Koann Vikoren Skrzyniarz launched Sustainable Life Media “to inspire and support innovation for sustainability by linking people with ideas and solutions” in the global business marketplace. Building on the groundbreaking green conferences she organizes every year, Koann inaugurates a new initiative this month intended to engage even more individuals and businesses in the green revolution.
I recently sat down with Koann to learn more about what she’s calling “Sustainable Brands Boot Camp.”
DM: What inspired you to start a Sustainable Brands boot camp? Your conferences already offer so many useful tips and strategies – what can the boot camp offer that your conferences can’t?
KVS: You know, we launched SLM in 2004 to help get the word out about the impending opportunities for businesses to build value and brand equity by innovating for sustainability. But so much has changed!
In the beginning, the battle was simply to highlight the inevitable need for companies to get serious about their environmental and social impact in order to stay competitive. In 2007 when we launched our first Sustainable Brands Conference, we brought together a few early innovators like Aveda, GE, Herman-Miller, Wal-mart, Gap and others to talk about what they were learning, and what was driving their pursuit of new, more sustainable value propositions for their customers. There were 270 people at that first conference.
Since then, our community has exploded as more and more business people begin to understand that the future for business must be an environmentally and socially aware one, and that those who develop an expertise in this arena, and learn to innovate faster, will be the leading brands of the future. As a result, there has begun to be an expertise gap. Many in our community of leaders have been at this for a decade or even more in some cases. But for every one of them, there are 100, or even 1000 behind who are just getting started. We launched the Sustainable Brands Boot Camp to serve as an orientation for those people to the principles, current best practices and even terminology of sustainable brand building. That way, we can move the whole community along faster, but keep our annual live events focused on the front edge of innovation without loosing a connection to new people who are coming to the table.
DM: Who are your boot camps for? What will be the most important “take-aways”?
KVS: We believe that thinking about, and managing the environmental and social impact of business will be a new baseline way of doing business for everyone in the coming decades. Eventually, everyone coming out of school will have a grounding in the principles of sustainability. But for now, we have an enormous amount of retraining to do. As you well know, sustainability represents a fundamental paradigm shift — a new way to think about every part of how a business operates — from product design and manufacturing, all the way to things like telecommuting and other forms of more energy-efficient and human-centered resource management. So in short, our belief is that anyone who works can benefit by gaining an understanding of the principles of sustainable business and brands. Thus, the Boot Camp is relevant for anyone in business who isn’t already well on the way to thinking how jobs are impacted by this coming shift in business as usual.We believe completing the Boot Camp will a great resume-builder for anyone, and a great value-add for any company who supports its employees’ orientation to this important topic.
DM: Is branding for sustainable businesses different than branding for everyone else? Or perhaps I should ask, what makes branding for sustainable businesses particularly challenging?
KVS: Both are great questions, Diane. Yes, I think branding for sustainable businesses IS different than branding for everyone else. In short, companies that decide to step up and identify themselves as more environmentally or socially respectful are committing to operate to a higher standard. For better or worse, it’s true that companies that make claims about being green or socially beneficial often come under greater scrutiny than others. That’s what makes sustainable brand building particularly challenging. And so what’s different is again, first mind-set, and then execution: brand becomes not just a slogan or tag line or individual feature promise. We like to say that sustainable brand builders need to see brand as first who you are, what you do and how you do it — THEN how you talk about it.
Once a company starts down the path of sustainability, there is no real going back. It’s like a light going on — if you begin to ask yourself about your impact, it becomes very difficult to ‘put the cat back in the bag.’ Companies that have truly committed the path of self-reflection and learning that sustainability requires report it being mind-shifting and sometimes hard, but always deeply satisfying.
DM: Will your boot camp address the issue of standards, especially in light of Wal-Mart’s efforts to create an industry-wide sustainability index?
KVS : Yes, we will be touching on this during one of our 13 sessions. It is an enormous topic, and one that more experienced sustainable brand builders are grappling with on many levels. We’ve actually launched a second new ‘brand’ this fall along side the Boot Camp called “Sustainable Brands in Focus” which will address a series of more timely and topically focused subjects that our more advanced sustainable innovators are struggling with at the moment. Our first one coming up on December 3 – “SB inFocus: Building Credibility/Avoiding Greenwash – will offer a full-day virtual event focused entirely on this topic. You should join us!
