Wal-Mart Says They Did It For The Money

Wal-Mart Chairman Lee Scott can speak at a large corporate conference about sustainability initiatives being more about the bottom line than it is about brand image.

But I don’t buy it.

Yes, I believe Mr. Scott did save money greening supply chain and adopting renewable energy technologies. Approximately 350 of their stores and facilities in Texas use wind energy. They have a laudable vision and monster environmental goals: “To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain people and the environment.”

(If you want to create a green trivial pursuit game, you can download 23  sustainability fact sheets here)

Why, then, did this big box leader create so much press, hire scads of environmental consultants, speak at The big boys green conferences, and earn a place in the green business debate?

Sure, I believe Mr. Scott was smart. He figured out that in a business of his size, waste equals a lot less profits, and that the bottom line was important driver for sustainability. But he went further than saving money, he invested in new technologies. His company spent some of their resources on research; and training. And, in the end, it helped his brand image with some of the enviros – at least the ones that go to green business conferences.

Brand image is a funny thing. You can’t touch it, but it’s visible and emotive. Brand image is an impression in the minds of the people you call your customers and stakeholders. Brand is even greater than emotion; it’s the experience we have when we interact with the created product, store, or service. And experience eventually translates into value, and “goodwill.”

“A brand’s value is merely the sum total of how much extra people will pay, or how often they choose, the expectations, memories, stories and relationships of one brand over the alternatives,” says Marketing Guru Seth Godin,.

And now, in the web 2.0 world, brand is also the many impressions or conversations  created in various networks.

Arguably, consumers choose Wal-Mart over other retailers because of price, and sometimes, because it’s the only retailer around. The experience that Wal-Mart created by going green was ultimately, a smart business decision, but it also was part of helping their brand image. Which, a short while ago was in peril.

In 2006, Business Week, among other media sources, reported on Wal-Mart’s not-so-altruistic business practices:

It’s been that kind of year for Wal-Mart. The Bentonville (Ark.)-based company has been pushing hard to improve its public image, at a time when its financial fortunes increasingly depend on it.It’s come under heavy fire from workers and politicians, for everything from the low wages it pays workers to the small retailers it pushes out of business. That dark reputation has resulted in communities around the country taking on Wal-Mart, by trying to halt construction of new stores or forcing it to pay higher wages and benefits.

Had Wal-Mart wanted to, they probably could have dealt with some of these pressures by giving more to charities, and giving their workers health care. They could have, perhaps, strong-armed their supply chain and brought their prices down lower, without making a fuss about green initiatives. They could h ave closed a lot more stores, and not gotten involved with the complexity of green business.

But Mr. Scott turned the green light on; and Wal-Mart profits under a better light. Profits and image had to co-exist for this brand to make a comeback.

As much as Mr. Scott says he approached sustainability as a business decision, he also says, “If we as a company focus on waste, we can make Wal-Mart a better company and at the same time, become a better citizen.”

Wal-Mart has also been unpredictable and some-what hard to define brand. Are they evil or ultimately, a game changer? What is their place in our larger, vision of the economy? Perhaps Godin has a clue:

“If you want to grow a valuable brand, my advice is to keep awareness close to zero among the people you’re not ready for yet, and build the most predictable, emotional experience you can among those that care about you.”

Sources: Environmental Leader
Business Week

How to Rev-up your Public Relations Strategy

Creating a Facebook page, Tweeting on Twitter , and writing press releases are all worthwhile and fun tactics, but to gain visibility and favorable public attention, consider a brief public relations plan. An effective final plan is written document that will keep you focused and creative, while you build effective public relations activities for your organization.
So gather a few stakeholders in your company, including a customer or trusted advisor, turn of the cell phones, and entertain a strategy session that will answer:

•    What is the main objective for your public relations activities?
Is it to launch a product or company? Gain new customers? Support your partners? Community? Gain website content? Be identified as a thought leader?

