Mike longhurst getting green advertising right

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Getting Green Advertising Right Mike Longhurst A new era is opening up for green communications....and it will not be the same The situation that drove brands to communicate on a sustainability platform in the mid-late 2000s is fundamentally changed Realistically few achieved as much as they hoped to and will look to the new era to gain significant competitive advantage and reputation growth

Transcript of Mike longhurst getting green advertising right

Page 1: Mike longhurst getting green advertising right

Getting Green Advertising Right

Mike Longhurst

A new era is opening up for green

communications....and it will not be the same

• The situation that drove brands to communicate on a sustainability platform in the mid-late 2000s is fundamentally changed

• Realistically few achieved as much as they hoped to and will look to the new era to gain significant competitive advantage and reputation growth

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Since the recession, there is a crisis of green

leadership

The green lobby has vastly over-exaggerating the

positive image and sales effects of a sustainable reputation...

...and the ability of the consumer to tell the difference

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Sustainability driving ranking....or vice-versa?

What is the reality?

• The Greens exaggerated, but their theory was right

• The benefits are there but we have not been smart enough in many cases

• Brands are not getting the image reward and effective consumer response from sustainability R&D that they need

• And consumers are not getting the best leadership towards more sustainable consumption and lifestyles

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The fall-out from Deepwater Horizon?

• Greater pressure on corporations to walk the talk – more holistic sustainability

• Public cynicism devaluing communications

• Perception that BP were great talkers...who else?

• We have to re-engage people and cannot assume interest or belief

Many corporate websites and PR spin-offs are great, but

targeted ATL communications can be vital to build image

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Key Insight

• In the future there will be Thought Leaders and Action Leaders, with others following behind

• Both will have finally learned how to apply true creativity to this subject....

• ....and will have stopped taking consumer interest and involvement for granted

ISSUE FOCUSSELF FOCUSCOPYCAT

Thought Leadership

is about having a unique

point of view on a generic

issue

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And tackling tough

questions

Taking ownership of the issues...

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...and pointing to solutions

Coming up with new concepts: “Plan A.

Because there is no Plan B”

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And fresh ideas

Action Leadership

is about digging deeper

into what you do to find the

things that will impress

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And having the products or

programmes to back it up

Offering solutions, not boasts

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Showing the results

And creating real

involvement

Thailand

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Intriguing,

empowering and

inviting participation

Brand before issue

= Corporate chest-beating

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So what have we learned so far?

• Most advertising based on “What we’re doing...” is devalued by rising expectations and becomes an entry stake

• Campaigns that put the brand behind the issue are more effective than those that try to put the issue behind the brand

• In the debate between Thought and Action leadership, thought leadership is key to developing brands, but action is needed for credibility

• Action leadership attempts lead frequently to an inward view and corporate

chest-beating, that is not differentiating and is too easy to ignore

• Generic visual clichés act as a warning sign and are avoided

• Creativity is needed to surprise, involve and persuade

Creativity behind sustainability issues has

never been more important than now

• To cut through consumer confusion

• To overcome apathy

• To inform and motivate

• To reassure and reward clients

.....But what is creativity in this context?

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Is this creative?

Or just self-obsessed?

Is this creative?

Or just self-indulgent?

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Could this be more convoluted?

Really so smart?

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Preaching to the

converted?

Creativity is recognising that not everyone is as

interested in sustainability attributes as in

product performance...in fact very few are

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It’s about staying true to who you are and not

trying to be something else

It’s about putting the brand behind the issue,

not the issue behind the brand

“Please preserve the environment ... unfortunately it’s not as easy as this”

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Brand firmly behind the issue

Ericsson – leading with the

issue, not corporate chest

beating

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It’s about putting best brains on the job, not the

juniors

“STIB buses are setting an example. They’re giving up smoking.”

“We wash our busses and afterwards we wash the water that washed our busses”

Lateral thinking

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It’s about Win / Win Energy saving appliances in China

“In ten years you save enough for a new fridge”

P&G Lenor. Empowering you to make a

difference...and winning a Euro Effie

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E Waste Lithuania – Having fun with the issue

and winning a Lion in Cannes

Quercus – Portugal. Promoting the issue

emotively, with more heart than head

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But....

• Budgets have been too low...toes in the water

• Brands have a “Fear to Tread” that we must

help them to overcome

• They need reassurance

• That it can work positively without attracting criticism

• That we understand the rules and are not creating “Greenwash”

More and more corporations and brands are getting

onto the sustainability bandwaggon

All this is creating a more sensitised environment for

marketers to promote into

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But the real point is: It is costing them a lot and

they want at least reputation

enhancement for it and at end

of the day…SALES

But often the pressure to communicate is leading to ugly corporate chest-beating and excesses that bring us into disrepute

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And that is sometimes leading to exaggeration

and “Greenwash”

Headline banned as the car still has a petrol engine and emits CO2

Or shooting ourselves in the foot

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Worst thing is several local SROs approved

this!

There is no bigger threat to consumer credibility

and advertising freedoms than the “Greenwash”

issue

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The NGOs are hypersensitive, hypercritical and

hyperactive

They are reporting on us and communicating

brilliantly

“BA’s answer to climate change”

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And they’re creating a semantic minefield

Destroying the planet less than before is not a “benefit”, or “friendly”

Which part of the product life-cycle exactly are we talking about?

Who decides the threshold where “improvements” are meaningful?

Can we ever define “Green”?

More sustainable than what?

But how does that fit with other things you are doing?

The sustainability opportunity is a massive one

for marketers

• Closer bond with things that really matter to consumers

• A real basis for relationship-building

• A route out of the “No Logo” negativity of the past

• Premiums from product developments designed to

make a real difference

• Enhanced brand value

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We need creativity to drive the issue and

achieve stronger consumer response, not

devalue it

Thank you