Aveda's Earth Month Campaign Targets Global Warming

Instead of celebrating the Earth for only one day, Aveda, The Art and Science of Pure Flower and Plant Essences, the manufacturer of lifestyle products, targets the entire month of April to raise money and awareness about global environmental issues. This year, that campaign focuses on slowing global warming and protecting biodiversity.

Using their worldwide network of salons, spa, and retail centers, and an advertising tag line that reads, “What can you do for the earth today?,” Aveda invites customers to make donations and to sign Global Action Pledge Cards. The network goal is to raise US$750,000 for environmental organizations that preserve our Earth’s ecosystems by reducing global warming. The company also aims to gather 125,000 pledges from citizens to reduce the emissions associated with lifestyle choices, resulting of a reduction of CO2 by 125 million pounds over the course of a year.

Aveda encourages its salons and spas to create special events and fund raisers of their own. Frederic Holzberger, president and CEO of Fredric’s Corporation, the exclusive distributor of Aveda products for Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan has one of the most successful territories in the country when it comes to Earth Month. Fredric’s has received much credit and press, most recently by Fast Company magazine, for their commitment to environmental issues. Last year, the four states raised $52,990 for their local Earth Month partners. One salon in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Hairy Cactus Salon, Spa & Wellness Center, has had many successful years of experience with Earth Month campaigns. Each year they host a bake sale, raffles for services and products, and a cut-a-thon. They raised over $2300 last year and gathered 250 pledges. Ladies & Gentlemen Salon & Spa in Mentor, Ohio, held a silent auction last year and their staff donated massages, hair cuts, highlights, make-up applications, and facials. Every salon in the network that participates is asked to donate a minimum of $1.00 per professional appointment.

In Aveda Experience Centers, retail stores located in malls and shopping centers throughout the world, customers can enjoy Aveda signature experiences such as a Stress Relieving Experience, Hand Massage, Sensory Journey and Finishing Makeup Application in exchange for a minimum donation of $1.00 to Aveda Earth Month partners.

One retail strategy the company is using to raise awareness is to sell hair care products in liter sizes. During the month of April, Aveda is featuring shampoo and conditioner in liters as well as the new liter size of Indigenous Purifying Hair & Body Cleanser. Liters use 43% less packaging than four of their 250 ml equivalents — which translates into fewer resources traveling from a refinery to a bottle maker, to the Aveda plant to salons, spas and stores to customers’ homes and eventually, to recycling facilities and/or the dump — which means fewer
emissions. In addition, Aveda’s new hair care bottles have 80% post-consumer recycled content — among the highest in the industry — because using recycled plastic requires less energy than from virgin materials. With every liter purchase during April, $2.00 will be donated to Aveda’s Earth month partners.

As important as raising money, it is critical to promote activism. Salons, spas and Experience Centers are encouraged to offer customers Global Action Pledge cards to encourage individual action. The Pledge Cards urge customers to commit to reducing their own annual CO2 emissions by 1,000 pounds/445 kilos or more and offers the following suggestions on how to accomplishing that goal: replace the two most-used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, plant a tree native to their region, use public transportation, carpool at least once a week, replace an appliance or piece of office equipment with an energy efficient model, when purchasing a new car, choose one that gets at least 10 mpg/4.25 kpl better mileage. There is also a tear off note to drop into utility or rent payment envelopes that ask for access to green energy. They are also asked to lobby their elected officials to provide local green energy solutions.

The company has aligned itself with strong, regionally based partners to help drive local efforts — each chosen for their results-oriented approach and like-minded environmental mission: to slow global warming to ensure biodiversity protection. Aveda’s 2003 Earth month partners include the following organizations:

* Clean Air-Cool Planet, Portsmouth, NH;
* Coalition for Clean Air, Los Angeles, CA;
* Ecology Center, Ann Arbor, MI.;
* Green House Network, Lake Oswego, OR.;
* Minnesotans for an Energy Efficient Economy (ME3), St. Paul, MN.;
* The Midwest Renewable Energy Association, Custer, WI.;
* Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Knoxville, TN.,
* Environmental Defence Canada, Toronto, Ontario;
* Australian Conservation Foundation, Melbourne;
* Green Korea United, Seoul;
* Green Power, Hong Kong;
* KTA Environment Education Center, Taiwan;
* Plantlife, UK;
* Reykjavik Forestry Association, Iceland;
* Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli (LIPU), Italy.
* BUND, Berlin, Germany

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Contact: mwilliams@fredrics.com
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