Is there any benefit to going green?

30th January, 2009

Well Nokia thinks there is.

The mobile phone giant has announced that, as part of its new ‘power of we’ strategy to save energy and reduce waste, it will ship its new N79 Eco model without a charger as most users will have one already from previous phones.

Whilst this may save the wasteful production of unneccessary chargers (I have a drawer at home filled with chargers for the all the upgrades I’ve had over the years) it also means that their packaging designers can fit the new N79 Eco into a smaller box. A smaller box may not sound very exciting, but when you are a global player like Nokia, little things can add up to a lot.

For example, between Feb 2006 and the end of 2007, Nokia shipped 250 million phones in smaller packages which resulted in 5,000 fewer truck journeys, a reduction of around 15,000 tonnes of material (that’s about 55,000 trees) and 100,000 m3 of water (that’s around 18 million toilets flushes). As a consequence they made a financial saving of around £92 million!

So having made all these savings will the new N79 Eco be any cheaper than the regular N79?

The answer is NO; but Nokia have promised to donate £4 to the World Wildlife Fund for every Eco unit sold which boosts their brand’s green credentials even further. In the modern consumer’s eyes these green credentials can account for a lot and as a consequence Nokia can expect increased sales in what is a very competitive market.

By creating a point of difference and adopting a green marketing strategy they have been able to give the customer less (no charger), reduce costs, maintain their prices, improve their margins and be seen as a good corporate citizen. Genius.

It goes to show that with the right marketing ideas you can maintain or even grow your market share in a recession.

Jason Edge