Experience Matters

Whadda ya mean “green”?

I recently finished Yvon Chouinard’s book. Let My People Go Surfing, and it’s inspired me to look at the idea of the “green brand” online. When I choose this subject, I thought I had it all sewn up - the subject is trendy, front of mind, and inspires debate.

Then someone asked what I meant by a green brand.

Interesting how what happens when you say “green” and “brand” in the same sentence. Green can be the representative color of that venerable agricultural brand, John Deere. And to most Canadians, the “Green Machine” represents Toronto Dominion’s network of automated tellers.

But now, the term “green” is related to the health of the environment. And considering disputes like the one between Greenpeace (“you’re not very green!”) and Apple (“yes, we are!”), this vagueness presents a serious challenge for business, marketers, and environmentalists.

But, before we discuss that messiness, let’s talk about “green” and what it originally meant. Wikipedia tells us that politics and activism started the association between the color and the environmental agenda and that those venerable brands, Greenpeace and the Green Party are responsible. The spin really started when business appropriated the term to describe its efforts to acknowledge its impact on environment.

So I’ve created two definitions to guide our discussion over the next few weeks. Feel welcome to poke holes in them by leaving a comment.

• green (adj): Describing a product, service, business, brand that acknowledges and attempts to visibly reduce its impact on the environment

• greening (verb): The process of first recognizing that a product, service, business, brand has an negative impact on the environment and then making attempts to reduce that impact

Vague? Sure - saying you’re green is not as definitive as saying you’re ISO 9001 Certified. Fortunately, governments, industry and standards organization are creating legislation, and setting standards that make being green more tangible. And some businesses like Interface Carpet are set their own measurable objectives.

Next time: Ah, so what does this have to do with digital again?