Mainstreaming the whole 'green' thing
I'll just admit it. The word 'green' makes me feel green at times - in a sick-to-my-stomach sort of way. I hate catchall terms that cram any idea regardless of its complexity into a box.
Sometimes when green issues come up now, I can see people in the room getting a little uncomfortable. Like it's a dead issue. A couple more springs, winters and summers like this and we'll see how much of a dead issue it is.
The term is a tough one to use; there's so much pressure involved when you use it that you'll be tagged an expert and then called out and then, well, it'll just make your life complicated.
But that's not always so.
At the recent American Home Furnishings Alliance Marketing meeting, Chris Phillips, director of sales and marketing at Apartment Therapy, said something that put my mind at ease.
When asked about it, he noted that when Discovery Communications replaced the unsuccessful Planet Green this year, it might have been emblematic of changes in how consumers think about the category.
"I think that green as being this marginalized own thing off to the side is not interesting to people anymore. When we tested posts that were about green content and put them on Apartment Therapy, the same posts did much better than when it was over in the corner on our green site."
"Our readers have totally accepted green as a part of their everyday life. And they don't sort of go off to the green department in their minds. They expect it from everything."
Within seconds, I went from wondering if consumers care to thinking maybe they care so much that a green, sustainable story is just another given, something they assume all companies should offer. Phillips didn't even blink when he answered. All I could do was sit back and think: What a thoughtful answer.
In that spirit, here's a nice idea for the bedding guys on what might be done with box springs from Apartment Therapy.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/before-and-after-box-spring-chair-and-table-172967
Rose commented:
You really don't have to buy ahniytng special to use green cleaners. In fact, some of the most green cleaners are not commercial cleaners at all. Baking soda, washing soda, vinegar, borax, toothpaste, and bar soaps (like Ivory), will all do a great job cleaning around the house. The idea that these things don't work as well as the comercial cleaners, or at all for that matter, is simply deeply ingrained marketing. I have often been dumbfounded by how well these simple household things work, almost like magic.When I do buy a green cleaner, my favorite brand is Bi-O-Kleen. I've had great success with their laundry detergent and all-purpose cleaner. The best part about this brand is that most of their products are concentrated quite a bit (3x consentrated for both the laundry detergent and all-purpose cleaner), so there is less packaging and more product. As a bonus, a bottle of Bi-O-Kleen laundry detergent or all-purpose cleaner cost less than a bottle of their nonconcentrated traditional counterparts. I've used the laundry detergent exclusively for about two years, and my clothes are as clean as anyones. The all-purpose cleaner is truly all-purpose. I've used to to clean the everyday stuff like kitchen and bathroom, and nasty stuff like the oven and grill. We even use it when we rent a carpet cleaner in place of the expensive carpet cleaning solutions. Other brands I buy currently:Seventh Generation -Their products all work really well, but are pricey, so I don't use them as often.Bon Ami Hands down the best scouring agent around, and it's non-toxic. I'm not sure how green it is, but compared to Comet brand, it's a step in the right direction.
Sakiko commented:
I think there is a huge market for green pet pocudrts!Petsmart sells Green toys (recycled material that are shaped like endangered animals and i think some of the money goes to WWF or something)Petsmart also has biodegradable poop scoop bags, which are nice, but priceyorganic food is also a good idea, my dog gets food with human grade ingredients, the book Fast Food Nation made me not want to feed him most brands of food
Namari commented:
Wow I must confess you make some very ternchant points.
mamunsoft commented:
Murray Products
Family owned and operated, Murray Products continues to provide the finest
quality sport fishing equipment found anywhere in the industry for over 40 years.
Originally Murray Brothers, The Murray's continue to build the worlds best fighting
chairs, helm chairs and custom furniture for big name spot fish boats like Viking,
Hatteras and Bertram to name a few. Not limited to only sport fishing, the Murray's
continue to put out high quality custom tables for all the major yacht companies as
well and their clients. Keep and eye out for the latest designs in helm and fighting
chairs on the new Viking demo coming out this summer. There are no short cuts when
it comes to quality and Murray Products doesn't cut any corners when it comes to
being the BEST. There's only one way to spell quality, M-U-R-R-A-Y.
