Got Carbon?

I've been a fan of what Brian Keane and SmartPower have been doing. They are the "Got Milk? organization on clean energy". Their approach is to "market like its Coca-Cola". And that got me to thinking about a basic low-carbon lifestyle advertising issue.

It would be hard to live in this country and not be aware of the green-house-gas (GHG) and global warming issues. It would seem though that general awareness is not translating into personal interest and action on the scale we need when it well could.

A key issue in any advertising campaign is reach. Can you connect with your audience? In the case of GHG emissions however, the message is relevant to everyone, so you run the risk that the message gets lost. To be effective advertising a low-carbon lifestyle, I think you have to connect with people in the decision making process. Your have their attention. In this way, it's more like point-of-sale or impulse advertising. Sounds like a grocery store.

Did you know that Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Safeway sell 41% of all groceries in this country? In addition to food, the Big-3 are also the biggest distributors of food information in this country. While the specific "own operations" carbon footprint of the Big-3 is small in the context of the overall problem, the sphere of influence of the Big-3 is not. Just counting food purchases, shoppers of the Big-3 account for 6% of U.S. emissions. And when you consider all discretionary purchases made by consumers of the Big-3, you are talking about 33% of total U.S. emissions. The role of the Big-3 in our national fight to reduce GHG emissions is unique and should be leveraged.

Note – As specific Wal-Mart, Kroger or Safeway is not public, I've made estimates based on several related sources.