Outstanding is Standing Out

“As corporate America gets greener, Earth Day is following the path of Valentine's Day, Easter and Christmas, and turning into a corporate marketing opportunity. But instead of advertising chocolates or toys, companies are selling themselves and their greenness -- and often, the biggest marketers are those with sizable carbon footprints.

“This week, for instance, Anheuser-Busch is airing four new television ads as well as print ads featuring employees "discussing the company's commitment to the environment," according to a news release. Anheuser-Busch, whose beer cans often end up littering roadsides, has operated a large aluminum-can recycler for 30 years and has other environmental programs.

“Similarly, Accor North America, a unit of Paris hotel group Accor, which operates Novotel, Motel 6 and other chains, has declared this week "Earth Guest Week," with fluorescent-bulb and battery-recycling programs, organic food on restaurant menus, free parking for hybrid cars at the Sofitel in Los Angeles, and other initiatives…

“So many eco-friendly marketing messages are piling up that it no longer is clear whether companies jumping on the environmental bandwagon get much advantage for doing so, marketing experts say. Instead, a green marketing campaign now is standard operating procedure for big companies.

“‘Every company is out there touting 'we're green' -- it's the new requirement for being a good corporate citizen,’ says Allen Adamson, managing director of WPP Group's branding consultancy... ‘The noise level is so high now,’ he says. ‘The first few people into it had some benefit. Now it's a cost of entry.’ …

“The eco-friendly push has created a surge in the number of green-related trademark applications, according to an annual study of trends in trademarks... Last year, more than 2,400 applications were filed for logos or phrases that used the word ‘green’ … About 900 applications were filed for the word ‘clean,’ and the prefix ‘eco’ also was hot. The popularity of ‘eco’ doubled in 2007 from the year earlier to 900 new applications...

“It is ‘green gridlock with multiple companies filing for almost-identical marks at nearly the same time,’ says Glenn A. Gundersen, chairman of Dechert's trademark practice.”

(“Firms Use Earth Day to Show Their Green Side; Eco-Friendly Messages Fill the Air, but Are They Being Heard in the Din?” Betsy McKay and Suzanne Vranica. Wall Street Journal: April 22, 2008. p. B.7)

WHILE EVERYONE WANTS TO THINK outside the box, I keep wondering where is the box... ? What box... ?