The Open Brand: Beyond Green Washing

THE OPEN BRAND:BEYOND GREEN WASHINGSustainability Messaging in a World of Radical Transparency

ROADMAP

Trends Case Studies Principles How To

GREEN WASHINGMaking environmental marketing claimsthat are not true or stretching the truth.

HUMMER FAIL

DIESEL FAIL

CHEVY FAIL

FUJI FAIL

COAL FAIL

NESTLEFAIL

COKEFAIL

BANDAGFAIL

MENTOSFAIL

7UPFAIL

PEABODYFAIL

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.

TWITTER GROWTH

The number of visitors to the site in March more than doubled to 9.3 million, up from 4.3 million in February.

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2.5

5.0

7.5

10.0

February09 March09

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

OpenCulture

Open Government

OpenSoftware

OpenBrands

AN OPEN WORLD

SO,WHO CONTROLS

A BRAND?

BEFOREBrand Managers

AFTERCustomers

POWER SHIFT

SUSTAINABILITY MESSAGING

•Social Media is based in transparency and openness.

•Sustainability Messaging requires transparency to be trusted.

RADICAL TRANSPARENCYCase Studies

CHEVY VIDEOCONTESTWhat happened?Chevy launches a YouTube campaign to submit user generated videos promoting the Chevy Tahoe.

BacklashActivists 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

“I think the way to succeed in today’s world is to make your business more personal. Twitter is also a great way of doing that.”-Tony, CEO of Zappos

•CEO, Tony, talks about his company, but also shares his personality.

• Massive following• Early success story in using Twitter.

• Jumped on the new technology early.

MC DONALDSCHANGES SLOGAN

Sign of the TimesFitting 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.

Companies Customers

1.Behuman 1.Beunderstanding

2.Userealnamesandbepersonal

2.Useyourrealiden@ty

3.An@cipateproblemswilloccur,andsetclear,publicexpecta@onsinadvanceforhowyouwilladdressissues.

3.Recognizethatproblemswilloccurandgivecompaniestheinforma@onand@merequiredtocompetentlyaddressissues.

4.Cul@vateapublicdialogue.

4.Shareissuesdirectlyorthroughaforum.

5.Speakplainly,candidlywithcustomers.

5.Givecompaniesthebenefitofthedoubt.

AcallforSHAREDRESPONSIBILITY

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 MARKETINGBASICS

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 TWITTERHow 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. Speed of learning2. Ambient intimacy 3. Increased authenticity4. Customized attention networks5. Increased individuality6. Tracking global concerns 7. Personal connection to our heroes and heroines

Stephen Dinan

GO FURTHERResources

ABOUT THE SPEAKER• Joey Shepp, Green MBA

• Principal at EarthsiteWeb Strategy for Sustainable Brands

• Founder of Green MavenThe Green Search Engine

• Founder of Open BrandsRadical Transparency in Brand Conversations

• Internet Marketing Director for Green Festival

• Learn more at www.JoeyShepp.com

FOLLOW US ON

@earthsite

@joeyshepp

@openbrands