Copy Brighter

Maybe you’ve bought a carton of soy milk with a picture of a wind turbine on it. Or you get internet service from a company claims to be carbon neutral. It is marketing designed to bring up warm fuzzy feeling, unless you take a more skeptical view of carbon offsets.

Last week I went to a local environmental group discussion that was sponsored by Renewable Choice, a local carbon offset company. As we sat at a Nepali restaurant drinking beer and munching on papadums, two company representatives passed out pro-offset literature and moderated a lively discussion.

Most of the audience members who spoke up challenged the two company reps, grilling them questions that were difficult for them to answer. There was a pretense of politeness, but a palatable undercurrent of skeptical antagonism.

I’ll spare you the coverage of the pretense and principles. Here’s what I was able to “read between the lines” from conversation:

• Carbon offsets are intangible, even symbolic. When traced back to the source, the offset credits usually encourage climate protection that would have happened regardless of buying or selling of paper certificates.

• Carbon offsets are a “middle-man” business model, kind of like the charity telemarketing or multi-level marketing (MLM). An undisclosed cut of the profits goes to support the offset purveyors, and some of it is (hopefully) passed on to renewable energy infrastructure.

• High-carbon corporations like Pepsi and Whole Foods are some of the biggest buyers and fans of carbon offsets. Rather than take steps to actually reduce their carbon emissions and environmental impact, they carry on with business as usual and leverage the credits for advertising and PR to “green up” their image.

• Carbon offsets are sold to individuals and corporations at different rates, with no outside regulation. Some people question the integrity of the accounting.

• While most carbon offsets may not do much to reduce carbon or help the environment, they may be an easy first step that gets people thinking about carbon emissions and environmental issues. Some awareness is better than none. It’s a start.

• Some dubious companies have sold carbon offsets and gotten called out, blurring the line between green marketing and greenwashing. The stigma of this could harm more legitimate non-profit environmental action groups and causes.

After an hour of discussion with the environmentalists and carbon offset sellers, I felt like there was an inconvenient truth about carbon offsets. I’m not saying that all offsets are inherently questionable, but it feels to me like a symbolic/economic thing doesn’t really get to the root of the problem or leave the Earth any greener and pristiner than before.

I’m on the lookout for technologies and products that make a significant, direct difference. And I don’t want to get distracted.

Today I am joining 16,000 other bloggers on Blog Action Day to speak out on a topic that directly affects all of us: the environment. In addition to my monthly contributions, I pledge to donate 100% of this year's ad earnings on my other blog to Environment Colorado, a local action group that is putting pressure on the government to get movin' on clean energy adoption and incentives.

I was raised with respect for nature.

As a kid, I was in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, so I got to go camping every month. In college, I further honed my wilderness skills at outdoor festivals and Rainbow gatherings, where I learned how to live on the land and leave no trace. My first professional job was on the JET program in deep rural Japan. There was nothing to do in my country town besides swim, hike, climb volcanoes, and surf - and I found great peace and refuge in nature.

After Japan, I spent 2 years on a personal vision quest / RPG adventure... backpacking and camping across Asia. From high glaciers in Western Nepal, to horribly polluted cities and devastated forests in Indonesia, to uninhabited coral-ringed islands near Burma, and in outback bush of South Australia... I got to deeply experience some of the most pristine and some of the most disgustingly damaged ecosystems on the planet.

I saw how quickly the third world was developing, and how many BILLIONS of people were craving a fossil-fuel and plastic powered Western lifestyle... way more people than the Earth can possible support at our current level of energy and disposable technology.

I realize my nature and travel experiences were much more than an adventure or an indulgence – they were an initiation. Last year, when I was shocked to find out my friend Chelsea Gerlach was arrested and sentenced to 9 years in prison for radical environmental action (arson) – I felt the call to action. I decided that what I wanted out of my life was to master the science of marketing (affecting mass-scale changes in behavior) and find a green technology "killer app" that will seriously reduce carbon and environmental damage... not just a "feel good" indulgence... and use my marketing powers push it through to adoption.

I've been immersing myself in copywriting, SEO and social media with the sincere hope it will allow me to play a more powerful role in preserving the environment and leaving the Earth in decent condition.

I want to look back on this life and know what I did professionally really mattered. Not only for my fellow man and my ancestors, but for the corals and the squirrels, and for the bees and the trees... who can't do anything about it... like I can.

That's what the focus of my trip is going to be, from now on out. Thanks for reading, and thanks for contemplating what your part in the game of life is going to be...

I'll be back to social media and green marketing coverage, shortly!

