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Eco-Friendly Marketing...

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An irate partner sent an email into Microsoft last week attacking us for sending out a

" big plastic toy, with only one disc of information. It’s not as though you are going to start distributing training materials on view-master slides or anything, so this will not be of any use to me in the future."

He went on to challenge us to think about the "carbon cost" of the entire marketing promotional product lifecycle, the image we were cultivating of ourselves as a company as one that "doesn't care about the future," and that we need to think "beyond gimmicks to the greater impact of our actions."

Like many, I am environmentally conscious and aware, but not fanatical in my efforts. That's another discussion.

But, the email from a partner raises a great point about our marketing...and yours.

Not only do we need to be sensitive to content, tone, presentation, but now, more than ever, to packaging.

I LOVE when we get hard-core, blunt emails (this one was 6 paragraphs) because they force us to think about the way we have been doing things and whether we want to keep doing things in the same way.

Obviously, for this partner, cheap promotional items that will end up in the trash, as opposed to

a device that may actually be useful, like a USB drive, or flashlight, or shirt, or any other of a number of products that would have a use that outlived the promotion

are a category whose days are finite.

That's probably a good thing.

And I'm proud to work for a company that is taking the lead in eco-friendly IT.

Take a look at https://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/citizenship/businesspractices/environmentalimpact.mspx to see some of the work that Gary Falis and his team are doing to help customers save money and help the environment.

As a company, we and you, our partners, have a chance to be at the forefront of an Eco-Aware Marketing strategy. It's good for biz and good for the environment. Nice win-win.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    December 11, 2007
    An irate partner sent an email into Microsoft last week attacking us for sending out a " big plastic

  • Anonymous
    December 12, 2007
    Just to be difficult, I note that I loved the Viewmaster that came with the partner plunge promo pack; it was both unexpected and fun retrotech.  After I'd viewed the slides, I gave it to my kids (ages 2 and 4) who thought it was a great toy.

  • Anonymous
    December 22, 2007
    I wouldn't call rethinking the way your company markets so that it don't take a toll on the environment as being "fanatical".  Just being environmentally conscious and aware doesn't mean anything without real methodical actions. It's  means the company needs to work harder to make a lesser impact on the Earth and incorporate that goal as one of the top priorities in all projects.

  • Anonymous
    December 23, 2007
    Good point, Live Simply, just saying that I'm not fanatical, so this kind of thinking wasn't top of mind for me.

  • Anonymous
    March 16, 2008
        Is doing the right thing for the wrong reason ok? Let's take T-mobile for example. I've