Before striking out, take time to retool your environmental practices, message

By Hugh Hough 

Get your brand in order, for the Day of Green Reckoning is coming. Today, green is big. Green is in. Every brand is rushing to figure out a way to take advantage of America’s seemingly sudden concern for environmental issues.

As a result, there are brands out there moving into the green space with either too much speed, or too few scruples, and sooner or later, they are going to get busted. They will be seen as frauds, charlatans or opportunists, and they will incur the wrath of the consumer.

There are ways, however, for your brand to avoid such an apocalyptical fate.

The first thing your brand has to do is recognize that “green” is only part of the equation. Today’s awakening consumer is paying close attention to corporate behavior and will hold you accountable for all other aspects of sustainability, including labor practices, community impact and employee relations.

Yes, environmental responsibility is important, but it’s a starting point, not a final destination.

Secondly, understand that the more your brand touts its environmental/sustainability efforts, the more scrutiny it will receive, and the more severe the rebuke if a fly is found in the ointment.

And with high-speed Internet access now in 78 percent of U.S. households and 50 million blogs out there, it doesn’t take much for a misbehaving brand to be brought into the spotlight. Just ask TXU Energy, which was bought out this year after criticisms of its environmental practices.

To keep this from happening, you need to be fully aware of every aspect of your production. It starts with your product design. What sort of formulation does your product consist of? Does it use potentially toxic ingredients or preservatives that could be a problem in the product’s afterlife? What about your ingredients? You need to know not just what they are, but where they come from, how they were produced and by whom.

You’ve got to look at manufacturing. What is the environmental impact of your facilities, and their health and safety records? Your plant can be completely carbon-neutral, but if you’ve got a steady stream of accidents, you could be garnering negative attention and a boycott.

You also have to look at your packaging. Are the materials recycled and/or recyclable? And how much packaging are you using? Might there be a way to cut that back, or use your materials more efficiently?
Don’t forget to examine your warehouse and distribution systems, as well. Make sure your warehouses are energy efficient, and your product gets to market with minimal environmental impact.

On a more positive note, going through such a vertical examination of your supply chain and process could reveal a few positive actions you are already taking.

Once you have a thorough understanding of your product and the processes behind it, you can examine the communication and outreach opportunities it affords you.

As you develop your communications plan to promote your sustainability efforts, there are three key elements in the equation to remember: tone, channel and volume.

The tone of your message could be humble, matter-of-fact, humorous or inspirational—just make sure it’s consistent. You’ll want to tailor your message to the channel it’s running in. Obviously, what you say on your website will be different from what you’d say in a 30-second television spot. As for volume, that’s really a matter of corporate comfort. How loudly you tout your sustainability efforts will inevitably be a source of internal debate, but I would suggest you err on the side of more, providing of course you have taken the steps described earlier.

Finally, there’s one critical piece of advice I’d give a brand touting its sustainability efforts: be honest. People aren’t perfect, and they don’t expect companies to be, either. Admit your shortcomings, and communicate what you’re doing to address them. Today’s consumers will forgive pretty much any sin, except dishonesty (and that includes lies of omission). Besides, people are going to find out the truth about your brand one way or another, so it might as well be from you.

Before long, the substance will be separated from the static in the green/sustainability space. Make sure your brand is on the right side of the fence.

Hugh Hough is Founder and President of Green Team and was a presenter of a version of Al Gore’s talk about global warming.