by Marc Stoiber

A few months back, href=”http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/05/16/malt-o-meal-green-anti-box-campaign-half-in-bag”
target=”_blank”>an interesting story caught my eye. It
documented the green claims being made by Malt-O-Meal around their
plastic bag packaging.

According to Malt-O-Meal, their bags created less environmental
impact than the competition’s boxes. They had, in fact, created a
website titled ‘Bag
The Box’ to tout these environmental claims.

From a strictly green perspective, this was a bit of a head
scratcher: some of Malt-O-Meal’s cereals do come in boxes;
the bagged cereal bags are heavy plastic, with environmental
baggage of their own; and the bags were introduced as
cost-reduction measures years ago - it’s not like Malt-O-Meal woke
up one morning and decided to make the world a better place one bag
at a time.

Digging deeper, I discovered Malt-O-Meal actually had a very
credible green policy outside the bag. Their manufacturing plants
have conservation programs, they’re involved in the US EPA’s
SmartWay transport initiative, they purchase renewable energy, save
water and waste, and use Energy Star equipment to cut down on
power.

But it was the bag, and the potential greenwash that came with
it, that made the news. So was it good news for the brand, or
bad?

Imperfect Progress Is Still Progress

I met with Malt-O-Meal’s consumer marketing manager Linda Fisher
to dig into the potential hazards of their approach. Fisher was
refreshingly candid and unapologetic.

“We’re a small company - a David among Goliaths - and we
introduced bags because they saved money and gave us a competitive
edge” Fisher explained. “Truth is, cost savings were a big driver
behind all our initiatives, from energy conservation to waste
reduction.”

It must be working. Over the last ten years, Malt-O-Meal doubled
market share to ten percent. And the company is the only cereal
manufacturer to build new plants to meet demand over the last
decade.

But will the green bag controversy help or hinder Malt-O-Meal’s
growth? Or does it even matter?

I believe imperfect progress is still progress. While the bag is
not a green solution, it beats the ‘bag and box’ favoured by other
manufacturers hands down. In fact, it contains 75% less consumer
packaging than a comparably sized box with an interior bag.

It also gains legitimacy, thanks to Malt-O-Meal’s other green
initiatives. Initiatives I would never have been aware of, were it
not for the bag controversy.

Finally, the bag is a good innovation on other fronts. For
example, it reduces costs - enabling Malt-O-Meal to compete
effectively. And as Fisher says, those cost-savings are passed onto
consumers, having saved US families over $1 billion since 2006

So it would seem that this measure, born of efficiency, has
helped create a stronger green brand for Malt-O-Meal. Even if it is
in a roundabout way.

My brand is green?

Speaking with target=”_blank”>Joel Makower of GreenBiz, I was reminded of
another twist on the accidental green brand.

href=”http://www.churchdwight.ca/brand.php?brandidx=ahbakingsoda&ref=featured”>
Church and Dwight, the 150 year old maker of Arm & Hammer
baking soda, was dragged into the green revolution somewhat
unwittingly.

In 1988, Bryan Tomlinson, then Church and Dwight’s Canadian
marketing director, was called by an environmental leader and
admonished. The environmentalist told Tomlinson that her community
was promoting environmentally benign baking soda as an alternative
to harsher cleaning products - and they were upset Arm & Hammer
wasn’t somehow reciprocating.

Tomlinson invited the environmentalist to Canadian headquarters
where she demonstrated an area of opportunity that simply hadn’t
occurred to the company.

Thus began a collaborative relationship with other groups, and a
raft of fresh ideas and applications for the traditional product.
As Makower reports, within 36 months the brand grew approximately
30% in Canada.

Are you sitting on green treasure?

If your company has made ongoing efficiency in product design a
priority, chances are your products have become more eco-efficient
in the process.

This may be cause for a green claim, or it may not.

Before calling the ad agency, call an NGO with expertise in your
sector. They should be able to assess where you stand vis a vis the
competition; tell you if your product can stand up to the increased
scrutiny a public green claim would bring; and help you weigh the
true value of ‘green-ness’ in your sector.

If your product is off the mark in any of the above, don’t scrap
the green brand dream. A not-quite-green but progressive product
could invite collaboration that triggers exciting green innovation.
Or perhaps your product could be held up internally as a model of
your company’s green future aspirations. Either way, there are
benefits to your business.

Lessons

1. If you believe you have a green claim, invite informed opinions
   to assess the validity of that claim. Engage with an NGO. At
   minimum, they’ll help you anticipate blind spots and potentially
   diffuse criticism. At best they’ll provide some valuable insights
   or new opportunities you hadn’t seen.
   
   
   
   



2. Fail forward. Even if your green claim has flaws and isn’t fit
   for consumers, analyze how it can be used to catalyze innovation,
   and how it can be held out to challenge employees.
   
   
   
   



3. One good thing leads to another. Recognizing a product with
   potential green merit might be just what your company needs to
   create better, more far-reaching green policies - policies that in
   turn create efficiencies and better business results.

This story first appeared in href=”http://www.fastcompany.com/1774022/how-to-turn-a-green-legacy-into-a-gold-brand”
target=”_blank”>Fast Company August 17, 2011 and
is reprinted here with kind permission of the author.

Marc Stoiber is
a creative director, entrepreneur, green brand specialist and
writer. He works with clients to build resilient, futureproof
brands. Marc writes on brand innovation for Huffington Post, Fast
Company, GreenBiz and Sustainable Life Media. He can be reached at
target=”_blank”>marc@marcstoiber.com.
Follow Marc Stoiber on href=”http://www.twitter.com/marcstoiber”
target=”_blank”>Twitter. You can find more articles by Marc
at  target=”_blank”>http://www.marcstoiber.com/