•    Which strategies should you select that support those goals?
Think out of the box to create results. Why not try tweeting a reporter with a 140 character pitch about your new product launch instead of sending a 5 paragraph press release via email? If your goal is to build awareness, why not organize a live event in your community that is unusual enough for the press to come? Anything  you can make bigger than life-size so that the public will come experience your product or service What is new, different or helpful about your product or serve and how can you “show” as well as “tell” your story.

•    When will you be achieving your strategies?
If you’re a green business, is Earth Day really the best day to launch a huge press campaign? It may be if it involves a community activity, a Facebook contest or a community trash clean-up. And competition might be stiff for getting the presses’ attention. Your best strategy might be to get a calendar out and mark key dates: holidays, historical events, seasonal milestones, important national dates, and craft an angle that might fit one of those events.

•    How can you use few resources to help achieve your public relations goals?
•    Leverage a partnership, pitch to the press, and also have them also pitch on your behalf.
If you are Realtor, and want to show off a new home technology, can you approach the manufacturer of that product and co-author a release?

•    Look to local traditional outlets for recognition.

There may be a greater chance of earning trust and building relationships in your home turf, which can also assist in building your reputation in your community. Effective press mentions, also called “hits” can help with your search engine optimization and may be picked up by larger media outlets.

  • How can you get your target media’s attention?

- Create an intriguing, wild subject line for your email pitch. This one for a trade show presenter, got press attention: “If Houdini were alive today, would he be in trade shows?”

-Create a visual picture in your pitch will help entice reporters: “Risking life and limb, Tim Kelly will escape from a strait jacket while balancing atop of a small plank of wood while seesawing on a small round cylinder.”

-Position yourself as a thought leader. What do you know about your industry that can be articulated clearly to the press?

And don’t forget to prepare your answers and practice them aloud! You’ll be prepared for any unexpected interviews!

Dirty Air, Dirty Money

On the evening that Health Care Reform passed, it’s relevant to see how the cost and consequences of poor health have wrecked havoc on our system. If we are going to have real reform, it has to be across industries, governments, and the entire health care system. Health is as much as a social responsibility as it is freedom from disease.

Now more than ever, the business of health and environmental improvement is inextricably linked to the business of business. (greener state =  more greenbacks)

What are unhealthy conditions costing us?

Between 2005 and 2007, poor air quality in California caused more than $193 million in hospital-based medical care according to the RAND Corporation.

“Failing to meet federal clean air standards caused nearly 30,000 hospital admissions and ER visits throughout California over 2005–2007. Nearly three-quarters of these events were attributable to high ambient levels of fine particulate matter.”

That means as people sought help for problems such as asthma and pneumonia – conditions and diseases that are caused by the airborne nasties that contribute to climate change.

Buildings, cars, agriculture is also involves public insurers: “Overall, Medicare and Medi-Cal (Medicaid in California) paid for about two-thirds of the estimated ER visits and hospital admissions.”

Now there’s a statistic that can make a federal budget bloated. “Medicare spent an estimated $104 million on hospital care because California failed to meet federal clean air standards during 2005–2007. Medi-Cal spent about $28 million. Private health insurers spent about $56 million.”

Benefits for business:

  • You have to breath to work. Dirty air means missed days of work; more hardship and for families, children…and business.
  • Happy, healthy, motivated workforce.
  • More tourists, better PR campaign for “Visit California” campaign.
  • Large Green Jobs workforce (of every collar)
  • Drive clean energy innovation which would increase jobs, develop technology and ensure our seat in the global marketplace.
  • Savings before regulations. End-of-pipe methods, which capture pollution that has already been created and remove it from the air. (This was a benefit found after the Clean Air Act went into effect).

It wasn’t long ago that we signed the Clean Air Act into law.

Is clean air good for business? Health and welfare of our citizens?
Comments always appreciated!

