Eco Marketing V The Credit Crunch

21/08/2008 by blog.

Despite the credit crunch, some companies are doing well. The common perception of many CEO’s and MD’s is that August is a slack time of year for sales. So why is this the best August on record for Direct Marketing Agency ECO1?

For the last 12 months, we’ve been communicating with countless Eco organisations about their sales and marketing aspirations. It’s interesting to note that over this period, some companies have been very worried about the credit crunch whilst others are simply taking it all in their stride.

So are some Ecopreneurs simply burying their heads in the sand and pretending the credit crunch doesn’t exist - or is there another explanation? Without naming any names, a few Eco MD’s have stuck out over the last 12 months in terms of their perception of the market place. Of particular note, are a number of Eco MD’s who are not phased by the credit crunch and are doing well. In contrast, a noticeable number of Eco MD’s with the jitters are doing badly. So is it possible that perception rather than reality is playing an important role here?

In a recent Newsnight interview on BBC1, Jonathon Porritt of FFTF was pitched in debate against Brian Wilson (Former Energy Minister) and George Monbiot (Environmental Campaigner), in a debate over energy. Whilst the focus of the debate was actually about Coal, Nuclear and Alternative Energy, a very interesting graph was displayed regarding theUK public’s perception of Environment V Fuel Prices. Whilst their debate over energy was of deep importance, from the perspective of eco marketing, the graph was another warning sign for many ecopreneurs - are eco sales likely to take a double whammy due to the Credit Crunch?

It’s worth noting that BBC coverage of the Credit Crunch has been ongoing for some time now in discussing the problems faced in the USA - apparently due to US mortgage lending; but possibly also due to the high cost of the global war on terrorism, market jitters as the world moves towards Peak Oil, and an overall faltering US economy. In essence, a fairly pessemistic view of the current US economy and it’s ramifications for the global economy. And yet, whilst all these doom and gloom scenarios are taking place, US corporate giant Walmart announced a very healthy profit for their shareholders last week. So what is going on here?

From an eco marketing viewpoint, it’s all about perspective and green marketing. At this point you’re probably wondering why I’m talking about Walmart and green marketing in the same sentence. The facts are that Walmart, like some other smart cookies out there in the corporate world, are realising that going Green can also boost sales. The problem here is that some eco campaigners are simply campaigners - if they had been active in the 1950s they would have been shouting ‘ban the bomb’, in the 21st Century they’re shouting ‘reduce your carbon’. The world is not going to change for the better by simply shouting about the problem - it will change because people take action - and believe it or not, that’s exactly what Walmart are doing.

To a great extent, those who win the Eco Marketing wars of the early 21st Century may well be those that distance themselves from the old green campaigners. A campaigner earns their living and reputation from campaigning about something; but when Al Gore produced his movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth‘, the media battle for hearts and minds was already over.

The transition phase now for green marketing is a shift from the deep green market to a much broader green market embraced by the ancien regime of the industrialists and captains of industry. As we move through this transition stage, the green campaigners will be left shouting about something we all know, whilst anyone with an ounce of sense else will be taking action.

In order to act, the public had to be ’shocked’ out of entropy by the Doom and Gloom scenario of raging climate change. This phase has passed and we are now moving into a new phase of marketing green products and services. The key point here is that the likes of Walmart are going green and making profit, whilst those caught up in the new Doom and Gloom scenario are focusing on the Credit Crunch - and quite frankly they are missing out!

Despite being called ‘Ethical’, there are many people in the green movement unwilling to give anyone a second chance. I’m not talking about lies, spin and greenwash, but those who have genuinely woken up to the challenges of climate change. At present, there are a few too many green campaigners out there who are rapidly losing their role in life. Like luddites smashing the cotton mills, these campaigners don’t want to accept the mainstream in to the green movement - possibly through purely selfish reasons. If the planet is to go green, then we all need to get on board and help others to do so.

Last year, I was stunned at the attacks on McDonalds for actually trying to provide healthy meals. For many years, McDonalds were fair game for anyone with an interest in obesity problems, but they pulled their socks up and decided to offer healthier food. The furor over a certain brand of smoothie being sold at McDonalds was incredible. For trying to make sure that McDonald’s buyers could switch to a healthy smoothie, the company in question were told that they were ’selling out’, as if healthy living was only for a small clique of people. The only really unhealthy matter here was a nauseous clique who believed they were better than the rest of us - trying to prevent corporations from going healthy and green.

To summarise, the Credit Crunch is real. Whilst oil stock prices rise and fall, the trend is an upward movement in prices. The US economy is far from healthy at present. Yet despite this, the age old axiom of supply and demand remains - and if you look closely at the markets you will see that some businesses are still doing well out there. Take a look at Jonathon Porrit’s Forum For The Future to see some great things happening, or take a look at the advances being made by members of the Low Carbon Innovation Network.

The standard rules of marketing still apply. Those organisations that are scared off by a troubled marketplace will make way for those who are bold. Those who are shouting about carbon footprints without offering any solution will be left behind. It’s tough out there - but wake up - it always has been tough out there! Whenever did you hear that fortune favours the timid, the pessemists and the procrastinators?

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