Dell’s focus on sustainability has established the electronics giant as a leader in the green movement. Back in December of 2008, Dell announced a plan to transform computer packaging by adding recycled content (32%). By 2012, Dell hopes to achieve its goal of increasing the recycled content in its packaging by 40%. To do this, the company is implementing a strategy based on three C’s: Cube, Content, and Curbside.

Cube
Reducing the size of product packaging so it is more efficient, from the size of the boxes that hold product components to the number of items that can be moved per shipping pallet. In one example, Dell optimized the packaging for its Inspiron laptop so that the number of computers per pallet increased from 54 to 63.

Content
As previously stated, Dell is ramping up the amount of recycled contents that go into their packaging. For heavier products that require sturdier support, the company has increased the use of recycled foam versus using virgin product. Dell has also increased the use of post-consumer recycled plastics, integrating the equivalent of more than 9.5 million half-gallon milk jugs into its packaging.

Also, Dell has been using bamboo as a strong and compostable alternative to the molded paper pulp, foams, and corrugated cardboard often used in packaging.

Curbside
Ensuring that their packaging is curbside recyclable is that last piece of Dell’s green packaging strategy. Dell increasingly chooses materials that can be tossed in the recycling bin such as post-consumer plastics and molded paper pulp.

Bamboo is still not accepted by many municipal recyclers for curbside pickup however, Dell is working with Georgia Pacific, Unisource Global Services, and Environmental Packaging International in an effort to certify its bamboo packaging for recycling.

Dell outlines the three C’s strategy in their 2010 Corporate Responsibility Summary Report (PDF)

The stats are enormous. Twitter recently has surpassed 20 billion tweets and Facebook now has over 400 million users, 175 million of which log in everyday. It’s no wonder why all of the marketing hype centers around social media. It’s growth is fast and relentless yet experts are still trying to figure out how to be as opportunistic as possible in reaching an audience that is spending a huge amount of time social networking. The focus has shifted for businesses and advertisers to try and join in the online conversations. After all, there’s no sense in spending marketing dollars on television commercials for example, when consumers are using commercial time to engage in more social networking, unless it’s the Super Bowl.

A recent Nielson study reveals that social networking eats up twice as much time on the web as any other activity. Facebook and Twitter account for 22.7% of time spent online with the next closest activity being online gaming, 10.2%. The stats also show the degree to which social networking is taking the place of other forms of online communication. Both email and instant messaging have seen a significant drop as an online activity. Here’s the full stats from the study.

So what does it take to convince company to start marketing using social media? If you’ve been thinking about getting your feet wet for a while, now is the time to put your toes in the water! You don’t have to completely dive in but with growth like this, you owe it to your marketing strategy. Businesses shy away from social media largely because there’s so much out there and the results are hard to quantity. So start with the basics:

1. Create a Facebook profile: Try to connect with ‘friends’ that are relevant to your business. Most likely whether you’re B2B or B2C, your customers are already on Facebook. It’s relatively user friendly and not cumbersome to manage.

2. Open a Twitter account: Tweeting is fun and easy- it doesn’t take a lot of time out of your day. Again, you might find that your customers have already joined the Twitter universe.

3. Start a company blog: Blogging can be a great benefit to a business by increasing customer and visitor loyalty and driving more traffic to your company’s website. Decide on a focus for your blog, and write awesome content that will keep people coming back.

There are so many great resources online that will help you begin your social media endeavor and down the line, sharpen your social networking skills. Check out Mashable and Social Media Examiner.

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Packaging has long played a supporting role in advertising but in today’s world, it’s starting to steal the show. Brand marketers are increasingly bringing their product’s packaging to the forefront of brand communication both visually and by incorporating advertising strategies on the packaging itself.

So what’s with packaging’s growing significance as a branding tool? The increasing aesthetic sophistication that applies to packaging is too hard to ignore. There is one huge challenge for packaging however: the environment. Pressure has been placed on manufacturers to cut down on packaging and reduce waste to help sustain the environment. Packaging companies are trying to find creative ways to develop green packaging solutions as the need for marketers to communicate eco-friendliness to consumers is growing rampantly.

Finding a happy marriage between creative packaging and sustainability is not exactly easy- there are limitations.  But it’s an ambition manufacturers and marketers are relentlessly pursuing.

So lets check out the “Recyclage de Luxe” campaign rolled out by Stella Artois last year. While taking various measures to lessen their environmental impact, Stella Artois launched the campaign in the UK. They’re earning their eco-cred by making greener packaging and engaging consumers in recycling initiatives.

