Jun 14 2008
Hacker Group, a full-service direct marketing agency, has created the Green Marketing Coalition (GMC). Realizing there were no industry-wide green marketing standards or guidelines, Hacker Group formed the GMC to provide tools to organizations interested in incorporating green marketing into their businesses practices. For Hacker Group, the green process began last year, and it has since changed the way it operates from top to bottom.
Hacker Group management invested time and money, researching how they could reduce their company’s carbon footprint. They began phasing in green initiatives, allowing employees to adapt and educate their clients on the benefits. It was this discovery process that led to the creation of the GMC.
Hacker Group invited representatives from Microsoft, Washington Mutual, Kawasaki, MSP, Nahan Printing, Inc., Data-Mail, Cascade Land Conservancy, American Recycling, KP Corporation, OptimaHealth, BECU and FastSigns to join the GMC. The first item on the agenda was to define and establish green marketing standards and guidelines. Coalition members now meet quarterly and are helping demystify green marketing, making it accessible for companies of all sizes.
“After seeing how easily we could incorporate our own green initiatives, we have dedicated ourselves to helping other organizations do the same," commented Spyro Kourtis, President, Hacker Group. “Through our dialog with marketers from around the country, we found that many of them didn’t know where to start; it seemed overwhelming,” Kourtis continued. “We heard that they wished there were guidelines or standards. Without them, they didn’t know how to get the buy-off from management to make the switch to green marketing. By partnering with like-minded companies through the GMC, we are developing tools to help marketers easily integrate green marketing into their companies.”
Prior to the development of the GMC, Hacker Group employees already had introduced green marketing into their business practices. The first phase incorporated state-of the-art data processing to eliminate mailings sent to the wrong addresses. Then they began working with production vendors who were committed to recycling, using UV print presses and complying with hazardous waste disposal standards. Next, employees and clients began using Hacker Group’s extranet to track documents electronically, offering opportunities to proof and edit material using Adobe PDF files rather than hard copies. And finally, Hacker Group made the promise to clients that whenever possible, marketing materials would be printed on recycled paper using 10-percent post-consumer waste.
The next phase involved moving the company from Bellevue, Wash. to Seattle to reduce the commuting impact its employees were making on the environment. Through a better-designed new office space, the company reduced the square footage needed per employee for better energy efficiency, and used environmentally friendly paint, fabric, lighting, furniture and equipment.
Adopting green marketing practices doesn’t have to break the bank. Members of the GMC believe all companies can begin to take small steps towards reducing their carbon footprints.
For more information on how to incorporate green marketing into your business practices, go to www.greenmarketingcoalition.com.