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icfgal
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:31
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| 10/25/2008 4:55 PM |
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Approximately one week after returning from the ICFA expo in Portland a rather large box appeared on the steps of my home office. On the outside it read "Be Clever...Build Green". As a builder who uses products that are "green" I was irritated by this marketing ploy. What exactly am I supposed to to with a 16" section of icf and who the heck is Norman Rief from Omaha and how and why did he select me to be a recipient of his product?
For a week now I have been walking around this useless piece of block and the box it came in pondering "green" ways to get rid of it. Putting it back in the box and calling UPS out to pick it up is not very green...neither is throwing it out. How clever is building green when your marketing is not? One of the positive things I am taking away from this is how NOT to market.
For me, building green is only a fraction of what I do to be green...living green is important to me. My commute is green...15 steps as I work from home...I take only what I use and use only what I take. When I have to drive somewhere I consolidate all my errands into one trip and take a friend. If I'm cold I put on a jacket, if I'm hot I take it off. I recycle and I bicycle. I am a child of the 70's raised by parents who grew up in the Great Depression...turning the light off as you left a room was the rule. Being green is nothing new...nothing ever is...it just becomes vouge.
So Norman, whomever you are, how deep can your green be when you ship out a useless section of your supposedly "clever block" to promote building green? Not very clever...not very green either.
How many others out there received a section of block? Maybe you can let me know what you did with yours and how you think you wound up on Norman's mailing list.
If you want to mail me out something green...send a box full of cash!
icfgal |
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Dug
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:45
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| 10/25/2008 11:18 PM |
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Sounds like you nailed what it takes to be green.
Next on the agenda, try being polite... |
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Farmboy
Registered Users
Basic Member
Posts:238
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| 10/25/2008 11:40 PM |
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| Tell you what, if you and every other recipient of a clever block send them to me, I'll build my house out of 'em. It'll save me some green. |
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icfgal
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:31
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| 10/26/2008 12:35 AM |
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Ouch Dug...that's not very polite...
Farmboy I like your idea...clever and polite! |
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James Eggert
Registered Users
Veteran Member
Posts:1059
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| 10/26/2008 11:01 AM |
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I know being green has many connotations and inuendos, however I agree with your points that "marketing" so far doesn't seem to get it. They believe that their product, whatever it is, can be a saving green portion therefore its ok to spam you either physically or in the electronic world just because their product is "associated" with green.
Considering that the electronic media today is so available to everyone, taking the time to take to task those who abuse their marketing efforts allows everyone to decide for themselves whether they want to use a specific product....or consider it way down on the fringe of green versus another competing product.
I, like many, have thru the years wound up on many lists and I receive my share of junk, both electronic and hard packaged. Getting one particular mfg whose product was a good fit for ICFs to stop sending me stuff after numerous emails and actual phone calls required my own online assault in forums against them. Then finding that others had the same problem, moderators finally had to tell these socalled "advertisers" to back off...to finally end the onslaught of.... this months bargain....this is the best you'll ever buy.....buy before the end of the month.....etc.....etc.... The end result..this particular product cannot even be spec'd by me for a doghouse!
Although I cannot stop the spammers as long as web mail usage is basically free, I can AND DO in the background go after these insistant braindead marketers in such a way as my inuendos to others place their product right where they don't want it........in the proverbial wastebasket!
The only way to stop and/or hurt them is to be just as aggresive against their product as they are in touting how great they are! |
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Take Care
Jim
Design/Build/Consulting
"Not So Big" Design Proponent |
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dmoravek1
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:20
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| 10/27/2008 7:26 PM |
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I too received one of those packages. I'm a distributor for another brand, so I guess it was ok for me to see their product first hand.. I'll probably use the box to ship of some holiday gifts and the piece they sent me will just sit in my garage for a while longer.
Dave |
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Mark Ross
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:73
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| 12/01/2008 8:18 PM |
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Hey ICF gal, its been a while, I have become a lurker, however this one I thought would be a viable addition to the greenbuilding forum and should not cause a raft of aggressive responses.
The three "R"s of green thinking.
Reduce/Reuse/Recycle.
With the focus of education in the US on recycling, the focus should be on the specific order of the above three "R"s.
Reduce-Reducing the amount of waste generated, such as excess packaging, or foam coffee cups in the trash, has a positive impact on the environment as materials or services are never created in the first place. Even something as simple as fitting the forms together better, reduces excess materials such as expansion foams. This is the most important "green" bit we can do.
Reuse-Reusing items, such as containers, bracing, screws etc, has only a single impact on the environment, as it first gets created, however through reuse, the only primary green culprit, is transportation. At least until it is no longer serviceable. This is an almost neutral impact on the environment.
Recycling is the worst thing we should be considering of the three "R"s. Although it proves some sort of responsibility, it still takes excess energy to not only transport, however to re manufacture the recycled materials into a "new" product. Take steel for instance. Its heavy, and requires a lot of energy to re-form into something useful. So Recycling is not the greenest thing we can be doing as knowledgeable installers, however is the last consideration we should give to any project.
Recycling=okay, I guess
Reusing=better, works for me
Reducing=best, positive impact, YEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Think about it.
See you at WOC?
Mark Ross
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Polycore
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:64
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| 12/02/2008 10:46 AM |
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It is unfortunate that you were subject to such an inefficient marketing ploy. I wonder how many of these blocks were sent out, and how many of them have ended up in a landfill. I think this is a perfect example of an environmentally damaging marketing ploy. I wonder if they calculated the time it would take for these blocks to decompose in our landfills.
All things aside, please recycle the block. I know that we have an EPS recycling system in our plant, but I am sure there may be others that are in your local area. If all else fails you can always donate the block to a non-profit organization that collects construction materials to build houses for underprivileged families.
Good luck with your block and continue the "green" lifestyle.
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Polycore Canada Inc.
www.polycorecanada.com
1-877-765-9267 |
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