Our St. Paul and Laguna Beach NADA advertising offices are celebrating three years of going green and being more environmentally friendly.

As Earth Day approaches many people think about going out and planting trees or participating in a one day clean-up event in their communities but this is not enough if we really want to make a difference. Each person throws away approximately 4 pounds of garbage everyday, and the garbage in landfills stays there for about 30 years with some of the materials never breaking down. There is about 14 million pounds of garbage dumped into the ocean every year, with a floating garbage patch that has formed in the Pacific Ocean about the size of Texas, and another in the Atlantic. In undeveloped countries and island nations there is no choice but to burn trash or throw it in the bush or ocean. In our developed countries it is our responsibility to do what we can to help the environment with the money and resources we have. It may seem like such a large, insurmountable task to be charged with but if we all work together towards this goal small accomplishments really do add up.

coca cola bottles copy

Our St. Paul and Laguna Beach NADA advertising offices are celebrating three years of going green and being more environmentally friendly. Starting in 2007 we brainstormed ideas of how we could best reduce our footprint as our business was growing. NADA was ahead of the curve, 2007 is regarded by some as the year of awakening in the US regarding climate change. This was when the film “The Inconvenient Truth” was released, movie stars backed the issue, and congress passed an energy bill. We started with small things at NADA such as recycling and waste management, but challenged ourselves to come up with a strategy to make even more of an impact on helping the environment. So soon afterwards we became a virtual ad agency, with a virtual office, virtual conference room, and online accounting. The virtual office allows us to store each round of creative online so the client can log on and view it anytime. We do not print or courier any creative rounds to the client, saving over 10,000 pieces of paper every year as well as over 55 gallons of gas from a courier or client travel to and from the office. The virtual conference room allows us to have over 95% of our client meetings online with a video web conferencing system and presentation sharing software. We save over 140 gallons of gas not having to drive to and from local meetings, not to mention out-of-town travel and flights. We also save on printing presentation materials for meetings. Our online accounting also saves on paper and printing, and gas from deliveries. We are proud to operate an eco-friendly ad agency, and are continuously looking for new ways to help this cause.

Other advertising agencies are going green by recycling, using energy-efficient technology, offering incentives for biking to work to save on gas emissions, and even helping their clients find ways to be more environmentally friendly with the media they use or getting out green messages in their campaigns.

Some things you can do to help the environment are recycle paper, plastics and glass, use energy efficient lights, use public transportation or bike when you can to save on gas emissions, use reusable bags instead of plastic bags when shopping, and buy local products. For a more complete list of how you can help the environment check out www.panda.org/how_you_can_help/greenliving/.

Resources:
http://marketinggreen.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/a-look-back-at-green-marketing-in-2007/
http://adage.com/greenmarketing08/article?article_id=127546
http://www.planetpals.com/fastfacts.html
http://adage.com/goodworks/post?article_id=141273