I try to catch up with Scot Case as often as possible for his insights on the state of green marketing. Scot is on the road constantly, talking to people on the front lines of green commerce and observing trends in the promotion of green products. When I spoke to him a couple weeks ago, Scot mentioned something he’s noticed in the very early days of 2008. After three conferences (in something like ten days), Scot noticed that event planners have put serious effort into creating special green sections of their shows to promote environmentally-friendly products. That’s great news, right?
Well…
The thing about these new green exhibit areas is conference organizers seem to be unclear about who to allow in and who to screen out. Put a shiny green label on your product and you’ll probably be ushered in. Greenwashing alert.
This is not to say that conference planners aren’t making a move in the right direction. It’s great to bring recognition to environmental efforts and the companies behind them. With a little tweaking to the process, these shows can be frontrunners in the green marketing space. Here are three recommendations for improving the system in the future:
- Publish and promote specific criteria for exhibiting in a designated green area
- Use the Six Sins of Greenwashing as a guide for screening products and share it with conference attendees
- Review tips and tools for events on the EPA’s Green Meetings site
Posted by Mari in Green products, Marketing