6 March 2008
The Australian
by Matthew Warren

This week Australia got its first eco-beer, a new advertising campaign to promote the green credentials of natural gas, carbon-free rugby, a new eco-handbook for households and advice on how to barbecue meat with fewer greenhouse emissions.

It's just a typical week in the brave new world of green-spin, the marketing craze that has gripped brand managers, public relations consultants and businesses across Australia looking to cash in on the new Zeitgeist to save the planet.

Green marketing expert Howard Parry-Husbands from Pollinate said there has been a key shift in the Australian marketing industry to meet what is a clearly recognised, and largely unmet, demand for environmentally friendly goods and services.

But it comes in all sizes.

"At the moment we are witnessing a rise of symbolic, jingoistic greenwash, because that's what companies can do quickly to grab a slice of the consumer psyche," he said.

He said while much of the green branding is relatively opportunistic, it does reflect a deeper shift in consumer attitudes which is more than just a fad.

"It's not a fashion, it's a genuine trend. People accept that they have to change their behaviour. They've just got no idea what they've got to do."

One of the biggest problems may be the unremarkable nature of genuine environmental improvement. For more than a decade the team at Cascade Brewery in Tasmania has been making small but steady improvements in the way they make beer: cutting water use and energy bills as well as looking at the sustainability of their packaging.

But none of these genuine reforms will deliver anywhere near the environmental cachet and selling power compared to its release this week of Australia's first mainstream eco-beer.

Every tonne of greenhouse gas produced in the full life cycle of each bottle of Cascade Green has been independently offset. It's also low carb and preservative free, packaged in an ultra-lightweight green bottle with a biodegradable ink label and uses fully recycled cartons.

Fosters Group owns Cascade, which spared no expense to ensure its new brand - designed to create and capture the green end of the domestic beer market - stands up to the inevitable scrutiny of the marketplace as well as the consumer watchdog.

Last month the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission warned companies it would no longer tolerate false or misleading green claims, threatening fines of more than $1million for transgressors.

It issued its first set of detailed marketing guidelines which warn against ambiguous images and logos on products and the use of vague claims such as clean, green or environmentally friendly.

Cascade marketing manager Ben Summons said they were hopeful the beer would carve out a niche of consumers in the premium end of the market, "because environmental issues are emerging as being higher on the forefront of most Australian minds and they want to do something about it".

"But many people don't know how to find a genuine green product, so this is an opportunity for them to do so."

Consumers may recall a similar pitch to their morality back in 2001 when entrepreneur Dick Smith re-branded a number of grocery products with a small market share under an Australian-owned Australian-made label.

The resultant flurry of patriotism and Smith's personal endorsement triggered a sharp spike in most brands, after which consumers drifted slowly back to their original preferred brands.

Then there is Alinta, which will begin a campaign on Sunday night to encourage more homes to switch to using gas rather than electricity for heating and hot water services as one of the best ways to reduce their greenhouse emissions.

Alinta owns the gas distribution network on the eastern seaboard and so profits from any increased demand for gas, with about 300,000 households in NSW on the gas system but not hooked up.

Alinta network manager Peter Harcus said switching from electricity to gas was "even better" than just adding a solar hot water system as it takes the demand for electricity "right off the system".

Meanwhile, Sydney Morning Herald environment editor Marianne Wilkinson said she has been inundated in recent months by a wave of small public relations companies pitching green stunts to try to get free publicity for their clients.

Wilkinson said she ignored most of these claims partly because it was so difficult to determine what real environmental improvements have been made.

"The major companies have quite a strategic approach to this whether it's Rio Tinto or AGL or the insurance industry: they've been in the game for a number of years and they know what the issues are," she said.

"Then you get the whole mob of other companies underneath who basically think of it as a branding issue.

"What will come as quite a shock is when Australia gears up for an emissions trading scheme. Then any company that has employed a PR-approach to this is going to have a terrible shock when they find they are going to have to do serious things."