• by Chad White , May 1, 2008

Major retailers have finally accepted Earth Day as a significant selling occasion, as evidenced by their email marketing around the holiday this year. The number of emails from retailers that mentioned Earth Day more than tripled this year compared to last year. And if you include emails that included eco-friendly messaging but didn't explicitly reference Earth Day, then the number increased more than six-fold over last year.

Moreover, the percent of retailers promoting Earth Day in their emails quadrupled, increasing to 16% from only 4% in 2007. It's about time.

Last year, Earth Day got slightly more attention from retail email marketers than Grandparents Day. No offense to grandparents, but that's pretty sad. It was a relief to see retailers not only doing a much better job of capitalizing on the green movement this year, but also lending their support to help consumers cut energy usage, reduce waste and increase sustainability.

With gasoline prices soaring, temperatures rising and electrical grids strained, green issues will only become more prominent in the years ahead, especially if a Democrat is elected president. So if you missed the boat this year, go ahead and put it on your calendar for next year.

Retailers used a variety of tactics in their emails, from donating a portion of sales to green charities to promoting energy-efficient products and those made from earth-friendly and recycled materials. For example, OfficeMax promoted recycled paper, energy-efficient equipment and remanufactured products, while Norm Thompson highlighted apparel made from recycled cotton and bamboo and pointed out that their headquarters was one of the first green buildings in the nation. And Home Depot touted Energy-Star appliances and CFL bulbs, while Banana Republic raised money for the Trust for Public Land.

In addition to those emails that overtly mentioned Earth Day, there were nearly as many emails over the past four weeks that promoted green products without the holiday tie-in. For instance, REI had an email dedicated to the merits of cycling, and electronics retailers Crutchfield and Circuit City included messaging about recycling old electronics in their emails.

The number of Earth Day retail emails is still relatively small, but I think we've reached a tipping point, that retailers are finally jumping on the Earth Day bandwagon en masse. I expect that next year we'll see at least a doubling of Earth Day-related emails, which would put Earth Day in the same league as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in terms of the attention garnered by retail email marketers. That would be a big step in the right direction, in my opinion.

If you saw an Earth Day email -- retail or not -- that you particularly liked or that used an interesting tactic, please share it by commenting below.