Frankland, Dave
[Posted by Dave Frankland]

While much of the world paints itself green today in observance of Earth Day (being Irish I thought that was a March 17 initiative), it seems like an appropriate occasion to stop and ask “how green is your interactive marketing”?  Last Friday, we published a report Direct Marketing Needs A Green Wake-up Call– but what about interactive marketers?

We heard from direct marketers that many have decreased direct mail in favor of other channels. But, asEnvironmental_concerns_are_rarely_a we dug into their motivations, saving money and improving response rates were far more likely reasons for switching channels than environmental concern. I applaud their efforts to save money and improve response rates, but it’s surprising that in an industry that practically has a green bull’s eye painted on it so many have simply ignored consumer sentiment in this area.

And, while on the one hand, it seems easy to say that email, for example, is a much more environmentally-friendly alternative to direct mail, does that take into account the computers, PDAs, and servers used to send and receive interactive marketing messages (for more on this concept, see my colleague Chris Mines’ research on Green Technology Consumers)?

Direct marketing clearly isn’t perfect, but it’s worth asking the question, today of all days, how environmentally friendly is your interactive marketing?