Digital… green fingers?

As somebody heavily involved in digital marketing, of course I believe it makes a great contribution in the reduction of marketing communications collateral. It is certainly a way to conserve resources. On the plus side, using electronic rather than printed communications for example, cuts down on the use of paper, ink, chemicals and waste, and the fuel and carbon used and generated in delivering the raw materials, delivering and distributing the end product and disposing of the waste.

But sustainability is not simply concerned with the ecology (though that is a very important part of the mix). Is there a danger in focusing on this one dimension that we neglect economic sustainability, or the effect on communities and their cultures involved in the print industry and papermaking, for example? Do we need to create relative weightings for each of the four ‘E’s (ecology, economy, ethnology and ethics)?

How do we create a sustainable balance

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The fourth ‘E’

I have discussed before that the essence of sustainable marketing is adding to the four P’s, the three E’s: Ecology: ensuring that the marketing is ecologically and environmentally sustainable. Economy: the project must not be damaging economically to the communities it impacts upon. Ethnology: having regard and support for the cultures of all those involved in the marketing activity from producer to customer.

I realised, however that I have missed another big ‘E’… Ethics. It could be argued that this is the envelope (another ‘e’?) that contains all the others.  But I would suggest that for a company’s marketing to be ethical sustainable goes beyond the other dimensions and reflects upon the organisations attitude to it’s corporate responsibilities and ultimately its brand values.

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