Snowflakes, dazzling white lights, family—and a lot more catalogues, cards, wrapping, and packages coming in the door. It’s that time of year when the amount of paper we use seems to kick up a few notches. And for every print piece, the environment takes a heavy hit.
As I sat surrounded by our own stacks of mail and paper, I found myself digging a little into the numbers on the print-happy world of marketing: over seven billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gases (which contribute to global warming) were emitted into the atmosphere from printed marketing materials. It’s an energy-intensive process that begins with a chainsaw in the forest, goes through production, ink, and delivery, and then ends with landfill disposal. Consider it from the perspective of a single campaign: a one-page ad in a popular consumer magazine represents seven tons of carbon dioxide.
It occurred to me that as a design firm serving businesses and other organizations, we’re somewhat complicit in this cycle. And yet, our role offers a small amount of influence, too. Designers are the link between production and organizations, and we can guide our clients toward solutions that not only save them money, but also lower the impact of their communication needs. Because most organizations aren’t necessarily looking for more print projects—they’re looking for creative solutions. And a good designer relishes a creative challenge.
At Smith, we enjoy taking this broader view and getting to the root of what our customers are trying to do and whom they’re trying to reach. In fact, one of the first questions we ask is: how can we carve out waste from this project? Whether it’s an on-site installation, or interactive annual report, we’ve found that there are a lot of ways to get your brand message out there with as much, if not more, impact than a print piece can deliver. And even within the print world, fresh thinking can go a long way—there are solutions that involving size, paper and ink sources, and user experience design.
We find that our non-traditional approach aligns nicely with our customers’ internal plans to do things in a more green-friendly way. Not just because it reduces operating costs—but because it’s what their customers and shareholders are starting to demand.
So here’s to a new year, and a new way of thinking about marketing.
