Matching our recent GENERATION G trend with all things eco is a no-brainer. GENERATION G (that’s G for generosity) captures the growing importance of generosity as a leading societal and business mindset. As consumers are disgusted with greed and its current dire consequences for the economy — which has them longing more than ever for institutions that care—the need for more generosity beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fueled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate. For many, sharing a passion and consequently receiving recognition has replaced ‘taking’ as their status symbol of choice. Businesses should follow this societal and behavioral shift, as much it may oppose their age-old devotion to me, myself and I.

Here are some smart innovations by brands that manage to be generous to both their customers and the environment:

For an extensive overview of the new wave of perks, we’ll refer you to our October 2008 briefing, in which we defined PERKONOMICS as follows:

As outlined in our October 2008 briefing, one of the most visible perks right now is dedicated—if not free parking—for hybrid cars, but how about free charging, too?

• Through a pilot program, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport now offers six prime parking spaces for electric vehicles. The green-striped spots—with power sockets—are located on the garage’s fifth floor and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Standard parking rates apply, but the electricity is free.

FREE LOVE, or the art of giving stuff to consumers, is an enduring trend. For a lengthy FREE LOVE overview, please read the full briefing (published in March 2008). Here’s an eco-twist we like:

• Freegreen is a website that offers free, customizable green house plans in both traditional and modern styles. The service relies on paid placement from product manufacturers, but it takes pains to be transparent about the products it displays, offering users ratings from established third-party green certification programs such as LEED and NAHB and research performance data through its own energy modeling reports.

Reward schemes will forever be a favorite of both producers and consumers. Here are some green takes:

• Philadelphia-based RecycleBank enables households to earn RecycleBank Dollars, redeemable for discount coupons at Whole Foods, RiteAid, Starbucks and participating local companies just by leaving their recyclables out to be collected. RecycleBank containers are embedded with identifying barcodes which collection trucks scan to track how much each household is recycling; the more customers recycle, the more they earn in RecycleBank dollars—up to the equivalent of USD 35 per month.
• Currently operating in eight regions in the US, NuRide allows its 40,000 users to earn up to USD 350 per year in rewards exchangeable for retailer discounts, gift cards, and tickets to shows and attractions just by sharing rides and otherwise limiting their car use. Because registered carpoolers specify their trip origin, destination, travel preferences and vehicle information; sponsors are able to target highly specific sets of consumers, both nationally and locally.

Basically, once companies and consumers can no longer get away with anything less than totally offsetting their negative impact on the environment—and this will happen sooner rather than later—the only way to stand out, to gain any kind of respect in the eco-sphere, will be to go the extra mile and be over-generous. From planting more trees than is strictly required, to cleaning up not only your own mess, but someone else’s, too.

This is what we said in an earlier briefing:

Count on being sustainable or being carbon neutral to soon be just the starting point, not the end goal. So think about how your brand can actually boost the environment instead of just limiting damage. Call it PR or responsibility or both. As long as you go out of your way to be generous, everyone wins.

See the ECO-BOOSTERS section in our ECO-ICONIC briefing for examples.