Earth Day Noise Pollution
We're often asked by clients if the biggest trade show of the year in their respective space is a good location to announce news. We usually answer their question with a question: "What is the goal of the announcement?"
We explain that if the goal is stand-alone media coverage, they might be better off using the event to pre-brief media and announce a couple of weeks later when the market has exhausted its news. If the goal is to drive business development activities, announcing what they are doing at the show to give sales and bizdev a press release to shop to customers and prospects might be the way to go.
The green/clean tech world is relatively immature when it comes to events. There are several that are vying to become the RSA, NRF, Mobile World Congress or JavaOne of their respective markets---such as Solar Power and GreenXChange Expo--but for the most part there is not yet that one event that makes green marketers exhaust their news arsenal.
But unlike security, open source, application development, retail technology and wireless, green does have a landmark "event" that brings every marketer out of the woodwork with a news announcement: Earth Day. I performed a highly scientific research project (40-second searching of Google News by source) and found about 500 commercial press releases from the past 24 hours that mention Earth Day.
My favorite? Purex announced that Jaime Pressly has become its spokesperson for the company's green campaign. I can just see Joy, Randy, Earl and Crabman doing what they can to stop global warming on My Name is Earl.
But the point is that Earth Day may have officially become the noisiest day in the Green world. The question for marketers then becomes: "Should you announce signidicant news on Earth Day?"
I think the answer would be a resounding "No." Earth Day is much too noisy, especially when you also factor in this year's Presidential campaign, earnings season and just about every other news event that could drown out a momentum announcement, new corporate green initiative or donations to a green charity.
My advice? Avoid Earth Day like the plague and don't contribute to the noise being created by marketers in every sector from detergents to light bulbs. Better yet, follow the advice of my eight-year old daughter who said, "Let's shut everything off today that uses electricity, including the Wii, Webkinz, the TV and the toaster."
Generation Green speaks. Shut off your computer, take the day off and celebrate Earth Day away from the noise.
Tags: Earth Day, generation green, green, green marketer, greenxchange expo, javaone, mobile world congress, nrf, rsa, solar power, webkinz, wii
Posted by Jason Morris on April 22, 2008 at 11:24 AM
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Comments
Hear, hear!
I'm as guilty as any marketer of looking for ways to ride the Go Green trend, but it's getting a little obnoxious.
How well does the green message play in S.F., a pretty progressive city? I suspect the response there is a little different than here in the Carolinas.
Posted by: Scott Hepburn | April 25, 2008 10:22 AM
Hi, Scott. It plays pretty well, but there is also a lot more of it. The nice thing is there are a lot of people paying attention in the bay area and in New England where we have another office, so it makes it a bit harder for a company to get away with a superficial green message. I figure we are in the backlash stage of green right now (the first being ridiculous hype) and have only scratched the surface of true adoption. It is going to be an exciting 12 months.
Posted by: Jason Morris
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April 25, 2008 5:28 PM