A green year

Like many people I’ve already spent a lot of this (new) year thinking about being green and what I can do to make a difference. Maybe it’s because I’ve moved house and finally have both the space to grow vegetables and install a composter, but I’m finding myself thinking harder about where things come from and what the packaging is made of when I shop M&S recently surprised many media commentators with the extent their green strategy, whilst others were quick to dismiss both M&S and Tesco’s commitments as ‘brand dressing’. But I’m not so sure that’s all it is. Whether you applaud the promises they’ve made or feel they haven’t gone far enough, they’ve obviously been listening hard to their consumers As Sabine said in her post in December ‘How Times have Changed’, green marketing does seem to be moving mainstream. It’s certainly more noticeable in groups that consumers want help with being green. Even when the research has no connection with issues such as recycling, packaging or sustainability it seems there are always one or two consumers who weave these into the discussion. And whereas a couple of years ago you felt the consumer who raised the issue was coming from an outsider point of view (with others agreeing because it was ‘socially acceptable’) – this is now less the case More than a year ago Innocent’s marketing Director Richard Reed signalled their desire to be the first FMSG brand (fast moving sustainable goods). I hope 2007 is the year more brands follow suit.