Other Sources:

Triple Pundit

Inc Online

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I feel so Lucky When I look In Those Green Eyes

When you target customers, it helps to know if they’re “dark green”, “light green” or “basic brown” in their attitudes, but, with so many green issues, products, and labels out there, it may be more relevant to your branding and communications to understand their personal green interests and behaviors, not necessarily their labels.

Check out this post by Jacquie Ottman, one of  the thought leaders in green marketing. She has great focus on categorizing green targets.

Green consumers are also citizens. Although it’s cool marketing-speak to address those who purchase as those who consume, but nothing speaks to your prospects and customers (there I go!) than treating them as if they are important and they matter.

What matters to me, as an urban green-leaning Boomer, is that I also enjoy “guilty pleasures” like: “Burn Notice”,”24″ and French Chardonnay. I recycle, live in a small flat with two others, use public transportation and ride my bike. But I am not a vegetarian and I don’t follow the activities of PETA or Green Peace. I consume a vast amount of media, and the most appealing to me are the campaigns that are well-designed. That means stories that show beauty, transparency, clarity and humor are particularly high on my radar.

I might remember a new organization through my association with The Green Chamber of Commerce, but I might also like to try a healthy beauty product that I saw a commercial for on FOX, during a “24″ commercial break.

Sometimes, it IS the message, and not necessarily the media. I am aspiring to wave the green flag, but I also am very much a typical American 40-something.

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Who Wants to be The Green Marketing Expert, Wholefoods or Michael Pollan?

Way back in 2006, when  author & educator Michael Pollan’s raised concerns about the national supermarket chain Whole Foods in his book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” Whole Foods CEO and founder John MacKey wrote a letter to Pollan. The two continued their dialog publicly, while the rise of the organic food movement lifted up small manufacturers and producers as well as large multinationals.

These two eco-minded leaders agreed on the ‘ “reformation” of the American food system,’ supporting more locally grown production: In California this would mean, anyone at a farmers’ markets to Earthbound Farm. While they both disagreed on several points, you could bet your tofu on the fact that both of these guys were advocating for change in the American food system.

But what surprised me in their paper dialog a few years ago was that Pollan was basing his arguments on some fundamental marketing principles. “..As Whole Foods recognized before many others did, there is another consumer being born out there, one who takes a broader view of his interests, understands that spending more on higher-quality food is worth it on so many levels,” says Pollen.

“As competitors like Wal-Mart and Safeway move into selling industrial organic food, Whole Foods can distinguish itself by moving to the next stage, doing things they can’t possibly do. “Local” surely is one of those things: and your buyers already know exactly how to do it. All Wal-Mart knows is how to source industrial organic food from China.”

And then something happened. Whole Foods’ stock prices went on a roller-coaster ride; and the business was expanding. Fast. 65 stores were in development in 2005; and by September 2007, WF acquired their major competitor Wild Oats. WholeFoods has its national price-friendly brand, 365 on its shelves, nation-wide. And the brand, which once stood for local and sustainable, made its mid-course correction to be in favor of big and not so local, and not so green.

Maybe this is sounding a bit like an overwrought “Wolfman” but the hidden side of this food chain is getting ugly.  As a consumer, when I pay premium prices on most of the experience I get here, and I see all the nice little signs in the fresh produce aisles  telling me where my apple, beets and tomatoes come from, I expect the same transparency in the freezers.

The 365 California vegetables, according to a recent ABC report are manufactured in China. Is there that much demand to warrant growing these thousands of miles away from the state whose namesake

Is Whole Foods looking a lot like Safeway? Has green now gone so far mainstream that it must stand by “go big or go home?” Is MacKey wrong to have certified “organic” food from China? Is mainstream television damaging the green business movement?

I think the damage comes from the lack of transparency. Consumers shouldn’t have to do all the work at figuring out the Whole Foods brand. If Whole Foods wants to handle this transparently, and up the ante on “quality” they need to step up and admit who the independent auditors are and change their packaging design immediately that these products, if they are proudly made in China.

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