It clear now the word ‘sustainability’ has become embedded in our daily language however we should avoid overusing it and brandishing it around like a new toy. It reminds me of the marketing jargon from previous years like CRM (Customer Relationship Management) once the buzzword of the  marketing community in the early 90’s. Clearly I’m showing my age. I think some have labelled the misuse of the word ‘sustainability’ and all things green as ‘middle class environmentalism’ in overdrive. I think even with the huge media frenzy around climate issues and brands jumping on the bandwagon your average Joe Bloggs in the street still doesn’t have much more of an idea of what gas causes global warming, whether Kyoto ever happened or what exactly what a Greenhouse gas is. From a marketing perspective we ‘ve got to think very hard about the use of language and imagery. I’m not sure the ‘carbon footprint’ graphical device has really translated well into public consciousness even though it’s widely  overused to illustrate what our Carbon usage is. It’s amazing how quickly a communications idea can become adopted and then becomes the symbolic representation of global problem even though alot of people would probable struggle to articulate its meaning. This is the communications challenge and we should regularly assess the effectiveness and understanding of the target market rather then adopt accepted buzzwords before rolling out national campaigns. I wonder how well the carbon footprint translates across different religious and cultural identities? 

Tags: Marketing Jargon, Sustainability
Posted in: Marketing related, Sustainability related