One of the most important issues in the business world today is the greening of the supply chain. That long trail of goods, services and supplies that go into the manufacturing process from raw materials to manufacturing practices to packaging, delivery and beyond. That was a fundamental issue for our client and our B2B campaign for PALNET, a national supplier of wooden shipping pallets. Because pallets move almost everything that moves around the globe.

Our goal was to build awareness that PALNET‘s wooden pallets are the “sustainable and environmental choice” by emphasizing their cradle-to-cradle manufacturing process.

Through direct marketing and a public relations campaign, we emphasized that PALNET pallets are made from scrap lumber from sustainable sources, never virgin hardwoods. We built promotions around the notion that at the end of their life, after constant recycling and repairs, old pallets are turned into garden mulch. It was a way to promote sustainability and their environmental footprint in a dramatic way.

Our strategy included a direct mail campaign targeted to warehouse distribution managers (the pallet decision makers) that featured a mini bag of garden mulch inside the brochure with the message on the cover, “This used to be a pallet.” We backed that up with a trade PR campaign that shouted out the message that PALNET’s wooden pallets were the eco-choice. This campaign produced strong results in a very competitive, pennydriven market and won them the Home Depot account.