Beginning A 3-Part Series About Earth-Friendly Branding Products

Sustainability is on the nation’s radar. Kermit the Frog underscored the key premise 40 years ago: it isn’t easy being green. Nonprofit professionals will serve better if they know the options, myths, and realities of  earth-friendly branding products.

Examples of Fully and Partially Customized recycled grocery bags for (from left) Lyons Chamber of Commerce, KCRW-FM, A Prairie Home Companion and Car Talk.

Because they are such hot items we’ll start with a discussion of recycled grocery bags. In the next installments about “green” branding products we will explore other products and comment more fully on technical and marketing considerations – and booby-traps.

Whether you call  the concept “Sustainable,” or “Ecologically Sound,” or “Earth Friendly,” you might think choosing earth-friendly imprinted products will help save the planet.  On the other hand, you might think “green” products are just the latest marketing hogwash. Either way, you need to know that the market of earth-friendly products is flooded by inadequate imitations characterized by overheated rhetoric and stunning prices. Because a nonprofit cannot afford to put its brand on a product that will disappoint constituents, we’re giving our readers this brief primer. (With a Bonus Sneak Peak at the end.)

RECYCLED GROCERY BAGS

Your Vendor Offers Two Important Categories

Category #1 – FULLY CUSTOMIZED: Before being assembled, these bags are printed flat. That means the entire surface becomes branding space! Unfortunately, this production technique requires a large production run. On the other hand, the price per bag is very reasonable.

Our first clients to use the fully customized option were two exceptionally brand-conscious outfits – NPR’s CAR TALK and public radio station KCRW-FM, which serves over 550,000 weekly listeners in Southern California. Each organization designed a bag that will knock your socks off. Coming into the lineup is a new bag for A Prairie Home Companion, now in pre-production development and promising to be equally spectacular when it is introduced in late summer.

Here are factors to evaluate about FULLY CUSTOMIZED recycled bags:

• Your custom design can cover every square inch of the bag’s exterior – front, back, side panels and bottom! This is a huge imprint landscape for your designer to fill with a creative flourish. So it is a great branding opportunity for your nonprofit. (Notice the bottom of the Car Talk bag – tire treads, reminiscent of the program’s original logo 25 years ago.)

 

• A custom bag is relatively inexpensive to produce. Although exchange rates and production costs are always changing, as this blog post is being written in April the price should be in the $2.25 range per bag, plus tooling charge (which depends on your art) and freight.

• The minimum order is 5,000 units.

• It takes at least 12 weeks from the start of an order until the bags clear US Customs.

Because of the required quantity, a FULLY CUSTOMIZED grocery bag made from recycled materials is appropriate to a small number of nonprofits. But for those lucky enough to be in that group, this bag can be a winner because it is inexpensive, desirable and capable of dramatically displaying your station’s brand.

Category #2: PARTIALLY CUSTOMIZED: This type of recycled grocery bag can be ordered in small quantities and still carry your logo. That’s because it is already partially printed and fully assembled when it arrives stateside. BUT NOTE: in this example the side gusset carries symbols of fruits and veggies while the front and back panels are left blank to be customized with a client’s logo. Your design won’t cover the entire bag, but your logo will be large enough to be highly visible. Take a look at the example now in production for our local Chamber of Commerce. You don’t have to buy a truckload – minimum quantities can be as low as 150 units. Bonus: prices are as low as $3.00 for a 1 color, 1 location imprint - plus screen charges and freight.

The world is now full of self-labeled “green” products. Some justify their earth-friendly claims. For others the claims are completely bogus – marketing fluff at its best. Currently, earth-friendly products tend to be a bit more expensive than their standard cousins. Depending upon the type of product, your choices are more limited – in product colors, imprint techniques, and even sometimes in imprint colors. But your vendor can help you to navigate those waters, should you choose to “go green” with your drive.

As the nation grows more sensitive to sustainability issues, choosing green products may enhance your brand with many of your constituents. So it is becoming worth the extra effort and extra cost to get under the tent with the growing cohort of environmentally sensitive people.

BONUS SNEAK PEAK: If you are a public radio fan you will like this. We proudly introduce a preview of the new FULLY CUSTOMIZED Recycled Grocery Bag for one of America’s favorite programs – A Prairie Home Companion!  It is still in development and subject to more adjustments before the program producer and Mr. Keillor give final approval. We expect the APHC Recycled Grocery Bag, with this great all-over design, will become available to station contributors in late summer and will quickly become a respected new source of station revenue.