Since the start of the campaign, all Stella Artois’ cans have been made from at least 50% recycled aluminum, its bottles are above the industry standard of 75% recycled glass, and its corrugated Stella Artois boxes are made from 100% recyclable paper.

When it went live in July, Recyclage de Luxe comprised three executions across media, including TV and the press. Each focused on a different aspect of packaging – the corrugated packs, recycled bottles and recycled cans.

At the end of the month, the brewer launched its Hedge Fund on-pack promotion, a bid to boost sales with eco-incentives for consumers. Consumers buying some of the larger packs would be investing in an actual hedge, which would be grown to three times the size of the pack itself.

The campaign would help “replenish Britain’s depleted hedgerows, which are critical to the existence of many plants and animals”.The Hedge Fund promotion enables Stella Artois to help consumers take those small steps and together reduce the rate of climate change.

Stella Artois says that the campaign has so far “been very successful”, but is unable at this stage to divulge internal data proving this. It says that its marketing has been “very motivating for consumers”.

More info:
Stella Artois Hedge Fund

A recent survey shows the top green brands worldwide. The sample size was 9,022 and it was conducted February 27, 2010 to March 24, 2010. The study found that 60% of consumers around the world want to buy from environmentally responsible companies. In the US, 35% surveyed said they plan to spend more to buy green products, down 4% from 2009. Further, almost 80% of US respondents said they were more concerned about the economy than the environment. So here is the Top Ten US Green Brands in 2010:

10. IKEA- Never ending quest of sustainability

9. Microsoft- Innovating to improve the planet

8. Publix- Get into a green routine

7. SC Johnson- Improving products, reducing resources, strengthening communities

6. Aveeno- Nature + Science

5. Google- Helping to build a clean energy future

4. Trader Joe’s- Natural, hard to find foods

3. Tom’s of Maine- Green care products made responsibly

2. Whole Foods Market- Implementing the Green Mission

1. Burt’s Bees- Best for you, the environment, and the greater good

A new study by Leadforce1 shows that social media right now might not be the best way to garner leads for B2B companies. In fact, very seldom are visitors from top social sites looking at product or contact pages. This suggests that they’re not in the market for the company’s products or services rather, they’re most likely to be interested in a company’s blog or ‘About us’ page.

This ranked list reveals the site pages of interest for visitors coming from Facebook to visit B2B websites (#1 being the most visited page):

1. About Us
2. Blog
3. Management Team
4. Contact Us
5. Careers
6. Products

Another list shows the rankings of site pages of interest for Twitter users visiting B2B websites:

1. Blog
2. About Us
3. Products
4. Contact Us
5. Management Team

These lists may not seem too promising for sales however, the visitors seem to have an interest in learning about the company which is a common behavior and usually the first step in B2B relationship building.

In addition, most B2B site visitors from Facebook and Twitter are not sticking around for very long. This data reflects the percentage of visitors referred from social media sites to B2B sites who only visited a single page before leaving:

1. Facebook- 63%
2. Twitter- 63%
3. LinkedIn- 39%
4. Wikipedia- 39%

LinkedIn and Wikipedia referrals generally were more likely to browse around on a company’s website before moving on. Further, LinkedIn visitors were most interested in “Careers” pages suggesting that the network refers many job seekers.

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There are some things I just don’t understand. Take the new USB Typewriter for example. After spending around $500 for the hottest tech device in the world- the iPad, you can add a touch of ancient customization for $400-500. But why?

The USB Typewriter is just like it sounds. A portable typewriter that plugs into your USB drive to give your word processing the look and feel of obsolescence- not to mention your fancy new devices. Note: the typewriter can be used with any PC or Mac as well. Made by a fellow named Jack Zylkin, you can buy the USB Typewriter pre-made, in a kit, or send him your own typewriter and he’ll customize it.

I sort of understand the charm but isn’t the point of having an iPad or a laptop for convenience? This does not seem very pleasant to have to haul around. Plus, how many words can you type a minute on a typewriter? Isn’t that partly why they’re obsolete? I understand novelties in life, but the price of this doodad threw me for a loop. Somebody tell me what I’m missing.

A recent Harris Poll was released showing how strongly adults are influenced by social media when it comes to brands and product reviews. The study was conducted in April 2010 and asked 2,131 adults in the US to weigh in on a series of questions regarding social media consumer influence. Here are some of the interesting findings:

34% of adults who use social media, use it as an outlet to endorse or oppose brands. The polling found that 26% of those individuals are using the medium to express dissatisfaction while 23% are sharing their positive brand experiences. Either way, 38% of ALL adults who share their opinions in cyberspace are aiming to influence others.