We plan to convene a wide range of conversations going forward about topics of interest to people wherever they are on the path to sustainability. After all, we are inventing a new way of working and making everything –- there are lots of thorny issues to solve! Those of us who are innovation junkies are excited to think that there will be avenues for innovation around sustainability for a good long time to come.
DM: If a company had to focus on only three tactics to brand itself as sustainable, what do you think they should be?
KVS: Well, I’m not sure if this is what you’re asking — appropriate tactics tend to vary by industry and company. But three pieces of advice come to mind that are common to anyone trying to brand themselves for sustainability. 1) Be transparent 2) Be authentic and 3) Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. There are no perfect sustainable businesses that we can point to although there are some tremendous leaders out there we should all be learning as much as we can from. Even for them, though, sustainability is a path one steps on to. Customers will reward those who are honest, transparent, and committed to doing things a better way with business, loyalty, and word-of-mouth support. Sooner or later, sustainability will be the new ‘business as usual.’ However for the moment, there remains enormous opportunity for companies that choose sustainability as a platform for innovation.
We are excited and grateful to be supporting the community of sustainable brand innovators and we welcome all who’d like to come join us. We’re thrilled you’re a part of our community too, Diane!”
Looking for ways to make your new business more environmentally responsible. This free Green Guide for New Businesses can help.
Its ten-step process includes suggestions for creating an environmental management plan, buying environmentally friendly products, saving energy and reducing waste. Plus you’ll find links to federal regulations you need to comply with to reduce pollution and minimize hazards.
Worried about how you’ll make money if you go green? There’s a link to marketing ideas and resources, too. Key to good marketing is getting products certified as sustainable
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If you’re still in the ”thinking about it” phase, the guide can still help. It suggests you:
* Find your niche (What can you do uniquely, and well that will meet a consumer/client/customer demand?)
* Get certified (Have a third party verify your green product claims; aim to produce products according to independent standards for environmental excellence)
* Practice what you preach (Run your company according to environmental and sustainability principles: save energy and water, reduce pollution, limit waste)
* Partner with industry, government and consumer groups (Network with colleagues to promote sales, market, and learn from the experience of others)
Office Depot sells recycled paper products in most stores and features a “green virtual office” webpage where you can view and click on green office supplies and equipment.
What We Like:
* Dedicated Web Page - Like Staples, Office Depot has a webpage, “Your Greener Office,” that is solely dedicated to green office products. The information listed for most products includes details like the amount of post-consumer recycled content a product contains, its total recycled content, if the product meets U.S. Government environmental standards, and other criteria.
* Recycling - Office Depot’s Tech Recycling Service provides a small ($5), medium ($10), or large box ($15) you can take home, fill with electronics you want to discard, and bring back to Office Depot for recycling. The company’s Tech Trade-in program gives customers store credits based on the value of the item they want to trade-in and includes MP3 players, LCD screens, and digital cameras.
* Green Catalog - Office Depot has also created its Fifth Green Book Catalog which provides contract organizations and institutions with purchasing options for over 3,000 green products, as well as tips and ideas for creating a green office.
What Could be Improved:
Green Products Link is Hard to Find: The “Greener Office” link is buried on the bottom of the home page in fine print. Why doesn’t Office Depot put it in a bright green box in a more prominent position on the page?
Some “Green” Products Aren’t Very Green: The online list of environmentally-friendly products includes furniture, pens and other items that have no apparent environmental value. Why include these in the “greener office” line if they’re not green?
Here’s how Office Depot compares to other office suppliers.
Next up: Office Max
Research by Sophia Bambalis
Green office supplies help your business save money. Printers that print on both sides of a piece of paper can cut the amount of paper you buy in half. Using cleaning products that don’t emit toxic odors can increase the productivity of your employees. Power strips will reduce the amount of energy your company uses to keep computers, fax machines and copiers going. All good ideas…as long as you can find the supplies. To help you out, Big Green Breakthrough intern Sophia Bambalis surveyed green office supply retailers; read her reviews and let us know what you find when you shop.
