This year the Fairtrade Foundation celebrated its 15^th birthday. Over the years it has helped improve the livelihoods of more than 7 million people throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. It’s a well respected organisation, fighting a noble cause. But as more shoppers opt for ethical brands, are companies going Fairtrade just for the marketing value?

This week Nestlé announced its Kit Kats (the four fingered variety anyway) are to be made from Fairtrade cocoa. It’s estimated the extra cash will benefit 8000 Ivory Coast farmers, with more funds being poured into education, healthcare and training.

But with Nestlé arguably the UK’s most boycotted company (thanks to their controversial marketing of baby milk), the news has hardly been greeted with universal praise. Nestlé’s critics have come out in force to question whether its gesture is genuine or just a cynical marketing ploy.

Nestlé aren’t the only company to be put under the ethical spotlight this year, with Starbucks, Cadbury and Tate & Lyle now all basking in a Fairtrade certified glow.

Going green is big business

These days you won’t just find ethical shoppers in Bodyshop and buying wicker baskets in specialist boutiques. The ethical market is now big business, with UK shoppers spending 40 billion green pounds last year. Many High St retailers now sell eco fashion ranges, whilst you can fill your home with sustainably made furniture and choose from 45oo Fairtade certified products.

In a recent survey 82% of consumers said they prefer to buy from companies that are socially and environmentally responsible; 23% will do so even if they’re products are more expensive. So it’s no wonder brands are eager to give their marketing an ethical stamp.

‘Green washed’ marketing risks a backlash

In 2007 the Advertising Standards Authority warned that the ‘green’ claims being made in many marketing campaigns might not be authentic. This followed action against a number of car manufacturers for their shaky claims on the ‘clean technology’ used in their cars.

The ASA’s warning seems timely, with so many brands now eager to paint themselves with a green tinted brush. But in the rush to go green many are forgetting the other values that are intrinsic to being seen as ethical: authenticity, honesty and trustworthiness.

As with all claims made in marketing, if brands are seen to be wearing green badges they don’t deserve they risk a backlash when their misdemeanours are exposed. This is why I don’t expect to see a rush of people lifting their embargo on Nestlé products anytime soon.

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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.

Boxes full of literature piled high in your office?

Wasting marketing collateral because it’s full of old products and services?

Just think what that has cost you and the size of the footprint you are leaving…

Recycling may ease your green conscience, but why the need to recycle in the first place? – there is an alternative…

Print-on-demand (POD) solutions have been around since the late 90s and enable the production of exactly the right quantity of items, at exactly the right time, with no storage requirements and personalised (if required) to the recipient. Email and web (as we know it) have also been around since the late 90s and have dramatically changed how we communicate; so why oh why when the technology and capabilities are available, do we still do things the old way when it comes to printing documents?

Is it just because its the way we have always done it, are we just too scared to embrace the technology available, or is it still cost which is stopping us?

In the same way we can’t now do without the speed of digital print to hit fast approaching deadlines, I believe in a few years time we will also wonder how we managed our marketing collateral efficiently before POD. As production processes improve, technology speeds up, environmental pressures increase further and costs reduce even more this will become the norm, not the exception.

So go on get recognised as a innovator, POD is the future, get yourself involved in the action now!

Back in mid-2007, Siemens Enterprise Communications made the decision to get away from mass-produced print; a decision that’s now helped them to engage customers one-to-one but also one that’s helping them to dramatically reduce their environmental impact.

Siemens Enterprise Communications wanted to provide printed collateral that spoke to customer’s needs and prompted dialogue, rather than pump out generalised product brochures in response to enquiries. Stockpiling brochures was also creating storage and logistical issues as well as creating huge waste.

Siemens Enterprise Communications appointed bda, specialists in the development of integrated campaigns for the telecoms/IT industry, to come up with a practical solution. Having seen the success of previous one-to-one campaigns developed by the agency, Siemens Enterprise Communications adopted the idea of personalised solution brochures with variable content as created by bda.

Siemens Enterprise Communications was keen not to “sell at” its decision maker target audience, but rather to identify business concerns faced by decision makers before presenting them with product solutions.

bda invented e-collateral, a method for Siemens Enterprise Communications to generate bespoke solution brochures on demand, available in either PDF or printed form.

Siemens Enterprise Communications drives enquiries to a website ecollateralfromsiemens.co.uk where they can access areas that relate directly to one of four operational issues: Grow Your Business, Reduce Operational Cost, Manage your Assets More Effectively, and Achieve Corporate Excellence. The user simply clicks on their area of interest, to then be guided through a short series of tick box enquiries that relate to more specific interests; this in turn drives the content choice for inclusion in the brochure.

The system, developed by bda and piloted in October 2007 in three languages, UK, US Englisha and German, fulfils the broad objective of providing bespoke content, but also offers a customer-friendly way to gather data which turn feeds Siemens Enterprise Communications’ own CRM. Depending on the areas of interested earmarked by the customer, brochure content can vary between everything from case studies to illustrations, with paragraphs of solution-oriented text tactically inserted to blend with the overall message.

“Both parties had a baptism of fire mostly due to the complexity of the variable solution sets available,” says Sharon Scott Global Marketing Manager at Siemens. “But we needed a way to present our portfolio in way that makes sense to the customer. E-collateral meets that objective perfectly.”

Going a step further to engage Siemens Enterprise Communications’ broad customer base, bda plan to implement programming which allows the tone of language used to vary subtly, according to the level of contact making the enquiry, industry sector or company size.

As for output – Siemens Enterprise Communications own research indicates that despite the demand for instant, downloadable information, many senior C-level contacts make decisions on choice of supplier based on receipt of a printed brochure. Enquirers from the e-collateral site are therefore given a choice of receiving a PDF version of their personalised brochure via email, or ordering a printed version online.

Delivery of the pdf version is instant with a printed copy taking just days to arrive.

As bda is affiliated to a well-equipped communications group which includes a print production arm, it has huge access to fulfillment options. An online request triggers the generation of high quality digitally printed items that are despatched immediately.

The environmental angle? Less waste, the eradication of bulk print, less space needed for storage, less lorries on the road.

“Looking around our industry there’s nothing like e-collateral in B2B areas,” says Sharon. “It’s early days yet, but working with bda, we will certainly increase knowledge of customer needs and product demand. Better still, it helps Siemens meet its commitment to minimise our impact on the environment.”

Take a look yourself