I had to get some information from our office administrator, Karen. As I was standing by her office area, I noticed a box in the corner, one I had not seen before. The box was small, only about 10 x 10 inches. It was white but had a colorful label. I read the copy and learned that this was the collection bin we use for old inkjet cartridges, expired cell phones and other disposables. On the label, I learned the box was from United Cerebral Palsy. It invited us to use this collection site for these materials, and the organization would collect them and repurpose the items. I asked Karen how long we had had the box, and she told me about a year. From my perspective as a marketer, this simple but brilliant idea had many lessons.
Posts Tagged ‘sustainability’
April 13, 2009 | Cindy Jennings
Sustainable or Just Good Business?
The question often comes up when planning for sustainability messaging on what qualifies as a sustainable business practice and what is just good business. So when does it make sense to make a sustainable statement about your business, product or operations? If a company moves its manufacturing location or its warehousing location to be closer to the nucleus of the distribution point – that’s good business. You are reducing your costs and streamlining your business operations. It may also be sustainable, but it does not live outside of what any other company would reasonably do to minimize costs and maximize profits. Sustainable efforts are usually classified as those over and above normal business operations. The fact that a company streamlined its operations could be a supporting statement in a company’s overall sustainable effort, but should certainly not be a leading claim.