Staples Staples is one of the nation’s dominant office supply retailers, with thousands of stores nationwide and a comprehensive on-line presence. In addition to offering a wide array of green products, the company is working to reduce its carbon footprint and protect forests. Staples claims it has helped its customers save more than 2 million trees by buying recycled paper.
What We Like:
* Products - The company’s “EcoEasy” webpage links to many green products, including 100% recycled paper that meets Forest Stewardship Council standards for sound forest management; chairmats made from recycled fiberboard; and tape dispensers made from recycled plastic.
*In-store Recycling - Staples recycles Dell brand computers, monitors and printers for free. For a $10 fee, you can recycle computer equipment made by other companies. Recycling for any cell phone or hand-held electronics is free. Staples also offers a $3 reward for each ink cartridge you recycle at their store (limit of 10 per month).
Corporate Social Responsibility – Staples is partnering with Earth 911 and Collective Good to increase mobile phone recycling. It is also working with World Resources Institute and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to switch to alternative energy sources like solar power. The company says by reducing maximum speeds, the company’s truck fleet has saved 500,000 gallons of fuel.
What We’d like to see changed:
* Greenwashing - The company never explains what “Eco Easy” stands for or what criteria it uses to qualify a product as “Eco Easy.” The brand includes a variety of conventional products, like file cabinets and floor lamps, that have no apparent environmental benefit. Implying these products are ‘green’ undermines the credibility of the EcoEasy brand, confuses consumers, and breeds skepticism about environmental value.
* Limited Computer Recycling – In addition to accepting Dell computers, we’d like to see Staples (and other green retailers) accept ANY computer for recycling.
* Eco Products Are Hard to Find – Staples’ webpage is very busy with a lot of links and small fonts, making the little link to Eco Easy on the right hand side hard to find. We recommend the company put “Eco Easy” in a big bright green box, along with the caption, “Click here to save money on green office supplies.”
Want to compare Staples to other office products retailers? Check this chart prepared by the Dogwood Alliance and ForestEthics, two non-profit organizations that monitor responsible forest management and paper manufacturing.
Next: Office Depot
We just joined the Energy Star Small Business Network, a program run by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help small businesses save money by reducing the amount of energy they use.
Why’d we join?
* Free e-mail access to Energy Star engineers and analysts for their free, unbiased technical support.
* Free access to small business energy- efficiency “success stories” and national award winners.
* Free use of interactive calculators to help us estimate potential dollar savings and benchmark our facilities.
* Free copy of the Small Business guide, Putting Energy into Profits.
As a member of the network, I’ll also receive a monthly ENERGY STAR Small Business E-Update.
Free.
Ford Motor Co. asked me to test drive its new Fusion Hybrid vehicle recently, and I jumped at the chance. I drive a 2002 Prius hybrid, which regularly delivers over 40 mpg . My Prius seats five and is easy to maneuver. Its great turning radius makes it the easiest car I’ve ever had to parallel park. Could the Fusion Hybrid compare? Take a look.
Maybe you’re one of the thousands (millions?) of investors who want to support the green revolution through socially responsible investments but have been burned by the roller coaster ride those investments have taken over the last 12 months.
If so, consider a “slow money” strategy - like the one suggested by Woody Tasch, private investor, entrepreneur and author of the new Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered.
I met Woody at the Sustainable Brands 09 conference and was impressed with this key point he made: “To restore the economy, and put your own money to the best possible use, invest in people and companies located within 50 miles of where you live.”
Why? Investing locally is the best way to “bring money back down to earth…put money back into local economies…and promote the transition from an economy based on extraction and consumption to an economy based on preservation and restoration.”
Woody’s book includes 12 “Slow Money Principles” primarily focused on creating support for locally grown organic food, but which are universal in scope.
But the focus isn’t only on investors. Another interesting question Woody poses is this:
“What if there were a new generation of companies that gave away 50% of their profits?”
Any takers out there?
For more on green investing, go here.
