Cost Savings Dressed Up In Nrma's Fancy Green Outfit
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday August 14, 2008
It looks like a decent environmental effort but the NRMA might be browning the green line too far in a push to gets it members to dump hard copy annual reports and marketing material in favour of electronic versions.
What looks initially like a push to reduce the NRMA's environmental impact is probably more about the group waving a feel-good green flag to drive down operating costs. The purists may call it greenwashing and that could get trickier to get away with if the investigation by the advertising and marketing industry to develop an anti-greenwash marketing and communication code takes off this year, which is likely. "Help us reduce our carbon footprint," the NRMA asks on its website as it encourages members to sign up, plant a virtual tree and "together we will grow Australia's largest online forest".The online forest is exactly that: online. It has nothing to do with planting real trees. The NRMA does pledge $25,000 to an environmental partner - Conservation Volunteers Australia - but that, too, is dependent on 200,000 email registrations by Friday. At last count yesterday, there were 53,413 "virtual trees planted", which suggests about one-quarter of the target. The NRMA says on its website it will donate $10,000 for 100,000 emails but there's no official word if it goes below that - the NRMA group's general manager for corporate communications, Shane McClelland, has since told the Herald a "minimum of $10,000" would still be donated, whatever the email tally.Aside from the email count, a rough crunching of numbers suggests the NRMA could turn a handy profit convincing members to go electronic under the guise of environmental prudence. Working conservatively on the basis of an annual report costing $2 each to print and mail, 200,000 people opting for an electronic version means the NRMA is ahead $400,000, less a few cents per copy for email costs. By pledging $25,000 to an environmental partner and providing the opportunity to plant a virtual tree in Australia's "largest" and probably only online forest, the motoring body could pocket $350,000 in the first year. It is, however, unlikely to hit the 200,000 email target. The NRMA's McClelland says cost savings were not a consideration and the NRMA has decided to extend the initiative. "The real objective is about giving members a choice about how they want to be communicated with," he says. "The planting of a [virtual] tree is just a novel way of getting some interest from people to register online. It's definitely not driven by a desire to cut costs."
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald