Anyone that regularly reads my articles knows that I generally discuss the work promotional advertising and specialty marketing accomplishes for our clients - rather than promotional products, the tools we use. But today the topic of sustainability and “green” marketing in general has unfairly become a club to beat our industry with.
How many articles have you read where a, “I will save the planet” writer is demeaning promotional products as cheap nick-knacks, swag, useless plastic junk and filling for trash containers at trade shows? This myth has been created by and amplified by a liberal media. Sure, there will always be items that prove to be of lesser value (or very rarely no value) but they soon go away because businesses won’t use them. In general however, promotional products are appreciated and kept for extended lengths of time.
As an industry, graphic communications - printing information on something to influence a consumer, is one of the most sustainable, recyclable and “green” industries! I owned a commercial printing company for many years. We used the same metal for casting type for decades. The aluminum printing plates we used were sold to recyclers. The photographic film we used was also sold to silver reclaimers and we used equipment to remove the silver from our developing chemicals. Waste paper was bailed and sold to make new paper! We used water based solvents and rubber based inks, both were nontoxic and had no volatile organic solvents. And that was 30 years ago!
Think about promotional products and consider the 5 most recycled materials:
Steel (88% is used again), aluminum (67%), plastic (currently only 20%), paper (60% is used again) and glass(about 40%). Basically everything we make promotional products from can be recycled. And where plastic is currently low on recycling it is high on the reusable thanks to our industry. With so much reusable drinkware, promotional drinkware saves millions of disposable water bottles from landfills every month.
Other reusable items like drinking straws and grocery totes are also having an impact and getting attention because they are replacing things that were considered disposable. But our industry is based on things that are durable, not disposable. An ice scraper might make it through ten winters. The sports bottle my daughter uses made it through her collegiate years and still goes to the gym with her. My keys are on a promotional key separator that I put them on 28 years ago!
Unfortunately our industry has been put in a position where we find the need to defend what we do. The reality is however that we can! People that condemn us as useless and wasteful are ill informed or politically motivated.
What to do? First and always make your conversations about promotional specialty advertising and marketing - not products. When you finally discuss message delivery and the items to carry the message be sure to point out the sustainability of the materials we use and the elimination of disposable goods so many of our items provide. Do your part to suggest items that are not only appropriate to reach the target market but also have ongoing usefulness and durability.
Be aware of packaging. Many negative comments deal with how items are package and the “waste” it causes. Again most is propaganda! Packaging is designed to get goods to the marketplace in perfect condition, reinforce the marketing message and enhance the perceived value of the item inside. I have not seen any packaging that can’t be moved to the recycling bin! Remind your clients that the reason they are investing in the advertising is to make the strongest impression on their customers and packaging is an important part - not an unnecessary or wasteful component.
For the hard core sustainability purest you can turn to items manufactured of recycled materials. There are many items using a portion of post manufacturing and post consumer materials. We have amazing fleece made from discarded water bottles, fun flyers that may have been milk bottles in the past and lots of other items to use for their messaging.
And finally there are certain categories of promotional items that can’t be considered wasteful, unnecessary or useless. Food gifts, safety items, wellness (first aid, sun block, sanitizers, etc.) educational materials (slide charts, anti-drug info, etc.) child care & safety, therapeutic (exercise equipment) and entertainment (playing cards, sporting goods) just to name a few.
We all should be proud of our industry. We are economical, effective and sustainable!
Gregg Emmer is chief marketing officer and vice president at Kaeser & Blair, Inc. He has more than 40 years experience in marketing and the promotional products industry. His outside consultancy provides marketing, public relations and business planning consulting to a wide range of other businesses and has been a useful knowledge base for K&B Dealers. Contact Gregg at gemmer@kaeser-blair.com.