Shiny Green Button

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First, Happy Earth Day everyone! Whatever that means to you.

Maybe you’re volunteering somewhere. Maybe you’re out digging in the dirt. Maybe you’re vowing to be more deliberate about everyday things like turning the lights off or reusing your grocery bags. Maybe you’re feeling a little cynical about it all.

But the fact is, you know it’s Earth Day. So, even if it’s just for a few seconds, you’re thinking about the planet. That’s something.

Listening to an old episode of the public radio show This American Life the other day, I heard staff producer Sarah Koenig spin a fantastic yarn about her dad, copywriting legend Julian Koenig, an original Mad Man. Among other memorable campaigns, he came up with the iconic Volkswagen “Think Small” ads. He also gave Earth Day its name.

Koenig was part of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson’s 1969 committee to organize a nationwide day for environmental awareness. The efforts were in response to a growing grassroots movement to draw more attention to environmental concerns.

The committee considered several names for the event, but Koenig’s is the one that stuck. As the story goes, the idea came to him instantly, because April 22 is his birthday, and “Earth Day” rhymes with “birthday.” That’s how we word nerds work.

The idea took off immediately. Now, in its 40^th year, Earth Day is celebrated around the world. Think we’d even be talking about it if it had been called National Environment Teach-In Day?

Just another example of how words matter, how everything about them matters—their cadence, the way they sound together and even the way they look.

Incidentally, every year around this time, people suggest alternative names, because Earth Day is so generic or doesn’t accurately reflect environmental priorities. I think Earth Day works just fine. What do you think?

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I’ve been writing quite a few executive communications these days, many of them around the theme of Earth Day and a commitment to corporate environmental responsibility.

Many of these are supposed to include a few simple tips for employees on how they can reduce their own personal impact. Remember to turn off your PC at night, biking is a great way to get to work, yadda, yadda.

Maybe it’s because I’m getting so many of these kinds of messages myself—even the local radio station I listen to on my commute is getting into it, with public service-style bits about reusable shopping bags and energy-efficient light bulbs—but I’m starting to tune out.

As I sit down to write, I’m imagining my audience starting to glaze over too. “Ugh, another reminder to bring my own coffee cup instead of getting a paper one.” Plus there’s an added dimension of a power dynamic in executive communications. When the boss is telling the employee what to do, there’s a risk that those tips can be perceived as trite and condescending.

So I’ve been suggesting a different approach. Instead of asking the employee to do something, you can take the opportunity to tell employees what you are personally doing for the environment. Make it authentic—something you really are committing to do and can do. “This Earth Day, I’m making a point of keeping my canvas shopping bags in the car so I remember to use them.” It still conveys the message that the environment is important, but it feels less heavy handed. This role model approach has the added benefit of sending the message that even the folks at the top are trying their best to make a difference.

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I finally made time to read Paul Krugman’s lengthy New York Times magazine piece “Building a Green Economy,” which is essentially a crash course in Enviro Econ 101.

One point he made struck me as particularly relevant to those of us in the communications field. He notes, realistically, that one individual’s conservation efforts just don’t have a significant impact on climate change: “Any serious solution must rely mainly on creating a system that gives everyone a self-interested reason to produce fewer emissions.”

His point has a direct application to businesses making efforts to be more sustainable and those of us who help them tell their stories. No matter how large, one business can not solve the problem alone. It can however, set the stage for broader adoption of responsible practices. What better way to do that than to communicate, loudly, clearly and accurately, the business benefits of sustainability?

So often, sustainability communications take a feel-good approach, touting how a company is making a healthier, greener planet for everyone. But, what if more businesses made a bigger deal about how sustainability actually saves their company money through more efficient processes, healthier employees, etc.? And what if they shared this kind of information not just with shareholders, but with everyone?

This is an area where we, as communicators, can help. By adjusting the frame in this way—positioning corporate responsibility not as a responsibility but as smart business strategy—maybe we can all do better for ourselves and the planet.

