• by Marcus Peterzell , August 3, 2010

Although the music industry has been forced by digital technology to eliminate a good chunk of wasted plastic discs we still call CDs, music tours have continued to be eco-unfriendly, due to the amount of energy and resources needed to move an entourage across the country. This does not sit well with eco-friendly music fans, or brands that have traditionally sponsored music tours.

As an agency that marries brands with music and entertainment, we are always looking to partner with artists and tours that have green initiatives, primarily to ensure eco-conscience consumers view the property that our brand is supporting as friendly to the environment.

Our challenge is to always ensure that any green initiatives that are core to our client, and included in their consumer-facing messaging, is consistent with, and hopefully amplified, by any music/entertainment partnerships and activations.

If a green brand aligns with a non-green property, the mixed message to consumers can certainly harm the brand's overall platform.

One of our green-friendly brand clients is with the Lilith Fair outing (coast-to-coast music tour featuring female artists) and I must say its green platform, powered by the innovative company Reverb, is one of the best out there. Some of Reverb's Green Activations on Lilith Fair include:

Eco-Village | Festival-like village at each show, with environmental displays and activities to educate and engage fans

Fan Carbon Offset Program | Allows fans to offset their carbon footprint at the show

Jumbotron Slideshow | Played before the show and during set breaks with eco-trivia, tour greening information, and text messaging campaigns

Online Carpooling | Resource for fans looking to carpool to and from shows, featuring tour-specific community groups

Biodiesel Fueling Coordination | Working with production teams and drivers to arrange biodiesel fuelings from local and sustainable stock

Hospitality & Catering | Coordination of eco-friendly choices backstage including locally sourced organic food, green cleaning supplies, etc.

Another brilliant green move in the music industry came from the reggae artists Mellow & Pyro who wanted to shoot a video clip, but wanted to have it be as carbon-neutral as possible. To this end, volunteers pedaled out the required energy on converted bikes.

The additional power needed was tapped conventionally from the socket and amounted to only a single kilowatt hour. The shooting used a total of only 0.93 ton of carbon dioxide, which the group neutralized with a donation to a foundation.

This is all just the tip of the iceberg as more tours and entertainment properties in general will continue to go green and those of us in the agency world will continue to support those efforts on behalf of our brand clients in order to reinforce their own green messaging to consumers.