The Open Brand: Beyond Greenwashing (Sustainable Enterprise Conference 2009)

Speaker · Lecture · Sustainable Enterprise Conference · Rohnert Park, CA · May 2009

Sustainability messaging in a world of radical transparency: greenwashing failures and the seven sins, social media as a shift in who controls a brand, and how to respond.

Part of Earthsite

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THE OPEN BRAND: BEYOND GREEN WASHING Sustainability Messaging in a World of Radical Transparency
ROADMAP Trends Case Studies Principles How To
GREEN WASHING Making environmental marketing claims that are not true or stretching the truth.
HUMMER FAIL
DIESEL FAIL
CHEVY FAIL
FUJI FAIL
COAL FAIL
NESTLE FAIL
COKE FAIL
BANDAG FAIL
MENTOS FAIL
7UP FAIL
PEABODY FAIL
7 SINS OF GREENWASHING 1. Hidden Tradeoffs 2. Lack of Proof 3. Vague Claims 4. Irrelevant Claims 5. Worshiping False Labels 6. The Lesser of Two Evils 7. Outright Lies
SO, WHERE NEXT?
SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE FUTURE OF MARKETING
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? • Social Networking • Online Video • E-Commerce • Online Advertising
INTERACTIVE MARKETING GROWTH
FACEBOOK GROWTH Facebook has grown from 100 million to 200 million users in less than 8 months. If it were a country, it would be bigger than Brazil.
10.0 7.5 The number of visitors to the site in March more than doubled to 9.3 million, up from 4.3 million in February. 5.0 2.5 0 February 09 TWITTER GROWTH March 09
SOCIAL MEDIA IS A DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY Old School New School Top Down Bottom Up Closed Open Advertisement Conversation Print Media Digital Media One to Many Many to Many Privacy Transparency
AN OPEN WORLD Open Culture Open Government Open Software Open Brands
SO, WHO CONTROLS A BRAND?
BEFORE Brand Managers
AFTER Customers
POWER SHIFT
SUSTAINABILITY MESSAGING • Social Media is based in transparency and openness. • Sustainability Messaging requires transparency to be trusted.
RADICAL TRANSPARENCY Case Studies
CHEVY VIDEO CONTEST What happened? Chevy launches a YouTube campaign to submit user generated videos promoting the Chevy Tahoe. Backlash Activists seize the opportunity to voice their feelings about the Chevy Tahoe. GM Fast Lane Blog “Early on we made the decision that if we were to hold this contest, in which we invite anyone to create an ad, in an open forum, that we would be summarily destroyed in the blogosphere if we censored the ads based on their viewpoint. So, we adopted a position of openness and transparency, and decided that we would welcome the debate.”
ZAPPOS CEO ON TWITTER • CEO, Tony, talks about his company, but also shares his personality. • Massive following • Early success story in using Twitter. “I think the way to succeed in today’s world is to make • Jumped on the new your business more personal. Twitter is also a great way technology early. of doing that.” -Tony, CEO of Zappos
MC DONALDS CHANGES SLOGAN Sign of the Times Fitting with the “self expression” era of the web, McDonalds changes it’s slogan to a more personal line. “We love to see you smile” To “i’m lovin’ it”
PATAGONIA
CEO GETS TRANSPARENT • CEO, Paul Levy, recognizing the hospital was in dire financial trouble, sends a personal letter to the entire staff about the crisis, and devotes the organization to becoming more transparent . • “I promise to have an open administration, sharing with you as much information as possible to help you be part of solving the problems of the medical center.” • The turnaround worked. And since 2002 has been blogging openly about the institutions issues.
CEO’S ON TWITTER
GoodGuide provides the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home.
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A call for SHARED RESPONSIBILITY Companies Customers 1. Be human 1. Be understanding 2. Use real names and be personal 2. Use your real iden@ty 3. An@cipate problems will 3. Recognize that problems occur, and set clear, public will occur and give expecta@ons in advance for companies the informa@on how you will address issues. and @me required to competently address issues. 4. Cul@vate a public dialogue. 4. Share issues directly or through a forum. 5. Speak plainly, candidly with customers. 5. Give companies the beneﬁt of the doubt.
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HOW DO I MAKE MY BUSINESS OPEN?
THINKING OPEN
OPEN BRAND PRINCIPLES • Embrace Transparency • Meet People Where They are At • Customers Trust Customers • Befriend Influencers • Social Currency
BENEFITS OF BEING OPEN • Gain innovation from your customer feedback • Quicker response time to customer concerns • Real time insights to customer needs • Build loyal customers
HOW BRANDS SHOULD PREPARE • Don't Hesitate • Prepare For Transparency • Connect with Advocates • Evolve your Enterprise Systems • Shatter your Brand Website
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING BASICS
BRAND MONITORING • Google Analytics • Google Alerts • Tweet Beep
! It’s like a user profile, but for your business Create a Facebook Page for your business and start collecting Fans. Post photos, videos and links for your Fans to check out and comment on. Build an active customer community.
! Social Networking for Professionals Have your employees build full Profiles on LinkedIn, which in turn will build a powerful profile for your company. Many features support company business development: Join professional groups, get advice from peers, hire new employees, and get introductions to key contacts.
HOW TO TWITTER How to Guide
WHAT IS TWITTER? • Microblogging • Real Time • Public • Always On
BASIC TWITTER USE • Presence information • Responses to others (@user) • Sharing Links (tiny URL) • Retweeting (RT) • Direct Messages
BEST PRACTICES • Get your user account NOW • Tweet consistently, 1-6 per day • Provide value to your community • Increase ‘signal’ by using #hashtags
SPIRITUAL IMPLICATIONS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Speed of learning Ambient intimacy Increased authenticity Customized attention networks Stephen Dinan Increased individuality Tracking global concerns Personal connection to our heroes and heroines
GO FURTHER Resources
ABOUT THE SPEAKER • Joey Shepp, Green MBA • Principal at Earthsite Web Strategy for Sustainable Brands • Founder of Green Maven The Green Search Engine • Founder of Open Brands Radical Transparency in Brand Conversations • Internet Marketing Director for Green Festival • Learn more at www.JoeyShepp.com
FOLLOW US ON @earthsite @joeyshepp @openbrands
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