Last week, members of our Design Team went down to the Docklands and attended the “Marketing ‘Greener’ Products" Seminar hosted by Design Victoria. Design Victoria is focusing on Eco-design, which is designing for the environment, with the aim of helping businesses in Victoria to implement environmental strategies into their daily practices. There were three speakers for the morning, Craig Maclean (Brand Manager for Cascade, Fosters), Monique McNamara (Director, Up & Up Creative) and Amanda Bodger (Partner, Mallesons Stephen Jaques).

Craig demonstrated the Cascade Brewery’s dedication to and applications of being a ‘greener’ brewery, with all considerations from the farming of their ingredients to the distribution of their products and the recycling of the packaging. Cascade ‘Green’ wouldn’t have been as successful a beer if Cascade hadn’t done their research and understood the market and what the public were looking for - not just in the product, but also in the level of commitment that was demonstrated to the public about being a greener beer. Craig also discussed the importance of being credible and authentic to your target market, whilst tailoring the message and engaging people relative to their level of involvement in being green themselves.

Up & Up Creative are a values-based eco-communications company. Creative Director Monique McNamara presented her philosophy on combining creativity and sustainability to their clients. There are four sustainable values that Up & Up add to every project: economical, social, environmental and cultural. The sustainability market is a high growth sector, already worth billions of dollars in Australia alone. Monique’s environmental approach to design isn’t limited to vegetable based inks and recycled papers, but also their ongoing dedication to being a zero carbon impact business.

Amanda Bodger of Mallesons Stephen Jaques was an entertaining and engaging presenter, discussing the trend across most industries moving towards a ‘green’ agenda. Communications across all industries needs to take into consideration any green claims that are made. Not only what is being said directly but also the impressions that are made, including imagery. Claims need to be accurate, substantiated, specific and not overstated.

All in all, when going down the eco-design path it's not enough to wear a t-shirt proclaiming you are green and stumbling blindly along. There are many aspects of business that can be eco-friendly when considered. Being ‘green’ is bigger than what we are saying; we need to consider the impressions that we make in both communication and business.