Recyclable...

Yesterday, I read the following on a package:

57% recycled materials. 100% recyclable.

I laughed.

Sometimes we get too close to our product or service and lose perspective. But, in this case, the marketers turned around the typical green concept and added another dimension. Rather than just promote what the product is made of like everyone else does, they promoted the recyclability of the product. I hadn’t seen that together before.

Green marketing isn’t new. It’s been used for years. But since “An Inconvenient Truth” won an Oscar last year, it’s become trendy. The idea of looking at green from two different angles takes the product a step beyond the others in the pack. It even implies the competitor’s product isn’t recyclable!

Marketers follow trends. Good marketers build on those trends. Great marketers create the trends.

What are you promoting in your product. What aren’t you?

Recycle this marketing tip. Forward it to a friend.

-- Phil Sasso