More and more, the direction of corporate advertising and marketing is how organizations are focusing on energy-efficient and environmentally friendly ("green") practices.
AMD is plastering New York City and San Francisco with ads promoting its low power consumption processors for servers. United Technologies (UTC) is running a radio campaign talking about its fuel cell technology in buses. Chevron and BP have undertaken huge efforts to communicate that they are changing the energy business and how that affects the environment. GM is advertising in the front of almost every business magazine with details on its FlexFuel Vehicles ("yellow") that run on E85 ethanol. Why are so many brands associating themselves with energy efficiency now?
A CBS News report details that these green efforts are happening now because they equate to green in the form of dollars, meaning it makes business sense. Business 2.0 profiled Adobe's headquarters as "The Greenest Office in America" not (just) because it's cool, but because it's saving Adobe money.
Consumers are now willing to pay more for hybrid cars that use less gas, and for organic food that is healthier. However, a poll (PDF) from that same CBS story showed that most consumers still need convincing to pay more for energy-efficient and environmentally friendly products. Hence the push in green advertising to assist in the convincing.
Update (Oct. 26): Google has announced that it's installing solar panels at its Mountain View, CA headquarters to offset an expected 30 percent of peak electric use for its four main buildings. In the announcement, Google recognizes that the move is about both corporate responsibility and smart business.
