Company brand and image is so important. How your business is seen will forever have the most weight on the success of your company. The image you project isn’t just for your customers or potential customers; it is for your own employees and even yourself. One of the ways that businesses are making changes to give out the right image is by taking green initiatives. As a model for smaller businesses, let’s take a look at what 2 major sports franchises are doing in their company to improve image. They aren’t just doing it because they can or because the owners are doing the morally right thing. The green dive is an investment that they expect to get a return on in revenue.
Touchdown, Eagles!
Lincoln Financial Field, where the Philadelphia Eagles play their home games, is now home to 11,000 solar panels and 14 wind turbines. This will significantly reduce energy usage in a stadium which uses an enormous amount of electricity. These solar panels and wind turbines aren’t kept a secret, they are placed in highly visible locations. These additions changes were made in January, but other changes have been made over the last ten years as part of the Eagles’ “Go Green” campaign. The Eagles food services use compostable packaging. Cooking oil is converted into bio-diesel fuel. The team is nearing its goal of diverting all waste from the landfill.
The Eagles organization makes sure that their fans know about the “Go Green” initiative. Signs remind fans to help conserve by declaring that “The only water we waste is sweat.” A sign over the urinals in the Eagles stadium bathroom teases “recycle your beer here and your plastics outside”. The “Go Green Playbook” on the website offers tips for fans to do their own ‘greening’. Fans even accepted it when the team switched the Eagles Cheerleaders calendar from paper to digital. A digital calendar is almost entirely profit, particularly when compared to the print version.
Not only are the Eagles cutting costs, but they are boosting the image of their brand enormously in their city which inspires a more loyal fan base. Everyone that the Eagles organization touches feels like a part of a unique, cause driven community. That customer feeling and experience is invaluable to any business in this age. Green is how the Eagles are getting it done.
Canadians, Shot, Score!
The Canadians started their own green initiative a little less than ten years ago. Now their stadium, Centre Bell, is LEED certified. It also gained another vital certification known as ICI On Recycle. This Quebec government certification indicates the level to which the Canadiens now recycle, buy recycled products and reduce their use of disposables. At least 80 percent of disposables must be recycled to get this certification. They now compost over 80 percent of their food waste, too. Low flow fixtures help them reduce water use by 20 percent. The Canadians team and the Bell Center owners did spend more to make the changes, but the costs evened out and then came down as the changes took hold.
Centre Bell also has made energy cuts by reconfiguring the way they light their indoor venue. By using less lights to get the job done, energy consumption is significantly reduced and you can bet the folks in Quebec heard about it through many different mediums. Rearranging your lighting with a good commercial electrician like Circle Electric, Inc. wouldn’t be a bad idea to implement in your company either.
Other Teams
Many other teams are going green, saving money and making a positive name for themselves. The Minnesota Twins organization recycles rainwater, using it to wash down the seats. The San Francisco 49’ers soon will have an all-new LEED stadium with living plants as insulation on the roof. Fans appreciate the measures that the Canadiens, Eagles and other teams have taken. The positive public relations for such bold measures buys loyalty better than advertising endlessly on television and in the streets.
So what are the take-aways? Ponder this: Do you really think that the green initiatives that are becoming so widespread among major businesses are just about good causes? No, the investment is much deeper than that and has everything to do with business goals. By increasing brand awareness as they reshape their brand, companies drive quality performance internally and customer loyalty externally.