes of late. American football’s NY Giants and Miami Dolphins flew across the Atlantic for a match against each other at Wembley in October last year. A little over a fortnight before basketball did the same with the Boston Celtics playing the Minnesota Timberwolves in London’s O2 Arena. It seems that the teams don’t get enough money.
That said, according to Sign On San Diego “baseball’s All-Stars will be gathering for tonight’s midsummer classic in Yankee Stadium, where they’ll participate in what organizers are billing as the “greenest” event in Major League Baseball history.”
The planners, it seems are trying to shrink the game’s footprint and encourage its fans to lead eco-friendly lives. Coordinators are:
Ordering a giant red carpet made of recycled fibers, handing out reuseable tote bags and sponsoring a playground made largely from recycled materials.
It’s hardly the biggest gesture but it’s a start. Speaking to the San Diego paper Mark Andrew, president of the marketing company GreenMark in Minneapolis state:
“(Teams) will bring the issue . . . to the general public in a way that is far more efficient than most other industries. It’s like mainlining education and inspiration into the public consciousness.”
“Frequently, sports buildings are the highest-profile buildings a community,” he said. “As such, they are a platform from which you can not only transmit . . . messages of environmental sustainability but also develop new commercial opportunities.”
As noble as it is Greenbang still cannot get the Chargers environmental programme out of her head. The slogan is really rather tacky “Blue + Gold = Green.”
Greenbang can barely contain her cackling thanks to a new report from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
Apparently, you know all those ads encouraging us to think a bit more about the impact of our actions so our whole planet doesn’t wither into a plug of asthmatic black sludge and take us all with it? Well, they’re all a bit downbeat. Advertisers need to turn that frown upside down.
Here’s the summary:
• Campaigns should avoid being ‘miserable, gloomy and bleak’ (despite the potentially catastrophic consequences of not acting), instead emphasising that taking action on climate change is ‘normal’ – encouraging more people to engage with it.
• Campaigns should recognise the importance of fairness – i.e. Everyone needs to be seen to be doing their bit, including government and industry.
• Campaigns should be personally relevant. Campaigns should relate to our environment, not the environment and should use insight from commercial ads to engage emotional responses.
• Campaigns should identify the opportunities for individuals in taking action. For example, consumer research shows that millions of people desire a lower-stress, less consumption orientated lifestyle; this could form one basis for a social marketing campaign.
What next? Al Gore remakes An Inconvenient Truth as an upbeat addition to the the High School Musical franchise? We start trying to downplay the impending climatic awfulness by changing the term global warming into climate change? Oh yeah…
Following yesterday’s piece on ‘insert green credential here releases’, have you ever looked at an advert with more than a little skepticism about its green claims? Adverts such as oil firms stating everything except they produce oil etc. have a habit of getting Greenbang slightly annoyed.
To highlight these a greenwash index web site has been created. Linking into YouTube it asks its visitors to rank adverts on how believable the claim actually is, ranking the commercials from 1 (green) to 5 (so freshly greenwashed you can still see the oil seeping down the wall).
The personal favourite is ranked at 4.85. The advert promotes states Coal: clean, green energy. Hmmm
EnviroBusiness is hosting an event in Guildford on 4 June to introduce environmental innovators to its new support programme for high-potential businesses.
What’s the secret to high-tech startup success? One-time tech company founder Mark Goldenson offers some words of wisdom for cleantech entrepreneurs in an enlightening commentary titled,
Following yesterday’s piece on ‘insert green credential here releases’, have you ever looked at an advert with more than a little skepticism about its green claims? Adverts such as oil firms stating everything except they produce oil etc. have a habit of getting Greenbang slightly annoyed.