3 Ideas for Eco-friendly Promotional Product Campaigns

According to data from the World Bank, 1,300 tons of garbage are produced each year in major metropolitan areas alone, which are home to about 3 billion people. We will soon reach 11 million tons of garbage in landfills around the world. This ecological and social phenomenon is a great concern for many industries and governments, who are trying to reuse the production of solid waste through recycling and reuse campaigns.

The advertising industry has joined these objectives. Marketers have developed a new trend known as Eco-Friendly Advertising, which should not be confused with green marketing. The latter refers to brands’ efforts to create environmentally friendly products and to encourage practices in favor of nature. Eco-Friendly Advertising focuses on creating sustainable promotion means of any item or service. This is an important trend, because 71% of consumers consider environmentalism as an important factor when shopping.

“It is sustainable advertising: beneficial to the brand image and respectful of the environment. It’s a holistic form of advertising on the outside and inside, with double ethical and aesthetic awareness,” said Joan Alvares, creative director of the Spanish agency Super Nada.

Also known as “Greenvertising”, Eco-Friendly Advertising was born out of a global concern to take care of the planet. Activists behind this model call themselves “publiactivists” because they are people who are dedicated to the advertising industry, but have decided to turn their careers and collaborate with the environment from their own trench.

Agencies dedicated to this type of advertising use completely organic materials. The goal is not to use plastic or paper that increases the amount of garbage produced. “It is about taking advantage of the environment to sell a product or share a message, the Earth is the canvas and nature is the palette,” says Darren Leach, specialist in outdoor strategies.

Although collective awareness seems to be looking for increasingly eco-friendly activities and most consumers prefer products and packaging that harm the environment as little as possible, many companies still hesitate to use Eco-Friendly Advertising and, as with BTL, prefer to launch traditional campaigns.

“Essentially, we are fighting against inertia, against what has been done for many years, in which corporate social responsibility has been considered optional and exogenous to the normal activity of the company. Corporal Social Responsibility” is and continues to be a kind of free bar for companies that have little responsibility, and that produces situations as absurd as there are brands that fill their mouths by planting trees in Spain.

But How Can Your Eco-friendly Marketing Strategy Be Effective?

The trouble is that not all sustainable advertisers are able to maintain a decent ROI.  It really boils down to the effectiveness of their efforts. They need to both develop affordable advertising materials and make sure they get their message out clearly.

Here are some tips for an eco-friendly advertising campaign.

Find cost-effective sources of eco-friendly materials

Environmentally friendly materials are not always cheap. Some of them are processed by companies that have complex infrastructures, which means they need to pass that cost along to their customers. This can mean that your sustainable advertising campaign will be unnecessarily expensive.

You will need to look for providers of eco-friendly materials that offer reasonable price points.

 Clearly mark your organic marketing materials

Your sustainable marketing materials aren’t going to do you much good if customers don’t recognize them. If you want to capitalize off of your efforts to promote sustainability, then you need to make it clear that your promotional products are sourced from sustainable materials. It is a good idea to use a green insignia on each of them. You should also send out an occasional press release about your eco-friendly advertising campaigns and discuss it on your website.

Gauge your customers’ perspectives on sustainability

Customers are more concerned about sustainability than ever before. However, different groups expressed interest in sustainability to varying degrees.  You need to see how your own customers feel about it.