Column: October 2008

GREEN TIPS: Ecofriendly events

Making the green scene in your community.
By Vanessa Caceres

Fitzgerald’s Earth Day: Recycling, replanting, renewing

Hosting environmentally themed events can help showcase your store’s green efforts and win raves from ecofriendly customers, says Jim Hand, vice president, Hand Motors, Manchester Center, Vt., whose store recently sponsored a green-oriented festival in his area. (Hand Motors also won the 2007 Dealer Innovation Award for its energy-saving programs and is a gold-level Energy Star dealer.)

NADA’s new tool kit, “A New Car Is a Green Car,” includes case studies of green events held at dealerships, along with a sample press release and op-ed to promote your green efforts to local media. (For more info, visit www.nada.org/green.)

FESTIVE EFFORTS
Hand Motors was an exhibitor at this summer’s Live Green, which featured four hours of music, 50 exhibitors, and more than a dozen presentations on topics like alternate energy sources. The festival was a big draw in the town of 4,000; exhibitors like Hand paid $250 to $700 for booths.

At Land Rover Portland (Oreg.), manager Dan Muggli took festival support a few steps further when his dealership, over the Fourth of July weekend, cosponsored the Waterfront Blues Festival, which drew 120,000 people and featured more than 150 blues musicians. The store also made a donation to Arlington, Va.–based Conservation International toward North American tree-planting efforts to help offset the carbon produced by attendees and musicians traveling to the event, Muggli says. (A survey by on-site volunteers found that an estimated 327 tons of carbon dioxide were emitted.) Plus, Land Rover Portland makes carbon-offset donations for every car it sells. “There’s no opt-in,” says Muggli. “We do this for everyone.”

On Earth Day in Gaithersburg, Md.—with the media in full attendance—Fitzgerald Auto Malls displayed its eco-friendly efforts. In different company locations, says dealer Jack Fitzgerald, visitors could see oil, antifreeze, and battery recycling; tree planting; a children’s poster contest with a recycling theme; organic-food sampling; and a showcase of energy-efficient vehicles (everyone who test-drove one took home an energy-efficient lightbulb). The events gave staff a chance to answer questions about energy-saving cars.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Before holding a green event, weigh customer interest. “If people aren’t interested, it’s a waste of time,” says Fitzgerald.

And team up with your trade associations, which can help invite local legislators or environmental reps to your event, says Jack Saum Sr., president, Beltway International Trucks, Baltimore. In May, Saum kicked off his “A New Truck Is a Clean Truck” campaign with an open house and dinner for 75 attendees, including lawmakers, environmentalists, and customers.

Finally, look into environmental groups before collaborating with them, says Muggli, who researched potential donation recipients for nearly a year before choosing Conservation International. If something’s shady, he says, “it’s the local dealer who will get the black eye."