Called Today, the campaign will inform customers what steps the grocer has taken in its environmental strategy, rather than what it plans to do. The in-store point-of-sale material communicates facts under three themes – carbon, energy and waste.
The messages explain what the grocer has achieved and points out what that equates to. For instance, one poster reads: “We’ve cut our emissions by saving 315 tonnes of carbon. That’s equivalent to flying to New York and back 90 times a day.”
Morrisons group marketing and communications director Angus Maciver said: “Morrisons has had a strong CSR strategy for a long time and, while we don’t believe the environmental strategy of a grocer is a big driver of choice, our customers do want us to tell them what we’re doing.
“We’ve chosen to tell customers what we have achieved rather than our plans because we think that suits our brand. We’re a down-to-earth retailer and, as we achieve more successes, we will communicate them.”
At the Marketing Society’s Retail Forum on Tuesday, Morrisons chief executive Marc Bolland said effective CSR policies are an essential “licence to operate”, but that he would not jump on bandwagons. He said: “You won’t see us so much in the media, but we do tangible things.”
As part of Today, Morrisons is giving away 10 million reusable bags to urge customers to help save up to 50 million bags a month. Shoppers are also being offered a multi-trip charity bags for 10p, with a contribution going to good causes.
Maciver said: “We’ve sold 2 million reusable carrier bags so far this year. Carrier bags are visible and encourage behavioural change, but this is just one element of our CSR strategy; we have a raft of ongoing projects.”
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