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As I was cruising through our blog archives the other day, I realized something. We’re two years old this month!

In our first post, Christian Hicks pondered the role corporations play—and the role they could play—in raising environmental awareness.
Since then, we’ve immersed ourselves in an exploration of how brands, communications and sustainability come together. And, we’ve challenged ourselves to figure out how they can work together in ways that are good for business, good for people and good for the planet.

To celebrate our birth month, we’ll take a look back at what we’ve discovered along the way—insights that have come from and been valuable to the communications work we do every day for our clients.

We’ve covered a lot of ground in two years, but whether we’re talking about the financial sector or technology, advertising or corporate responsibility reports, one theme emerges over and over again: even though the sustainability landscape feels like new territory for many, the fundamentals of good communications still apply. Just as we suspected.

Check out these posts from the past—still relevant today—and you’ll see what I mean. Words matter. Respecting your audience is crucial. Storytelling connects and engages people in powerful ways.

But, don’t think for a second that we writers aren’t open to something new. We also wonder, will our changing world change how we communicate?

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

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I was somewhat dazed and confused by the images sprinkled throughout ING’s corporate responsibility report, just released this week. They show individuals with outstretched hands, palms covered in orange paint, each with a word. Responsible. Children. Respect.

How odd. What the heck did it mean? What did it have to do with ING, other than employing their trademark orange? The one cultural reference point I had was an ominous, sinister one of Lady Macbeth trying to wash blood from her hands, which surely was not what ING was hoping to convey.

Explanation came on page 29 of the 62-page report.

Hundreds of ING employees took part in our WHAMM or ’What Matters Most‘ Campaign by sending images of their orange handprints. These prints tell us what our employees care about most in life and business. They help ING to set principles for future community and sustainability projects.

Well, now that’s a cool story. ING could have done itself a favor by pairing its images with a caption that explained the program. Not only would it have eliminated confusion, but it would have called attention to a story that nicely illustrates their corporate responsibility efforts.

When I was taking art classes, my teacher taught me that backing away from the canvas every now and then was important. Looking at my painting from across the room always revealed something I was missing by standing close.

It’s a lesson that applies to anyone in marketing and communications too. Even when we’re rushing to meet a deadline, it’s crucial to stop and take one last step back, evaluating both the images and the words to make sure they are working together to tell one, consistent story. Otherwise, we can end up distracting and confusing our readers, or worse, sending them messages that are very different from the ones we intended to send.

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An EcoGeek reader who subscribes to both National Geographic and Wired found two very different messages recently from Kohler, the company known for its sleek, aesthetically pleasing plumbing fixtures.

In National Geographic, an evocative image of clear water splashes across the page, along with a conservation message about Kohler’s water-saving products and the URL for the company’s microsite www.savewateramerica.com.

In Wired, Kohler offers a highly stylized image of a duo in a Dancing with the Stars-style big-finish pose. They’re standing in a room-sized shower looking fierce, as nine multi-nozzle showerheads blast them with what Kohler’s product info calls “a deluge even Mother Nature would envy.”

Some EcoGeek commenters call this hypocrisy and greenwashing. Others are defending Kohler’s right to target niche audiences, which is a common and even “best” practice in marketing.

The problem here isn’t that the company is sending different messages. The fact is, it’s sending mixed messages. And, those mixed messages are reaching the same audience, not different target markets. NatGeo nature lovers like to geek out on Wired tech gear; water conservationists still like an amazing shower, but they’d prefer the low-flow variety.

As sustainability and environmental responsibility flood the mainstream, this is a fundamental communications problem that marketers will need to solve. Companies that want to do their part for the environment on one hand (Kohler offers water-saving products and also donates them to Habitat for Humanity), but who still profit from not-so-sustainable offerings on the other will want to promote both ends of the spectrum, from green to luxe.

If clients don’t integrate sustainability into everything they do, how can communicators weave it into an authentic, credible brand story? Have you had a similar experience?