1 Small Biz Green: Growth Building Your Business by Selling & Marketing Green Yalmaz Siddiqui, Director of Environmental Strategy, Office Depot

2  Green trivial pursuit  What is a green business?  Developing your green marketing strategy AGENDA: THE GREEN OPPORTUNITY

3 Green Trivial Pursuit What is the approximate size of the green products market in the US? [Natural Marketing Institute, 2010] a.$80 Billion b.$290 Billion c.$160 Billion

4 LOHAS Market size = $290 Billions Largest segments: Personal Health & Green Building $ - US consumer spending, billions % - share of total LOHAS market

5 Green Trivial Pursuit What does LOHAS stand for? [Natural Marketing Institute, 2010] a.Lifestyles of Health & Sustainability b.Life of Health & Stewardship c.Lifestyle of Health & Stewardship

6 Green Trivial Pursuit In the next 10 years, the Federal Government plans to transition this % of its $500 Billion+ purchasing towards ‘sustainable’ products: [Executive Order 13514, 2009] a.50% b.75% c.95%

7 EXAMPLE ECONOMIC DRIVER: BUSINESS TO GOVERNMENT OPPORTUNITY: EXECUTIVE ORDER $500 BILLION PLUS OF FEDERAL SPENDING EXPECTED TO SHIFT TO “SUSTAINABLE ACQUISITION” FROM 2011 TO 2021

8 Green Trivial Pursuit What does LEED stand for? a.Leadership in Energy Efficient Design b.Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design c.Leading Environmental Excellence & Demonstration

9 THERE WILL BE APPROXIMATELY 30 BILLION SQUARE FEET OF LEED CERTIFIED BUILDINGS BY 2020 How many Manhattan’s ~5 ~20 ~40

10 Green Trivial Pursuit (quick bonus) What is LEEDS? a.A City in England b.The term you use if you don’t know what LEED is c.Both of the above

11 What is a green business?

12 Green businesses operate in ways that help solve, rather than cause, environmental problems. (Green America) A sustainable business is an organization that participates in environmentally (friendly) activities to ensure processes, products, and manufacturing activities adequately address environmental concerns while maintaining a profit. (Wikipedia) Example definitions

13 WHICH OF THESE BOXES IS GREEN? A B

14 D E C WHICH OF THESE BOXES IS GREEN?

15 light green green dark green NEW GREEN PERSPECTIVE: THERE ARE ONLY SHADES OF GREEN meets industry norms not green/ unknown

16 [ Green does not need to be this ]

17 MID GREEN: Incorporates green habits beyond the mainstream; sees business opportunity in green LIGHT GREEN: Open to doing simple green things as long as there is no lifestyle shift DARK GREEN: Lives the greenest life, perception of green = “activism” THERE ARE SHADES OF GREEN AMONG CUSTOMERS

18 Grail Research: The Green Revolution

19 KEY LESSONS: FIND THE CHANNELS, MESSAGES & MEDIUMS THAT RESONATE WITH CUSTOMERS AT DIFFERENT SHADES OF GREEN AND WITH DIFFERENT PERSONAL INTERESTS  HELP CUSTOMERS MOVE UP THE SHADES OF GREEN CONTINUUM IN WAYS THAT ARE MEANINGFUL TO THEM  REMEMBER DIFFERENT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT DIFFERENT ISSUES…NOT EVERYONE CARES ABOUT EVERYTHING  DEVELOP PRODUCTS AND MARKETING APPROACHES THAT BREAK THROUGH THE CLUTTER  DON’T GREENWASH – CLAIMS HAVE TO HAVE A BASIS

20 “Balance environmental issues with primary customer needs or be forever relegated to the green graveyard.” GreenBiz: Lessons from the Green Graveyard Lessons from the Green Graveyard

21 1.Share your experiences selling green 2.What is your greatest challenge? 3.Share your table’s most well-articulated challenge CHALLENGES ROUNDTABLE

22 1.>getting people’s attention…showing value 2.>chicken and egg 3.>educating customers to make upfront investments 4.>lack of incentives/ length of ROI 5.>getting to right person in leadership 6.>education / getting word out 7.>preparation / awareness of your segments 8.>apathy/education KEY CHALLENGES SHARED

23 Bringing Green In: Office Depot Case Study

24 Buy Green Be Green Sell Green Why Green? Tell Green Ensure a Customer- Focused Assortment Reduce Long Term Operating Costs Grow Sales & IMU in All Channels Prepare for Emerging Needs and Risks Promote & Protect the Office Depot Brand OUR ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY SUPPORTS OUR BUSINESS NEEDS

25 Source: Michael Porter Economic Benefits Combined Environmental, and Economic Benefits Environmental Benefits What are our CUSTOMERS environmental impacts? What do THEY care about? Where are they spending? Can we help? FIRST QUESTION: WHAT DO OUR CUSTOMERS WANT? WHAT PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS SHOULD WE DEVELOP TO SERVE THEM?

version with “Ends July 2010” sticker avail. at officedepot.com/greenbook Virtual Version works with your customer pricing Recently we released two Mini Green Books Example Solutions: Green Book: Contains 2200 of our “greenest products” e.g. recycled products have minimum 30% Post Consumer content.

27 Immediate Savings Savings through Lower Operating Cost Higher Initial Cost Savings through Lower Re- purchase Higher Cost Items: [ Save by avoiding waste ] Same Price per Unit Examples: Remanufactured Cartridges Refurbished items Water bottle alts. Many Recycled items Waste Avoidance Examples: CFLs / T5 Lights Energy-Efficient Technology Power saving strips Hybrid Vehicles Astroturf Examples: Microfiber cloths Rechargeable Batteries Refillable Pens Reusable products: totes, mugs, plastic shipping containers Examples: Many Green Cleaners (concentrated) Many Recycled Products Bulk packs Greenguard Furniture Examples: Recycled copy paper Compostable dishware Organic Food Green Power EXAMPLE SAVINGS ACROSS PRODUCT CATEGORIES

Confidential Developing Your Green Strategy

29 Who?  Who is your green customer and what do they want from you? What?  Identify your most material environmental impacts  Find ways to save money by reducing impacts short/medium/long term  Identify your customers priorities  Define solutions to help meet those priorities How?  Think about what you want to be able to say in 1 year / 3 years / 5 years  Define your Environmental Key Performance Indicators  Plan  Do, Track, Adjust  Report & Celebrate success 10 STEP GREEN PLAN

30 1.Perception 2.Perception 3.Pricing needs to be cheaper / address a WIFM 4.Florida 5.Defining green CHALLENGES

31 1.Understand the needs of your target customers 2.Speak the language of your target 3.Make the economic case / not just environmental case 4.Normalize greener behavior 5.Yes lives in the land of no LESSONS LEARNED

32  Binary: Green vs. Not Green  One green attribute: recycled  Preachy  Guilt-Inducing  Negative focus: the problem  Granola Crunchy  Leaves, trees, brown imagery  Perfection  Transformation  Berkeley  Shades of Green  Various green attributes  Friendly  Quietly Educational  Positive focus: the solution  Crisp and Modern  Clean, bright imagery  Progress  Small Steps  Manhattan SELL GREEN BY RECOGNIZING OLD GREEN VS. NEW GREEN APPROACHES - AND FOCUS ON THE NEW NEW GREEN OLD GREEN

33 ICON NEW GREEN BRAND – METHODHOME.COM

34 FOUR MORE EXCELLENT RESOURCES

35 1.What is your one main takeaway from the day? 2.What’s your three step plan? 3.Share your plan with the table 4.Best plan from table gets shared with group NEXT STEPS ROUNDTABLE