The Industry Column – 2 March

Diana Gayle, business development manager at branding and
communications agency Spencer du Bois, debates whether Honda F1’s move to
rebrand its livery with an environmental image is a publicity stunt or the brand
actually engaging consumers over a social issue.

This week saw Honda’s Formula 1 Team unveil their car’s livery for the 2007
season, which focuses on promoting environmental issues.  They confirmed that
they are to replace advertising and sponsor logos with a giant picture of the
Earth to raise awareness about ‘going green’.

No you did not read that paragraph wrong. The gas-guzzling, jet setting, fuel
burning, global money-spending world of Formula 1 has jumped on the “green”
bandwagon.

The marketing and communication of green credentials is certainly becoming
big business. Last year saw the Government amend the Companies Bill to increase
company accountability, making it a legal requirement for UK companies to
address ethical issues and annually publish their dealings on environmental,
employee, social and community issues.

And communicating a company’s positive message has never been more critical
to attract and retain the best staff, unify a global identity, create
shareholder value and maintain competitive advantage.

But is this just a case of doing effective ‘feel good’ communication? I
believe that there are three golden rules to effective ethical branding.

Firstly, green credentials should be embedded and aligned with core business
values and day-to-day operations for them to be credible. 

Secondly, it is not just a case of getting your values right. In today’s
increasingly ethically-aware climate, companies need to listen and commit to
communicating interactively with all their stakeholders. Engagement and
transparency is key – on both progress and failures – to avoid a public
criticism of ‘tokenism’.

Finally, effective ethical communications depend on cutting through the noise
and standing out from the crowd.

The ‘green’ agenda is being hijacked from all corners – with everyone from
political parties to banks using a picture of a nice green tree or the globe to
show the world they care. In communication terms we are well and truly heading
for ‘green fatigue’.

Yet Honda insists this is not a publicity stunt. They cite that their
research showed 94% people thought it was a good idea. But that’s the point. No
one is actually going to think it is a bad idea to raise awareness of
environmental issues are they?

But with the Advertising Standards Association warning last year that it will
not tolerate companies making grandiose claims about their green credentials,
the real challenge for the future is to ensure that companies who make green
commitments do so with integrity and a real sense of responsibility to change.