Green marketing of industrial areas 1 April 2014, Faro Marino Cavallo Training session University of Algarve Faro, 1 st of April 2014

Sustainable Industrial Areas: our key words Sustainable industrial areas: network of SMEs managed through common and shared patterns and located in sustainable equipped areas Blue economy principles: the sustainable industrial areas are based on the same principles of blue economy that are systemic approach, closure of cicles, symbiotic processes. Green marketing and territorial marketing: the Province of Bologna invests on the assumption that green marketing of sustainable industrial areas can be an added value for the marketing of all the territorial capital

10 steps for developing a green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks The project MER is an opportunity to enforce and enwider the tools designed within the project Ecomark for the the promotion and the green marketing of eco-industrial parks. One of these main tools is the green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks

First step: the theoretical framework The base of a green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks has to be the identification of the main characteristics of innovative industrial areas. In order to do this, the green marketing plan experiemented in the project Ecomark project takes into account 9 international best practices in terms of eco-industrial parks in order to highlight their main characteristics in different fields: Waste recover and recycling, Resources, Efficiency, Building sustainability, Protection of the landscape, Common environmental actions, Assistance for businesses, Social actions

Step 2: the objectives of a green marketing plan for eco- industrial parks - to communicate the economic advantages brought by eco- industrial areas to businesses - the environmental benefits of eco-industrial areas - the intangible capital of eco-industrial parks (for example the possibility of becoming part of a team) -the features distinguishing an eco-industrial area from other industrial areas -to overcome the alternative between sustainability and competitiveness in the perception of all businesses, public opinion, local stakeholders

Step 3: identifying the strategic objectives of eco-industrial parks: - To reach and promote the standards of environmental and competitive excellence - to encourage businesses and enterprise to settle in the sustainable productive areas -to activate and join a virtous circle of integration among the bussinesses settled in the area and between them and the Managing Body

Step 4: identifying the targets Whom do eco-industrial areas speak to? - To businesses: enterprises already located in the area or willing to relocate and to find another area to settle in. - to local stakeholders: public administration, local authorities, associations representing local bodies and local residents

Businesses Local stakeholders EEIAs can be considered as a complex product responding to the private demand by taking into account the needs of local stakeholders The eco-industrial parks have to take into account at the same time both businesses and local stakeholders

Step 5: identifying the needs and the attractive factors IAs have to respond both to the needs of businesses and to the ones of local stakeholders: Main needs Businesses To find a productive site where to succesfully locate their productive activities taking into account both the policies for sustainability and competitive success Local Stakeholders To encourage the sustainable development of the territory through industrial policies aimed at responsible ecomomic growth

Step 5: identifying the needs and the attractive factors IAs have to be attractive both for businesses and for local stakeholders: Main Success factors For Businesses EEIAs have to be equipped with advanced services For Local Stakeholders EEIAs have to include sustainable and innovative businesses. Relationships between businesses and local actors may be an added value

Step 6: identifying the distinctive factors and added value of eco-industrial parks - Sustainable industrial areas result from a project aimed at improving environmentally friendly productive context - Sustainable industrial areas allow businesses to implement effective policies for sustainable development - In the long-term, sustainable industrial areas may represent a positive competitive factor

In addition to the distinctive factors, the added value of eco- industrial parks is represented by: - increasement of environmental impact positively affecting the reputational capital and the corporate image - possibility of participating to the local policies for sustainable development - providing incentives

Step 7: the positioning By considering the eco-industrial park as a Product and by applying the marketing strategies, the positioning of eco-industrial areas in respect to the competitors can be represented as following: Eco- industrial parks Quality of the settlement Economical advantages Low cost for the settlement Sustainable development

Step 8: defining the general vision to communicate Taking into account all the issues and the features dealing with the attractiveness of eco-industrial parks, a marketing strategies for sustainable industrial areas has to be the result of a joint and integrated approach combining: the vision, the main subjects involved (businesses and local stakeholders), the success factors of eco-industrial parks and their added value in respect to the competitors.

Step 9: combining the targets and the messages An effective marketing strategy has to take into account the selection of the contents to be delivered to the different targets in order to choose the most suitable messages according to the characteristics of each target group

The marketing strategies for eco-industrial parks: combining the targets and the messages For the target group of businesses the most important messages to be delivered are: - the economic advantages of being settled in an eco-industrial parks - the advanced services provided by an eco-industrial park - the advantages in terms of reputation for the corporate identity

The marketing strategies for eco-industrial areas: combining the targets and the messages For the target group of local stakeholders the most important messages to be delivered are: - the environmental benefits represented mainly by a lower impact of productive and industrial settlements - wider vision of sustainable development - creation of a network aimed at improving and enforcing the territorial capital

Step 10: the channels for implementation A marketing strategy for eco-industrial areas includes: traditional communication tools (events, fairs, merchandising, advertising, sponsorships) and one to one tools (consisting largely in institutional networking in order to build a wide institutional support for further development and improvement of eco-industrial parks)

To sum up: A green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks has to promote the ability of innovative and sustainable industrial areas of being a meeting point between the needs of businesses and industrial actors and the needs of local stakeholders. A green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks meets the territorial marketing approach because eco-industrial parks can be also a driver for the whole territorial development.

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