Sustainable Marketing: Quick Wins

Greta Thunberg said, "I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is.” The World as we know it is rapidly changing and we all have to do what we can to stop it from getting worse; from killing sea life with our plastic bags and overheating the planet so that the icebergs are melting, it’s not good and it’s our fault.

We’ve seen over the past 6 months during Covid-19 how the World’s rivers were full of life, skies clearer than ever and waters a sparkling blue rather than murky brown. We’ve seen how our actions negatively impact the environment and how, by being in lockdown, the World breathed a sigh of relief and started to recuperate. People’s habits have changed and it’s now about making sure these aren’t lost but built upon for a greener future.[1]

The great news is that we can all make a positive difference; we just have to act and educate. We have a responsibility as marketers, giving brands a voice, to use it wisely. And with so many myths surrounding paper and print marketing, we are making good headway busting the myths, but what about digital waste? And the impact of a digital out of home ad or 30 second TV ad? We need to acknowledge the impact of each marketing channel on our planet and find ways to make them as sustainable and eco-friendly as we can.

Here are some quick wins that don’t cost the earth but help protect it:

• Print Marketing
  • Use Carbon Balanced Paper to offset the carbon production of your printed material. Your offsetting donation will go to help protect environments via the World Land Trust.
  • Make sure you only use FSC or PEFC approved paper to protect our forests.
  • Think about your format; do you really need it to be 56 pages? Could you reduce that by even a page or two?
  • Process any data you are mailing to avoid any unnecessary waste by sending mail to people at the wrong address.
• Email
  • Emails have a carbon footprint too. Make sure you limit the size of the email, avoiding it being unnecessarily large or complex.
  • Make sure you have an up-to-date email list so that there’s no wastage. This includes making sure you don’t mail your unsubscribes.
• TV
  • Make sure you run an efficient and sustainable production unit when creating content. From how much electric is used, to your catering choices in shoot, this all has an impact on the environment so think green.
  • There are even Carbon calculators for producing a TV or Film campaign so you can offset the impact of your production.
• Out of Home
  • If using print sites, use FSC or PEFC approved stock only.
  • If using digital sites, make sure they are LED powered as this uses far less energy.

There are some great resources to help you plan and execute sustainable campaigns and protect our planet:

• Two Sides – Sustainable Print
• World Land Trust – Carbon Balancing
• Albert – Sustainable TV & Film & Carbon Offsetting

Or for more information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with myself, at Edit, or the DMA.