Presenting at the Sustainable Brands 09 Conference this morning, I argued that marketers can learn a lot about marketing sustainability by understanding the difference between the way men and women buy jeans.
On average, men take only 6 minutes to buy a pair of jeans. They go to the store, grab the jeans they want, and make the purchase.
Women, on the other hand, are much more deliberate. In fact, women will spend on average three hours and 26 minutes buying a pair of jeans. Why? Because women want the perfect fit; they want the right style; they want to make sure the jeans “work” with other outfits. Women will consult their friends by phone; strangers in the dressing room; and even online product reviews they can Google before they make the purchase. It is a long deliberative process focused on solving not just the need to buy a pair of jeans, but a variety of wardrobe issues the buyer faces.
What does this have to do with sustainability? Women make 85% of consumer purchases in the marketplace, yet their purchases of green products still lag behind the conventional products they buy. To encourage women to shift more spending to greener goods, marketers need to understand how deliberative women are and use those deliberations to break down barriers to behavior change. Women won’t buy green in spite of the way it’s marketed; they’ll buy because of the marketing… as long as the marketing resonates with the way women shop.
The Sustainable Brands 09 conference currently going on in Monterey, CA focused a bright spotlight on green brands that are taking the market by storm. Three that have been featured:
* Sun Chips – This company, owned by PepsiCo, is shrinking its environmental footprint by using solar panels to power manufacturing facilities in Modesto, CA. But the most impressive development has to do with the packaging. The SunChips bag itself will be, safely compostable by Earth Day (April 22), 2010. Regardless of what you think of snack food, this is an innovation worth celebrating.
* Green Works – This cleaning products line generated substantial controversy when it launched over a year ago because it’s made by Clorox – a business not known for its kindness to Mother Nature. But Green Works succeeds because it’s “99%” natural – and can back up the claim with verification from former staunch critic the Sierra Club. Women love it because it’s as effective as conventional Clorox cleansers; because it’s cheap; and because it’s easily available. Other companies should take note.
*Kaiser Permanente – This huge health care provider is taking its “health” mission seriously. It’s a leader in eliminating mercury and other toxic products in hospitals. It’s also gotten rid of that nasty green jello you associate with a hospital menu in favor of whole foods. Kaiser even encourages its complexes to host famers markets in their parking lots; 30 around the country are doing so so far.
Check out the Sustainable Brands website to watch video of all presentations.
You’re used to treating patients once they become sick. But the way you run your practice could help them stay healthy. How?
Like many businesses, medical practices use a lot of energy – but burning energy generates particulates that contribute to asthma and respiratory disease. Clinics and hospitals depend on a variety of materials that contain toxic substances like PVS and phthalates – even though using and disposing of these substances puts patients at additional risk. Healthcare facilities consume large quantities of paper and plastic, most of which deplete our natural resources and get thrown away after a single use.
These practices don’t only affect the environment or the patient. They impact your ability to run a profitable business, too. Wasting anything – from energy, to water, to paper, to supplies – wastes your hard-earned profits. When you take steps to “reduce, reuse and recycle,” you achieve triple benefits: you protect the planet, you safeguard people, and you strengthen your bottom line.
Five Ways to Green Your Healthcare Practice
1) Choose the safest available materials and chemicals. Look for products that avoid mercury, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, phthalates and brominated flame retardants, all of which have been linked to serious disease in adults and children. In addition to offering your patient healthier options, you’ll make your money matter. By shifting your spending to the healthiest, “greenest” products on the market, you’ll increase the available supply and set an example other healthcare professionals can more easily follow.
2) Minimize waste. According to Medhunters.com, American hospitals generate more than two million tons of waste each year, at a loss of tens of millions of dollars. Alternatives? Replace disposable surgical and patient gowns with reusable ones. Use a scanner to save documents and e-mail to electronically circulate files to avoid making excessive paper copies that ultimately get trashed. Recycle paper, plastic and glass rather than throw them away. Have staff use reusable mugs and water bottles rather than disposable cups.
3) Separate medical from nonmedical waste, and explore alternatives to waste incineration. As much as 85% of medical waste is noninfectious, says Health Care Without Harm. It should not be mixed with dangerous medical waste, which is often incinerated and could release cancer-causing dioxin and other toxins into the atmosphere. Alternatives to incineration may include autoclaving and irradiation.
