GDUSA Green Newsletter
MAY 2011

RETURN TO NORMALCY

A provocative new study by OgilvyEarth contends that consumer goods advertisers and marketers are failing to tap into the mainstream market for eco-friendly products. As proof that messages about green goods are too niched, Ogilvy notes that half of those surveyed think such products are targeted to crunchy granola hippies or rich elitist snobs, and more 83 percent believe going green is a girlie thing. As oddly disheartening as these results are, OgilvyEarth sees a big opportunity for mainstream marketers: restrain the urge to make green feel cool or different but, instead, position green products as a normal purchase. This means messaging with less crunch, less self-righteousness, more fun and pleasure, more appeal to the male ego, simpler information and substantiation, and a better price-performance ratio. The study is called Mainstream Green: Moving Sustainability From Niche To Normal.
 
– Gordon Kaye

Green News

TREADING LIGHTLY
San Francisco-based Chen Design Associates developed the branding and design for Twofish Baking Company's line of granolas. Modular packaging features a flavor-specific insert that customizes the box while graphics serve as a visual essay of the bakery's vibe-rollicking, quirky, welcoming. In keeping with the Twofish commitment to real ingredients and to food production that treads lightly on the environment, the granola box is printed on 100% postconsumer, FSC and green-seal certified premium uncoated paperboard made with 100% renewable energy and carbon neutral-plus. Contact: www.chendesign.com

GOING VERTICAL
Canada Post has issued a special collectors' edition stamp to mark the UN's International Year of Forests. Subplot Design of Vancouver BC captures the intellectual complexity of the country's ecosystems while providing a moving and dramatic vision of the natural wonder of the Canadian forest. That according to Danielle Trottier, Stamp Design Manager for the issue. To encapsulate the entire ecosystem, the firm chose a vertical panoramic that got in the forest floor, the mid-forest and up through the forest canopy, explains Roy White, Creative Director and Partner at Subplot.The main image was created by Anthony Redpath Photography, combining more than 30 photos taken on location. Once the main image was in place, the layers of the forest were depicted simply, with minimal writing and animal silhouettes. Contact: www.subplot.com

AMERICAN GRAPHIC DESIGN AWARDS
Our five decade-old flagship competition, open to everyone in the community, is now open.
For info or an entry form click here >

SILKY SMOOTH HYBRID
To celebrate a new addition to its 100 percent postconsumer line, Cascades has released the Rolland Enviro100 Satin brochure. Designed by Alezane Design in Quebec, the 16-page piece features images of underwater creatures to underscore that recycled paper benefits nature. In addition to be 100% postconsumer recycled, Enviro100 Satin is FSC certified, EcoLogo and processed chlorine free accredited, manufactured using renewable biogas energy, and has a unique silky smooth feel. The paper is best described as hybrid: the print quality of coated paper with the rich texture and environmental characteristics of uncoated paper. "In a mature market such as paper, innovation is the key to survival," says Frocois Belisle, General Sales Manager, Specialty Papers. "Cascades challenged itself to do so with the utmost respect for the economy."
http://www.cascades.com/papers/environmental_papers/

QUOTE: GREEN INTO GOLD 2011
I think the whole social responsibility framework has now been largely discredited. Because, the social responsibility model told people you should pay attention and do good, and I think that model had a tendency to get people to try to do good indiscriminately without thinking about where the real opportunities were. Frankly, it led people to do things like invest in high-cost, low-return sustainability initiatives. And it actually narrowed their vision, because it basically was about being less bad, rather than understanding the opportunity to cut costs and find efficiencies and to build customer loyalty and improve employee engagement and do all the kinds of things that actually have a positive payoff.

-- Dan Esty, who along with AndrewWinston wrote the 2006 corporate strategy book, "Green to Gold," has published a sequel. This is part of an interview with Joel Makower on chaing strategic needs.
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/04/20/greento-gold-QandA

BIOPLAST GETS NEW LOGO
Cereplast Inc., maker of compostable and biodegradable plant-based plastics, has a new symbol for bioplastics. The logo was created by Laura Howard, a graphic design student at the University of Louisville, as part of a contest. It will be stamped on Cereplast's bioplastic products and packaging to differentiate from petroleumbased plastic. Cereplast ran the contest to differentiate its products from their regular plastic, which carry the well-known recycle symbol. Dr. Gary Anderson, who helped develop the universal recycling symbol, Dr. Michael Thielen, publisher of Bioplastics, and industrial designer Karim Rashid were the judges.

SHARPENED PACKAGING
Gillette's new packaging for its Fusion ProGlide Power Razor is said to reduce plastic use by 79 percent. Gillette and packaging design company Burgopak USA redesigned the packaging using fiber-based material from molded plant fiber company Be Green. The result reportedly reduce gross weight by 17 percent and improves pallet density by 16 percent. Procter & Gamble's long-term sustainability goals and strategies, unveiled last fall, include replacing 25 percent of petroleum-based materials with sustainablysourced renewable materials, and reducing packaging 20 percent per consumer use, both by 2020.