So are people ultimately influenced by these rants and raves? They certainly are. The polling found that the number one influencer (71%) was “Reviews from family members or friends”. Coming in at a distant second was “Reviews in newspapers or magazines” (46%) and “Reviews from friends or people I follow on social networking sites” (45%).

Young adults were more likely than older adults to say their opinions encountered on social media sites were influential. Further, 50% of 18-34-year-olds versus 37% of adults 55 or older said social media reviews sway their interaction with companies, brands, and products.

There is good reason why marketers are employing social media policies. If done right, it can be a great channel to get a positive conversation about a brand spreading like a wildfire. In contrast, brands can be more vulnerable as well because real-life messages and experiences are being cast out by these individuals. People are generally more accepting of this information because they know it’s not just another marketing message.

For use of social media in a B2B environment, the time is now! A recent survey showed that 73% of B2B social media users have less than two years of experience. The popularity of the medium has been growing rapidly in the past year causing many marketers to sign up for Facebook, Twitter, etc. Now it’s a question of engaging yourself into the social networks and becoming familiar with what’s out there and how people are using them.

As more businesses continue to pay attention to social media and develop strategies, it’s a very opportune time for existing social networkers to sharpen their skills and stay ahead of the competition. More and more information is surfacing about the positive impact social media is having on business. B2B companies seem to have an advantage when using social media because they tend to focus on goals and results, such as lead generation, that visibly affect their bottom line. Social networking also improves communication between customers, prospects, and suppliers.

In North America, here are the percentages of B2B Marketers that currently are using different types of social media:

LinkedIn- 75%
SEO Tools- 68%
Google Adwords- 62%
Facebook- 58%
Twitter- 51%
Blogging Software- 50%

Now remember, 73% of these users have less than two years experience with these social networks. Dive in!

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Email marketing is becoming an increasingly effective marketing tool and is replacing direct mail marketing more and more each day. Because of the recession, companies who may have taken longer to migrate to email marketing have done so sooner because of its cost effectiveness. Costs associated with mailing and printing are being avoided while marketers are thrilled with email marketing’s flexibility.

So what are you using email marketing for? What objectives are important to you and your bottom line? A recent “Email Marketing Benchmark Survey” was conducted by Marketing Sherpa. It shows which objectives are important and not-so-important to your peers who are relying more and more on email marketing. Here are the results from the six most important email marketing objectives that topped the list from the 1,493 respondents:

To no surprise, retaining existing customers was the most important objective. After all, keeping customers is a lot more cost-effective that finding new ones. Lead generation is typically more important to medium-sized companies than large ones as they are more agile and may be able to seize opportunities quicker to gain market share. B2C companies are putting more value into driving online sales with email marketing while B2B companies are relying on the medium more heavily to drive offline sales.

More info:
Marketing Sherpa

In a recent blog post, we shared some very interesting stats about the growth of social media use. Taking it a step further, we look at a study conducted by the University of Maryland’s International Center for Media & the Public Agenda. The study, “24 Hours: Unplugged”, took 200 students and stripped them from social media for 24 hours. That meant no iPhones, texting, laptops, twittering, Facebook, and email. Some of you are shaking right now…

By reading the blogs from some of the students, not only was being “unplugged” a challenge: it was traumatic! The study reported that a few descriptions from the student’s experience were documented over and over: “In withdrawl”, “Frantically craving”, “Very anxious”, “Extremely antsy”, “Miserable”, “Jittery”, “Crazy”.

One student’s post read: “I clearly am addicted and the dependency is sickening”. Another one said: “I noticed physically, that I began to fidget, as if I was addicted to my iPod and other media devices”.

American college students struggle to function without their media connection to the world. Some students even failed to go 24 hours. While trying to avoid new technology and blaring TVs, the students found themselves surrounded by them regardless. Many students noted how it was “boring” to walk around without an mp3 player providing a soundtrack for their ears. When cut off from social media, many students felt cut off from other humans like they were living in isolation. The research also found that the friendships and relationships of these 18-21 year olds were dependent on technology.

Many students had been appalled when the assignment was announced.  They were skeptical about the purpose and even fearful about going without media for such a “long” period of time.  Many students admitted that they had had doubts from the beginning about their ability to complete the assignment — and those students who didn’t manage to go the entire 24 hours noted that they weren’t surprised by their failure to do so.

So what does this study remind us about business? Marketers and advertisers looking to increase brand awareness and loyalty, should strongly consider social media use. Having a better understanding of each social media method and how consumers use each service will result in providing more appealing content that will engage one’s target market in an effective and ongoing manner.

More info:
Student’s blog: A Day Without Media