4) Clean with green products. According to the Environmental Protection Agency and other health and environmental monitors, indoor air can become polluted by cleaners, disinfectants and air fresheners that contain dangerous chemicals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Common symptoms include allergies, irritation, asthma, and headaches. More extreme consequences range from “sick house syndrome” to cancer, birth defects, and neurological and reproductive disorders. Solutions? Use fragrance free products that are also certified green cleaners . Adopt the least toxic pest management strategies. Use alcohol-based gels rather than those containing antibacterial agents for routine hand washing.
5) Save energy. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. Plug computers, printers, fax machines and other office electronics into energy-saving power strips. Buy the most energy-efficient appliances to meet your needs. Purchase ‘green’ energy (generated by wind power or biomass) from your local utility. Telecommute, car pool, or use mass transit. Attend webinars and conference calls rather than go to meetings in person.
For More Information:
Health Care Without Harm
Environmentally Friendly Purchasing Policies
Practice Green Health
Green Guide for Health Care
Environmentally Preferred Products list
Here’s news that will make any eco business happy: according to analysis of several surveys done by Environmental Leader, consumer demand for green goods is getting stronger, even given the current economic crisis.
Research done by Penn Schoen Berland and J. Walter Thompson.
Prior to the recession, 15% of consumers considered environmental attributes as a factor when they shopped. Today, that number is 16%, and once the recession bottoms out, as many as 22% of shoppers are expected to make green a priority before purchasing.
Interestingly, though price is the biggest factor affecting shopping decisions today, post-recession, quality is expected to carry the most sway in the marketplace. The lesson here? Producing high-quality green products and services offers the greatest opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to do well and do good at the same time.
Emmy Berlind, the brand manager for Clorox’ GreenWorks green cleansers, said at the M2W conference yesterday in Chicago that getting the endorsement of the Sierra Club helped the company overcome skeptics who might otherwise have questioned the product’s claims that it was “natural.”
Speaking to a workshop I moderated and that was packed with marketers, advertisers, and product manufacturers, Berlind said that submitting GreenWorks and its ingredients to the scrutiny of Sierra Club’s scientists helped the company secure “third party validation” of its eco-credentials and ensured that the company produced a product almost completely free of objectionable chemicals.
Berlind said that Clorox scientists worked for almost two years to develop a natural formulation for the eco-friendly dish soap, window cleaner and and other items in the product line. She described the process as a “passion” for company employees who wanted to make a healthier, safer cleanser. She also said that the GreenWorks product line is part of an overall commitment on the part of Clorox to develop a more sustainable company.
Audience members wanted to know how much more the GreenWorks brand costs (about 15-20%, a premium consumers seem willing to pay). They also wondered how difficult it was to convince management to “go green.”
Berlind acknowledged that senior executives were leery at first about creating the GreenWorks line, but that their fears have been allayed by the astounding success of the product. In less than two years, GreenWorks has become the dominant green cleaner in the marketplace, accounting for over 40% of all green cleaning sales.
Does business need to catch up with the “buy local” food movement? Who can afford global supply chains, after all? Here’s my take on this; what do you think?
The Women Presidents Organization, an association of women whose companies earn $2 million or more annually, made sustainability the keystone of their annual conference this year by recognizing several women whose commitment to protecting the planet has been not only inspiring but profitable.
Of the many entrepreneurs recognized, my favorite was Susan V. Daywitt, CEO of SLM-Facility Solutions Nationwide. The feisty exec brought the audience of over 600 to applause and cheers several times as she described what her company does: recycle waste (like cardboard, grass clippings and discarded produce) back into topsoil “so the nation can grow more healthy food,” she said.
Her company also converts grease and cooking oil into biodiesel to power cars and trucks “so the nation can ease its dependence on foreign oil.”
When asked how she deals with adversity, she said she thumbs her nose at competitors and ignores those who tell her she “can’t.”
“Yes, I can,” she says – and her successful track record proves it!
Get a Green Business Boost from Sustainability Boot Camp
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