Interbrand CEO Andy Bateman Shares The Findings of His Company's Green Survey
Tuesday, April 22, 2008PAUL KANGAS: It's Earth Day and many consumers are using their green to go green. They're switching to eco-friendly versions of everyday items and that has companies vying for their dollars. But consumer perceptions about which companies are doing their part to be more environmentally conscious may surprise you. Brand management firm Interbrand recently conducted a survey asking consumers to name their top green company. Jeff Yastine talked with Interbrand CEO Andy Bateman today and began by asking him what company topped the list.
ANDY BATEMAN, CEO, INTERBRAND: Surprisingly enough the number one response was that nobody is being seen by customers, by consumers to be doing a fabulous effort.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: And then when we look at the other four of this top five, the others are Toyota, BP, the Body Shop and Honda. The Body Shop I guess I can understand. Where is it with Toyota, BP and Honda coming in on this?
BATEMAN: Well, I think the customers, you know through various information sources are finding out that Toyota, Honda and BP and companies like them are actually putting investment effort behind becoming more green. That mean not just marketing. It means their products and their services.
YASTINE: GE is another one that was in the top 10. Does it really matter whether there are real values behind all this? Does it matter as far as consumers perceiving a company as green? Does it flow to the bottom line?
BATEMAN: It absolutely does. I think the whole green agenda is such a massive issue for consumers. It's such a big effort that we need to take as a kind of a global community to solve it that customers are looking for the real responses. They're looking for the real actions the companies are taking and that does flow through to the bottom line. Why? Because we're buying increasingly green products and we'll pay more for them.
YASTINE: Now Wal-Mart of course has taken great pains in recent years to cut back on the amount of paper and cardboard that the stores generate. In some ways it seems like the green label just becomes convenient when in fact it's really just smart business sense for companies to look at ways to shrink costs.
BATEMAN: Yeah, but I think the reality is whatever it takes. If it's convenience on the part of a firm to reduce its carbon footprint, then customers are saying well, those are the right things to be doing. And if it reduces your costs and it makes good business sense, then it probably is a good thing to do.
YASTINE: Now Earth Day's something that's been celebrated in one way or another for the last 40 years or so. When did being green become something that corporate America needed to do? When did it become important?
BATEMAN: I think we've seen it, the green agenda rise over probably the last five years, but it's probably in the last two or three years that we've seen initiatives take hold by companies like GE, real action being taken and therefore a heightened sense of involvement by consumers.
YASTINE: Let me flip this around just a little bit. Is there a danger for a company to be thought of as being green in that they're sort of putting themselves up on a pedestal and then somebody finds out, you know, that they are leaking PCB's into a river some place, those sorts of things.
BATEMAN: Yes, very much so. I think the issue is customers are acting as activists in this whole green agenda. So you'd better be prepared, you'd better have a real commitment, not just a marketing effort against being green.
YASTINE: All right, Andy, I appreciate your time coming on the program.
BATEMAN: You're very welcome.
YASTINE: Our guest Andy Bateman, CEO of Interbrands.
