• by Aaron Baar , April 20, 2009

It's almost Earth Day, and Mitsubishi Digital Electronics is looking to connect its brand to environmental savings through a Facebook fan page that will help users find and maintain carbon neutrality.

The company's LaserVue Carbon Neutral Facebook campaign is intended to help consumers understand their own carbon footprint and achieve "carbon neutrality" by reducing their electrical usage and buying carbon offsets.

"We looked at many ways in which we could communicate the energy efficiency story tied to laser TV technology and Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America's (MDEA) LaserVue TV, and simultaneously impact as many people as possible. Online Social Networking made the most sense," Nick Norton, senior manager of brand marketing, told Marketing Daily.

In a video on the Facebook page, Frank DeMartin, the company's vice president of marketing, explains that the LaserVue is an appropriate product to tout carbon neutrality because its laser technology uses less energy than Plasma or LCD television screens. According to the video, the technology can power a 65-inch television screen using under 100 watts of power. "The other technologies would require four or even five times that amount of power," DeMartin says in the video. Other parts of the page explain carbon offsets and the BEF.

As part of the campaign, Mitsubishi will commit one dollar to carbon offsets for the first 5,000 Facebook and Twitter users who join the Carbon Neutral group or follow its Twitter feed. The company will purchase up to 500 offsets (valued at $10 each) from the non-profit Bonneville Environmental Foundation. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, the company is promoting the Carbon Neutral Campaign through YouTube video, Flickr and Google AdWords, as well as through its Laser Vue Web site -- and is hoping for a viral effect through the Facebook and Twitter social networks. Further details were not available. Company officials did not respond to queries by the deadline.