On the fourth Wednesday of the month, Marketing:Green
focuses on green media strategies and opportunities within various types of media. (Coming in June: Search). Creative, strategic,
operational and other media pros are invited to brainstorm and collaborate, with the goal of indelibly cementing "green" into media of all types: Ideas ranging from "so-crazy-it-just-might-work" to
"as long as no one gets hurt." This month features the all-encompassing theme of branding. According to Interbrand's Best Globals
Brands ranking for 2009, the top 100 brands in the world are worth well over $1 trillion. According to some estimates, brands make up an average of 33% of the value of a company. In Google's
case, 80% of its $125 billion market capitalization is attributed to its brand. Pretty impressive that this much wealth can be contained in something that is entirely ideological and emotional! Talk
about a large economic impact for a non-existent carbon footprint.
Though there is a lot of potential for brands to embrace green in a substantial and genuine way, the BP fiasco confirms the
pessimist's view that brands are nothing more than a way to greenwash an otherwise dirty company or industry. However, some major companies are literally becoming green, even at risk of
annoying consumers, losing their attention or (gasp) loyalty.
PepsiCo should be on everyone's radar, if it's not already, as a company that is taking risks with well-established brands. This
is the second time it's been mentioned in this column as a leader in green or social initiatives. It created significant buzz this year by not advertising in the Super Bowl, instead opting to engage
in the Pepsi Refresh social initiative.
I literally stumbled across another PepsiCo initiative when pulling a bag of Sun Chips out of my
two-year-old son's reluctant hands. I didn't need to read the label to know that this bag was -- to some degree or another -- biodegradable. It had a dry texture and was much louder than regular chip
bags. A quick glance confirmed my tactile suspicions.
According to its site, Sun Chips has introduced a package that's 100% biodegradable. The Canadian site claims that it is "the world's first 100% compostable chip bag." Sun Chips is attempting to gain as much leverage as possible from this initiative by including
myriad multimedia and social media elements on the site.
A video shows a time-lapse of the bag "nurturing nature" as it returns to the soil. The brand also includes useful information about
composting for consumers, thus clearly positioning itself as a green educator. A Google search for "compostable" brings up the microsite as the number one hit. Talk about strong brand association.
As many of us in the ad and marketing world know, companies are extremely protective of their brands. Rightfully so, as the weight of entire empires is built on brands' shoulders. What's so
encouraging about Sun Chips' move, is that it is changing the actual face of its brand, despite the packaging being extremely noisy and somewhat dry-feeling.
From a purely tactile
perspective, the new bag is simply not as appealing. To me, though, this elevates Sun Chips' even more in my mind, because it is clearly taking a risk for the sake of the environment. I have
to honestly admit, I'm going to have a hard time turning down this product the next time I'm hit with a serious case of the munchies.
Here's hoping that Sun Chips is just the beginning of
brands that embrace the environment as a constituent element of their products. PepsiCo has set the bar very high once again in terms of leadership and lock-stock-and-barrel adoption of this emerging
trend.
As the largest consumer and supplier in the world, the U.S. populace has the most to gain by rushing headlong into clean branding as a core industry. Reduced waste, emission, and
subsequent buttressed credibility are all keys to avoiding a multitrillion-dollar brand bubble while preserving landfills and water tables. Now pass the Sun Chips!