Our email accounts have been flooded for weeks with story pitches, promotions and products ahead of this year's annual Earth Day celebration.
The lengths to which some go to connect their wares to the event made us chuckle: "Free solar LED Christmas lights for Earth Day!" "Chair massage is the perfect renewable energy source."
As we waded through all the Earth Day clutter and spoke to a number of businesses of varying size and sector, we noticed the initiatives, campaigns and announcements fell into three broad but basic buckets.
Clearly, what started as an environmental call to action nearly 40 years ago has grown into a blitzkrieg of an occasion that businesses use externally as a platform, marketing opportunity and engagement tool to define and accentuate their green credentials. (See our companion article, "How Companies Celebrate Earth Day"
to get the scoop on how companies are celebrating Earth Day internally.)
"It's this one day that gives businesses a platform to really talk in-depth about where we stand on our commitments to sustainability and where we stand on reducing environmental impacts," said Marcy Scott Lynn, director of corporate social responsibility at Sun Microsystems. "It's like this great spotlight on what companies are and aren't doing."
That spotlight seems to have grown brighter this year, which seems counter-intuitive because of the recession. The economic downturn, however, isn't stopping companies from using Earth Day as an opportunity to tell their stories.
Spreading the Word
eBay, for example, partnered with Hearst Corp. to launch "30 Days of Green," a consumer-facing initiative with advertorials running in Hearst's 14 publications, which run the gamut from Good Housekeeping to Cosmopolitan. The storyline casts eBay as a "pioneer in sustainable commerce" because buying pre-owned merchandise helps eliminate the environmental impacts associated with the manufacture of new products while also reducing the stream of unwanted goods into the country's landfills.
Along with imploring consumers to join its Green Team, the promotion offers tips for eco-friendly shopping at eBay's websites (One example: "When searching eBay, use terms such as "last season," refurbished," "pre-owned" or "used" for great deals on first-generation iPhones, HDTVs and digital cameras."), while also touting its own environmental accomplishments, such as operating the largest solar panel installation in San Jose, Calif.
Interface releases its latest Ecometrics results on Earth Day to give the public its annual self-measurement system for energy, water, waste, materials, greenhouse gas emissions and safety. The company reduced its net greenhouse gas emissions 71 percent between 1996 and late 2008, 34 percent of which was accomplished by direct reductions and 37 percent from offsets. Interface also reduced energy consumption per unit of production by 44 percent.
Advanced Micro Devices explains its environmental accomplishments to its employees through electronic promotional materials today, which include details on how the company's Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters recycled half of its solid waste stream last year while its Lone Star campus in Austin, Texas, earned LEED-Gold certification in January, making it the largest LEED-Gold commercial building in the state.
Earth Day serves as the backdrop today for commercial real estate services giant Jones Lang LaSalle's (JLL) launch of a 76-kilowatt solar panel installation atop the office complex of its client Bank of New York Mellon in Everett, Mass. The system, one of the larger in the greater Boston area, will cut energy costs by as much as $15,000 a year, reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 50 tons and trim sulfur dioxide emissions by 425 pounds.
The array is 5,762 square feet with 364 solar modules in a "direct tie" system from which generated electricity flows directly into the building's power lines. BNY Mellon and JLL, which coordinated the installation, expect the system to produce 103,000 kilowatts a year.
Have I Got a Green Product for You
Of course, Earth Day wouldn't be Earth Day without businesses using the event to sell their green products. Earth Day is a prime marketing opportunity, and with the increase in green goods entering the market, the occasion represents a timely chance to introduce the public to their offerings when environmental issues are top-of-mind.
Here are but a few product pitches that came across our desks:
• Wal-Mart is highlighting 10 environmentally friendly products under $10 all month. (The world's largest retailer rarely does anything small. Earth Day at Wal-Mart has morphed into Earth Month.) It is also offering flip flops in India made of recycled materials, compacted laundry soap in Canada and compressed pillows in China that reduce transportation costs and shelf space.Dennis Salazar, president of Salazar Packaging and Globe Guard Products, sees both pros and cons in the way that companies are using Earth Day as a way to promote products. Salazar Packaging itself is holding a sale for its Globe Guard Products from April 20-24, giving a 20 percent discount on all packaging products.
• For Symantec, a relative newcomer to the green world, the company has been focusing on internal activities for Earth Day more so than external outreach, but for Earth Day 2009, the company is offering a discount on its consumer-facing GreenPC service. A NortonLive expert will connect remotely to a customer's computer to optimize power management and energy efficiency settings of a PC.
• Sears is offering $99 Earth Day home energy audits between April 20 and April 30. Part of the Home Performance with Energy Star program, the audit can reduce utility bills by up to 40 percent, according to the company. Sears also offers information on how homeowners can generate for them up to $1,500 in tax credits.
• Sony's PlayStation Store is tying Earth Day purchases to environmental donations. The company will donate $1 for each of the first 10,000 movies and TV shows purchased through the PlayStation Network on Earth Day, with the funds going to Conservation International. The PlayStation Store will also include a "Save Our Earth" section of movies, such as "The Day After Tomorrow," which portrays the Earth in danger.