In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, many organizations are making plans to give away imprinted promotional items like branded pens, hats, T-shirts, coasters and the like to clients and attendees at Earth Day events.
Please don’t be one of them.
My firm sells a couple million dollars a year of imprinted products, so that sentiment may be a surprise coming from me. But it’s true: the last thing the Earth (or your business) needs on Earth Day is more useless junk with logos on it.
I’ve seen some effective Earth Day promotions in my time at Reno Type, like a seed paper “matchbook” with the message “The world is on fire. Help us put it out” distributed to existing and potential clients of a recycling consultant. But my position also gives me a front row seat to the purchase of many “eco-friendly” promotional products that are anything but. The worst offender may be the “eco-friendly” pen with a cardboard shaft. Sure, it’s not quite as bad for the planet as a plastic one, but any pen that doesn’t write well or for long is a nuisance on its way to the dump (and those cardboard pens really are absolute crap).
Just “giving something away” is not in-and-of-itself a “strategy.” For those companies that don’t have the time, budget, expertise, or energy to execute an effective promotion involving imprinted items for Earth Day, my advice would be to take whatever budget you DO have and instead donate it to a local environmental non-profit organization. This actually does help the planet, and you can publicize the gift on your website, in your email signature, social media channels and company newsletter. It’s way more bang for your marketing buck and is much kinder to the environment.
Still, for those dead set on a promotional giveaway this Earth Day (or any day for that matter) here are some things to keep in mind.
• Give away something that is nice enough that the recipient WANTS it. If, for example, you want to give away a pen, choose the best one your budget allows. There are thousands of writing instruments in the range of $5-$75. Your goal is to give someone their new “favorite” pen, not another junk-drawer item. A quality pen will not wind up in the waste-stream and will promote your brand every time it is used.
• Look for quality items that replace disposable ones. The product’s quality is more important than whether it looks environmentally friendly. The recipient must like and use it in order for it to replace that disposable product. Think of tote bags, insulated water bottles and mugs, or the above-mentioned pen. A quality diary or journal, made from recycled apple pulp, is among my favorites.
• You may be proud of your logo and identity but consider carefully whether the recipient will feel the same way. Would you use a phone case that has the logo of a company you don’t know? How many branded shirts, fleeces or windbreakers have you donated? When was the last time you put a sticker hawking a new-to-you corporation onto your vehicle’s bumper? If the recipient doesn’t want it, neither your company nor Mother Earth benefit from the money you spent.
• PLAN the promotion and do it on purpose. Make sure you know what result you wish to achieve, and have some process in place to measure it. Otherwise you’re not just hurting the environment, you’re hurting your bottom line.
The conversation of sustainability may have taken a backseat to COVID and global conflict headlines, but there is still a need for the business community to consider the impact of our promotional practices. The meaning of Earth Day is lost when organizations fail to consider the lifespan of the items they are handing out. On a day that is especially meant to encourage sustainability and foster feelings of protection for our resources, we have to be smarter.
When careless designs meet excess production, waste is the result. The cheap cardboard or plastic pens I mentioned above might seem functional but they are, in fact, disposable and an estimated 1.6 billion of them end up in landfills each year. Another factor is whether a recyclable product will actually be recycled. According to an analysis conducted by USA Today, only 25% of Americans actually recycle their cardboard -- so just because something is created from or packaged in recyclable material, there is still another step consumers must take before it helps the planet. And not many consumers will take that step. Instead, they’ll put your giveaway in the trash on their way out the door.
It doesn’t take a scientist to know that the clock is ticking on our ability to address climate change. If the significance of Earth Day is important to you, you might consider foregoing products all together and commemorate the day with river clean ups, terracycling practices, or simply soaking up some Vitamin D outside with family and friends. After all, we only have one planet. If we can be kinder to one another, perhaps we’ll remember to be kinder to Mother Earth as well.
Kurt Hoge, a promo product guy, is President of Reno Type. Go to https://www.renotype.com/ for more information.
