Green marketing isn’t just about products and services. People working to further the cause of sustainability become their own brands, and need to communicate their values, objectives and personality as effectively as any bricks and mortar company. Earlier this year, I was introduced to Adriane Carr, former leader of the Green Party of BC, and now deputy federal leader and candidate for Vancouver Centre. She impressed me with her honesty, enthusiasm and grasp of sustainability issues. As I researched the platform of the Greens, I discovered a depth of policy that went beyond the issue of environment for its own sake. As a result, it wasn’t long before I was working on her campaign, with long-time colleague Darren Darcy of Lemonade Tactical Marketing.

We began with strategic brainstorming sessions to cull through issues, priorities and challenges. Which messaging would resonate most with BC voters? Saving salmon stocks? Food security? Developing alternative energy? We ultimately decided it was important to make the Green Party feel more mainstream, remind people of the growing momentum for the Greens and convey it all with a sense of urgency and opportunity. The positioning ‘It’s our time’ was designed to empower the voters as much as the party.

We redesigned Adriane’s website and print materials with a cleaner look, using black & white photography for its journalistic, newsy feel, and choosing photo locations within the riding to illustrate Adriane’s connection with the community. (She has been meeting voters on the street and at the door non-stop all summer, beginning long before the election was called) We kept the navigation simple and encapsulated complex issues with a link to the party’s platform document in PDF form, focusing on Green Economy opportunities that voters may not equate with the party as they have known it.

To introduce Adriane, we also created a 5-minute YouTube video and posted it on the website. We elected to forego rigid scripts and instead let Adriane introduce issues in her own words.

As the election writ dropped, Lemonade Tactical Marketing produced buttons, vests, banners, election signs and e-mail marketing design post-haste. We also covered Adriane’s events with local businesses, Green Party leader Elizabeth May and local supporters, helping keep the web site up to date and information flowing to voters.

Polls show Adriane Carr can win in Vancouver Centre, and this riding has probably the best chance in Canada to elect a Green MP. It will be nice to know that she gets there on the strength of a campaign designed to let her personal brand character and benefits show through.