Earth Hour

Earth Hour, an international event created by the World Wildlife Fund is asking millions of households and businesses to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour. The event, scheduled for March 29th at 8pm local time, is meant to promote electricity conservation and lowering carbon emissions. The original Earth Hour, done last year, lowered an Australian city's power consumption by an impressive 10%.

If you plan to participate, don't forget to practice some basic safety measures by having an emergency light source on hand. You can still stay faithful to the eco-friendly theme by using custom hand-powered flashlights. Battery-free, imprinted hand-powered radios will also keep you entertained with updates of the event during the outage.

Eco-Tip: Why Use Eco-products?

I was recently asked why a company should try to be eco-friendly when the costs of implementing and operating environmentally friendly business practices can be more expensive. Quite frankly, I believe it is good business sense because consumer perceptions can be quite volatile. Being "green" is currently one of the biggest socially trendy things to do. By not getting on the bandwagon, your company might miss out on bigger profits in the long run.

Some astute observers of social trends may have noticed that eco-friendly fads have came and gone several times over the last 20 years. You might be thinking "Why not just ride out the current fad and not change my business practices?" Well, while consumer loyalty might not be as strong nowadays, many people still prefer to stick with a particular product or service if they don't have any reason to change. If all those consumers switched to a more eco-friendly brand during the current fad, there is no guarantee that they will switch back to your product or services when being green is no longer in fashion.

Many retail businesses have begun joining the "eco-craze". By switching from plastic shopping bags to reusable alternatives, namely custom shopping totes, they have paved the way for a change in the way we all shop.

Finally, the most obvious and moral reason is simply because we live on this planet and there is no other place we can live (unless space faring and terraforming technology somehow improves drastically in the future). We are very much a society that lives in the "now," but many of our habits are just not sustainable unless we change some things.

Eco-Friendly Product of the Week: Recycled Pencils

Many suppliers of promotional office and business products seems to have taken sustainable, eco-friendly production to heart. We are starting to see a lot more promotional pencils made from recycled post-consumer waste in the markets. These eco-friendly pencils help reduce your carbon footprint by reducing the number of trees that will be cut down and come in a staggering variety of colors and materials. There are custom recycled pencils made out of denim scraps, recycled paper and newspapers, discarded paper currency, and even left over bits of other pencils.

The amazing variety in colors and textures of these promotional pencils will make them stand out from their boring wooden counterparts. Use promotional environmentally-friendly pencils to set a good example for your customers while promoting your company.

Use Energy Wisely

South African energy company, Eskom wished to demonstrate their commitment to an environmentally friendly business model and their leadership in sustainable economic development in the midst of a national energy crisis. What better way than to demonstrate that they practice what they are preaching?

Look closely at the billboard advertising their company and you'll see that the other three light bulbs are not burnt out, but intentionally turned off to emphasize their message of conservation. You can do your part to support sustainable business practices by using eco-friendly products for your own promotional events.

(Via: wattwatt.)

Eco-Tip: Top 3 Eco-friendly Post-Trade Show Mailers

We had previously discussed eco-friendly products to use during trade show as well as eco-friendly promotional pre-show mailers to generate excitement . You're excited and happy because everything has gone well, but don't get too comfortable yet, because you're only just getting started.

Research has show that up to 80% of the leads gathered at trade-shows are not followed up. If your company is not taking care of the follow-up process then you are not maximizing your profit potential. Following-up is arguably the most important part of the trade show and it can provide ample opportunities to reinforce your company's eco-friendly themes. Here are some of our favorite post-show mailers:

These seeded promotional greeting cards let you thank trade show attendees in a special way. The cards are biodegradable and contain actual floral seeds that will grow if the card is planted. A truly unique way to find out if the seeds you have planted during the show will flower.

Recycled circuit board magnets imprinted with your company's contact information will help to keep your company's name and services fresh in even the "coldest" prospects' minds.

Finally, these eco-friendly bamboo memo clips are just the perfect pieces to keep all the catalogs, ordering information, business cards and promotional magnets tidy in the fulfillment package enroute to your prospective clients.

Case Study of the Week: Promo Mugs Reduce Eco-Footprint; Help Acclaimed Valley Medical Rehabilitation Center "Go Green"

Challenge: How to cost-effectively reduce an eco-footprint by reducing the use of Styrofoam cups in an office / medical environment

The Rehabilitation Center at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center is considered an institution of excellence—in more ways than one. Nationally acclaimed for its Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Teaching and Training program and named one of the top rehabilitation hospitals in the country by U.S. News and World Report, the Rehabilitation Center also seeks to be environmentally responsible as well.

The Center's staff found during one environmental impact assessment that they used an unusually high number of disposable Styrofoam cups for water, tea and other beverages—decidedly neither eco-friendly nor gentle on the environment. The solution was easy: move from Styrofoam to more durable drinkware; but with a seemingly endless variety of cups, mugs, bottles and glasses to choose from, implementing the new solution seemed anything but.

Solution: Re-useable imprinted acrylic mugs freely distributed to one and all

That's when the Rehabilitation Center's staff turned to their ePromos Account Executive Nomi Yitzchaki for recommendations and help. Nomi worked with the Center team to identify just the right pieces—sturdy 14-ounce acrylic mugs in black and clear imprinted with the Center's motto: "A leader in rebuilding lives."

