U.S. Executives Question Corporate Green Commitment; Marketing Budgets Hold Steady or Up in 2010-2011

▶ Green Ambivalence: PR agency Gibbs & Soell’s 2010 “Sense & Sustainability Study,” which surveyed U.S. consumers and Fortune 1000 executives on their views of corporate efforts to improve the health of the environment, found that only a minority of execs (29%) see an overall strong corporate commitment to “going green.” Other findings include:

• Top barriers to more businesses going to green that executives cite include: insufficient return on investment (78%), consumers’ unwillingness to pay a premium for green products or services (71%) and difficulty in evaluating sustainability across a product life cycle (45%).

• Companies also lack designated personnel to steward green initiatives. While more than two-thirds of executives (69%) indicate their companies have people responsible for sustainability or “going green” initiatives, most have merely added responsibilities for green efforts to the primary duties of a team of individuals (35%), or a C-suite or another senior level position (15%).

• Only about 1 in 10 say they have a C-suite or other senior level title/position dedicated solely to sustainability (12%), while 31% noted there is no one at their organization that is primarily or partially responsible for green initiatives.

Source: Gibbs & Soell

â–¶ No Marketing Cuts: According to a recent study on measurement and accountability by Forbes Insights and MarketShare Partners, companies are not cutting back on marketing despite the recent economic roller coaster. Three-quarters of marketing executives who responded to the survey note that they expected their marketing budgets to stay the same or increase in their 2010-2011 fiscal year, with fully one-third expecting an increase. Other findings include:

• Marketers with budgets of less than $1 million favor metrics (58%), whereas marketers beyond the $1 million threshold feel that having a “big idea” was more important (58%).

• The marketing department shares a significant portion of the responsibility for marketing accountability, as 55% of total respondents note that the CMO is ultimately accountable for marketing effectiveness within their organization, a proportion that increases to 71% for those with marketing budgets greater than $1 million.

Source: Forbes Insights