Going Green

Environmentally-conscious individuals have been doing their part to protect the environment for years, whether by recycling or by conserving water or, more recently, by driving hybrid cars. And finally, advertisers are starting to catch on.

This year, ad agency Mullen created the first carbon-neutral media plan to market Timberland’s new Earthkeepers boot made from recycled materials. Not only is the product itself green, but Timberland also wanted the marketing strategy to be green.

Recognized as a MediaWeek Media Plan of the Year in 2008, Timberland’s strategy included the use of soy-based inks for the print portion of the campaign, not to mention recycling all printed materials at the end of the campaign (for example, turning billboards into waterproof totes). The out-of-home strategy included subway ads running on the green line in Boston to promote the use of public transportation, and – for ambient media – large glass cubes filled with plastic bottles and other post-consumer waste used in the creation of the Earthkeepers. The end result? Mother Nature was as happy with the eco-friendly campaign as Timberland was with the overwhelming consumer response and spike in sales.

Personally inspired by Timberland’s efforts, I started thinking about what we can do in the recruitment marketing world. Let’s face it – Timberland’s $10 million campaign may not be realistic for most HR marketing budgets, but my research did uncover some more cost-effective ways to make a big difference.

Rather than printing thousands of flyers for your next recruitment event, consider branding environmentally-friendly giveaways such as organic apparel, recycled tote bags, or flash drives made out of 100% recycled plastic. At NAS, we work with giveaway partner CSE to provide our clients with green options.

And don’t forget about virtual career fairs. NAS client Metavante hosted a virtual event to cater to the busy schedules of their prospective candidates and – as an added benefit – Metavante helped reduce carbon emissions by eliminating the need for hundreds of candidates to travel to the event via car. In addition to virtual job fairs, many employers are using sites such as www.futureresume.com and www.greenjobinterview.com to conduct virtual interviews.

Just some food for thought – and I would love to hear additional ideas!