As marketers successfully propagate the message that it's hip to be green, many people are fine with that as long as they don't have to do much – or give up anything , like the instant convenience of bottled water. Bottled water, which the Economist calls "one of the great mysteries of modern capitalism," gives us such instant gratification that we don't even have to turn a faucet, take a second to fill up our glass or wash out our water bottle. Marketers sell it to us with the wholesome image of pure Swiss meadow springwater, but it has repeatedly been shown that most bottled water is tap water. And a lot of tap water is safer than bottled water. Bottled water is the instant titty, a refreshing polyethylene coconut with no tree to climb nor hard shell to crack. But the convenience comes at a price: it takes a lot of fossil fuel to make it, and it burns a ton of gas to ship it to us. And when we're done with it, it becomes a giant plastic turd that we leave behind on the planet forever. To assuage our growing feelings of guilt, marketers need a gimmick to keep the illusion. So, now they sell it in an "eco shape" that uses a little less plastic for a "better environment." And we can feel good once again as we toss away the thick plastic wrapper (with pictures of pristine alpine lakes that some of the bottles will inevitably end up in.) In developing countries like India, which have few landfills and no public recycling centers at all, bottled water has become a status symbol. It's seen the same light as expensive champagne... as the drink of foreigners and movie stars. Upwardly mobile young Indians clamor to be seen swigging from a Bisleri bottle, just like a American who teen takes a proud, postured drag off his tenth Marlboro in public. As a result, polyethylene bottles are conspicuously and permanently littering the lands in the developing world. Especially in the places visited by backpackers and tourists. When you travel overseas, don't leave you green values at home and believe the lazy myth that "it's better to drink bottled water". Investing in a lightweight high-tech purifier is infinitely more chic and impressive. Regardless of what the companies would like us to believe, using up lots of plastic water bottles (when safe tap water or filters are readily available) is "eco" in no way, shape or form.

As it says in the Cluetrain Manifesto: markets are conversations. If you go to a marketplace and listen in on all the different dialogues... you'll be surprised how much you learn about sales and consumer psychology.

And marketing – the art of gracefully entering into the conversation and making a good impression. If you want to want to be a highly-effective marketer, it's best to listen before you speak. The late, great copywriting guru Eugene Schwartz warned:

"You can never lose touch with the people of this country. No matter how successful or potent you are, if you don't spend at least two hours a week finding out where your market is today... you are finished. You'll have a career of three blazing years and be finished... Rule Number One: be the best listener you ever met."

As a green marketer who cares about the Earth as well as my bottom line, my goal is to penetrate far beyond the hip, environmentally conscious consumers who already "get it." To make a big impact, I've got to strike a chord with the biggest polluters, wasters, consumers, legislators and developers. You can't get so wrapped up in green values and causes that you lose touch with the reality of where most people are at... Nor can you preach or make people feel guilty about consumption or waste - or you will quickly lose them and leave them with a yucky feeling about you and your message. You've got to find out where people are at now and connect with them there. To gather intelligence, I like to put on my "undercover marketing detective" hat and ask random people about global warming, energy, pollution. And I listen. Deeply. After my workout at the local YMCA, there's usually several naked guys sweating it out in the sauna. Some read wrinkled newspapers. Some drape moist towels over their head. And they talk things over. I find there's something about sweltering heat and lack of clothing that makes the male ego mostly evaporate.

Whenever the there's a lull in the conversation and the moment feels right, I'll drop the bomb by bringing up global warming. I've found an 180-degree room is an excellent location for an impromptu focus group on the subject.

"So what do you guys think about that whole global warming theory? Is there anything to it?" I'll meekly ask.

As the sweat oozes out of their pores and drips onto the benches (that once belonged to Scandinavian old-growth forest), the guys come up with some compelling insights.

I'll find out that one guy loves fishing but is concerned that the waters are getting polluted and fished out. That's what green means to him; it's his emotional trigger and frame of reference.

And there are thousands just like him. And if I can speak to them in their own words, I might be able to reel them in.

I listen to a garbage man who is concerned about how much waste is being generated, but is dismayed at the level of consciousness of some of his "redneck" coworkers. I hear Bush bashing and praises of "that Al Gore movie." I hear hardcore doomsday prophecies from people who think Earth will get destroyed by a nuclear Armageddon in Word War III - the Oil War - within 20 years max.

I hear out some people who believe climate change is a massive hoax.

And I listen - deeply. I resist the temptation to speak or interject my opinion. I just focus on them and pretend like they are enlightened and I am not – while I take lots of mental notes.

The more I understand how people really think, the more powerful of a marketer I'll be.

Read the rest of this entry »

"Do what you love and the money will follow" can be pretty bad advice for some people. One of the most common mistakes that inexperienced marketers make is to follow their vision without researching the scope of the mass desire for it. Master copywriter Eugene Schwartz writes emphatically:

"...(You) cannot create desire for a product. You can only take the hopes, dreams, fears and desires that already exist in the hearts of millions of people, and focus those already-existing desires onto a particular product.... Actually, it would be impossible for any one advertiser to spend enough money to actually create this mass desire. He can only exploit it. And he dies when he tries to run against it."

Alternative energy and sustainable technology are unique because they will have urgent and nearly universal appeal. According to most scientists, the Earth is undergoing climate change while running out of fossil fuels. If any of our most basic consumer comforts - like cool indoor temperatures, cheap gas prices or unlimited shower water – were to become even the slightest bit interrupted or scarce... people are going to wake up. Fast. A ravenous, insatiable desire for technologies and products will suddenly be ignited. Unlike smaller niche markets like yoga, healing arts, or organic foods - which appeal to certain tastes and personalities - nearly everyone will be needing sustainable energy and products.

Centuries of collective marketplace wisdom says that people are reluctant to shell out for prevention. But once something they are deeply attached to becomes scarce or inconvenient, they will be desperate for alternatives. And consumers are currently very attached to cheap gas, cranking up the AC, and taking long hot showers. It's not that green companies should run as a hedge fund to profit from crisis... but rather, they should not underestimate the potential demand for what they are developing now. We must be prepared to leverage the imminent explosion of mass desire and honorably fulfill it. Read the rest of this entry »