Think Green Alliance

By Bernard Hellen

If you are a green company or are marketing a sustainable product or service, you know that your credibility is essential to your green corporate message. A study by Edelman Public Relations found that 39% of the respondents said they were more likely to purchase the product of a company they perceive to be socially and environmentally responsible, and 80% said they would boycott a company they perceived as being irresponsible in that regard.

So how do you communicate your authenticity and integrity from the first impression? Look no further than your business card.

By ‘greening’ your smallest and most widely used marketing product, the standard business card, you’ll demonstrate how everyday objects we all take for granted can be turned into a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly product. And according to Candice Batista, who blogs about what drives the green movement in Toronto, « If you¹re in the business of green, a green business card is the only way to go. »

The idea to invent The World’s Greenest Business Card was born at a recent ‘green’ networking event when someone handed me a laminated business card for his environmental company. What an amazing disconnect, a ‘green¹ company hands me a piece of plastic as their business card. It was then that I realized that as a green company, if you « talk the talk » that you had better ‘walk the walk’.

The World¹s Greenest Business Card is a standard 3.5 x 2 inch card, offset printed in full colour on both sides, it’s printed waterless with vegetable-based inks on FSC-certified stock containing 100% post-consumer waste paper — which means that no new trees are harvested. In addition, a tree is planted for every order placed online. Tree donations are made through Trees Ontario, a not-for-profit organization committed to the re-greening of Ontario through tree planting efforts on rural lands and in urban areas.

Whether you work for an environmental group or charity, a green business or start-up, are an individual that cares about their green image or are a company that wants to communicate their commitment to the environment, you should be looking at the way that your business card communicates your green first impression.

But can a little thing like a business card really make a difference? Besides demonstrating your company’s commitment to the environment, every one of my printing runs of The World’s Greenest Business Card can conserve the following resources:

• 3 trees / 1040 lbs of wood not used
• 162 lbs / 74 kg solid waste not created
• 1,529 gallons / 6,953 L of water not used – enough water to take 88 eight minute showers
• 356 lb / 161 kg greenhouse gases prevented – equivalent to carbon sequestered by 15.2 tree seedlings grown for 10 years 

So, green your business card and make a good first impression. Its a small thing that goes a long way.

Bernard Hellen R.G.D., FSC Xpert is president and creative director of traffic marketing + design inc. http://www.trafficdesign.ca a sustainable marketing and design agency. A frequent speaker on the subject of designing sustainable communications, he sits on the Board of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario and Chairs the R.G.D. Sustainability Committee. He can be reached at bernard@trafficdesign.ca  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by telephone at (416) 504-8717.

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Tags: Bernard Hellen, Environment Canada, Environmental education, Green business cards, Traffic Marketing and Design