Result: Styrofoam usage and environmental impact, down; morale, green-savvy, up

Mugs were distributed to all employees, who appreciated the thoughtful gift. Even better, the Center reports that its use of Styrofoam has decreased dramatically; and staff today continues to look for more ways to "go green."


Improve employee relations with Employee Gifts.
View more Mugs and Promotional Drinkware.

(Via: The Promo Know-How Zone)

Eco-Tip: Using Eco-Friendly Alternatives To Bottled Water

Ever wonder where those ubiquitous water fountains that once dotted our public spaces have gone? It is unfortunate that the decline of this once ordinary public service has coincided with the rise of a bottled water fad. Unfortunate, because the popular demand of bottled water is very sobering if you stop to consider the amount of waste it creates.

Using a good filter system in conjunction with custom reusable water bottles can save the average consumer hundreds of dollars a year. It'll also be far more eco-friendly as many bottles of water are made of unrecycled plastic.

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with a nice cold promotional bottle of water, at least reuse your bottles of water before tossing them away. Or even better recycle them.

Eco-Product of the Week: Non-woven Tote Bags

With all the hullabaloo over greenhouse emissions and energy costs, being eco-friendly is rapidly becoming fashionable. So what better way of making a lasting impression with your potential and current clients than demonstrating your company's support of environmentally sound and reusable products?

The eco-friendly product of the week that is becoming widely popular are the non-woven tote bags, which not only produce significantly less global warming gases and water pollution in the manufacturing process compared to their paper counterparts, but also consume less raw materials and energy. The polypropylene fibers used to produce the bags are also easier to recycle and are non-toxic, allergy-free and non-reactive to human skin.

With a product lifespan that can extend up to 2 years with weekly use, these bags are certainly a more desirable alternative to paper or plastic bags. Take advantage of the growing popularity of these promotional non-woven tote bags and use them for your next retail promotion. Increasingly I have seen grocery stores and other retail chain stores switching to these imprinted reusable alternative bags. They are great for frequent trips to the store, many retail stores even offer small discounts when you reuse your promotional tote bag.

Honda "Plant this letter"

Honda wanted to raise the green credentials of its lawn and garden equipment and to remind avid gardeners that Honda's range of products its not only good for their garden, it's also good for the environment.

Their solution was a letter that grows. They printed the direct mail piece on specially made paper containing seeds that could be planted to grow flowers. When consumers planted the letter, it became a permanent (and lovely) part of their garden.

In terms of a gardening message, "Honda" literally became part of their garden. In terms of a green message, they went beyond "Carbon Neutral" and created an idea that would ultimately remove carbon from the atmosphere. Both the imprinted envelope and custom paper were 100% recycled, acid free and environmentally friendly. They even used eco-friendly inks.

2 Really Cool Eco-friendly Trade Show Giveaways

Everyone loves a great trade show giveaway, but what they love even more is when the products they receive are eco-friendly so that they're helping to protect the environment. I've recently come across 2 of the coolest environmentally friendly promotional products for use as trade show giveaways.

This first eco-friendly trade show giveaway is the USB Eco-Smart Energy Saving Button. This smart button plugs directly into a laptop or desktop USB port. At the push of a button it automatically puts your computer into a special 'ecomode' that saves more energy than the normal sleep mode. When in use, the Smart Button is illuminated and sits on your table/desk top next to your keyboard. Pushing the button again lets you return your computer from its energy saving mode right back to where you left off. Everytime your computer is put into 'ecomode' the internal software records how many carbon units and how much power and money you have saved. A special weblink can also be incorporated into the Smart Button's software giving your clients quick access to your companies website.

The other product is the Water Powered Calculator this new and unique eco-friendly item is a great trade show giveaway. Being that it is so innovative it is the perfect way to draw attention to your brand. This new eco-friendly promotional calculator has a water battery compartment. Just fill the included water battery with H20 and your ready to go, never buy regular eco-UNfriendly batteries again!

Each of these great eco-friendly promotional trade show giveaways not only will increase company exposure, but make sure that exposure is positive in an eco-friendly way!

Eco-word: Water-Powered

With energy prices shooting up so rapidly nowadays, finding a reliable source of renewable energy is quickly becoming a growing concern. A relatively recent eco-friendly product development, the water-activated battery may be the solution, at least for your AAA-sized problems. These batteries are mostly made up of carbon-based capaciators that are cheap to produce and will not activate until moistened.

For the consumer this means a much cheaper battery (approximately 10% of normal dry-cells), with a virtually infinite shelf life (when kept dry), that can still produce the same amount of energy as their regular dry-cell counterparts. Their eco-friendly appeal stems from their longevity (they have a minimum continuous-use life of 2 years), energy-cheap production and a composition that is made up of entirely non-toxic, recyclable parts.

With billions of conventional dry cell batteries clogging up our landfills every year, eco-friendly products such as these water-powered products are a welcome change. If your company is green image conscious, you can show off how eco-savvy your organization is with these promotional water-powered products give-aways at your next promotional event.