Chas Moloney, director of marketing at Ricoh, is on an eco-mission to show the business world how savvy printing can reduce a carbon footprint and save money
Chas Moloney, marketing director at document managed services provider Ricoh, is like a real-life Captain Planet. Just without the cape and cheesy theme tune. He’s the most eco-conscious marketer I’ve met to date. And he not only says all the right things, he actually practices what he preaches. In his own words, he “eats his own dog food.” Or cat food – as was the case when Moloney sampled two tins of competing cat food during a marketing presentation about brand values (much to the bemusement of his Japanese audience). I guess you had to be there.
Getting back to the sustainability topic, Moloney’s mission to help make every business (including Ricoh) more eco-conscious is impressive. Okay, so everyone knows they should be more environmentally friendly. And pre-recession, sustainability was indeed a hot topic. Businesses had pretty much accepted the fact they couldn’t just ‘green wash’ eco-friendly claims and reducing their carbon footprint was a top objective for many organisations. Following tough economic conditions, however, many B2B brands have instead chosen to focus on measurability, ROI and other more perceived money-making objectives. Being ‘green’ has quietly been bumphed to the bottom of the queue. But this is where Moloney thinks businesses are missing a trick.
“I find it incredible,” he says referring to the number of B2B brands that have pushed sustainability to the bottom of their agenda, despite it having a direct link to cost reductions. “Every action we take that makes us a more sustainable organisation, makes us a more sustainable organisation. Not just in terms of commitment to the environment, but it makes processes faster, technology more effective and people more productive.”
He continues, “The problem with some high-profile sustainable activities, such as solar power, is that some people just see the capital investment up front and the return being over a finite period. But there’s so many small things you can do to make your business more sustainable.”
Turbine-charged marketing
Moloney is a big believer of finding more eco-friendly ways of going about usual business. It’s an ethos shared by the whole of Ricoh. From the organisation’s ‘Green guide’ for businesses (due to be updated later this year) to the motion sensor lighting in the Ricoh offices (leave a room or sit still for too long and the lights automatically switch off), sustainability is embedded within the organisation’s DNA. So it’s hardly surprising the printer giant took things a step further in June by unveiling its latest eco-board – an outdoor advertising board powered entirely by renewable energy in the form of solar panels and wind turbines. It’s Ricoh’s first eco-board in the UK (and only one of two in Europe). The boards are just one example of the organisation’s impressive history of innovation in technology (hardly surprising given the Japanese’s reputation for cutting-edge gadgetry).
Drama in B2B
Apart from the eco-board campaign, Moloney’s been busy with a major trade show in Harrogate. It’s part of a lengthy campaign to promote Ricoh’s new point press product to a highly targeted audience segment. Moloney used the exhibition’s theme of ‘revolution’ to deliver above, below and through-the-line marketing collateral featuring iconic revolution-inspired imagery such as Che Guevara and Suffragettes. Ricoh’s clients were also invited to Paris to witness a demo of the new product and a full launch is planned for September. The launch includes a client trip to the Stationers Hall in London (steeped in history surrounding the origins of the printing press) and a theatre show of Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ at The Globe Theatre. It’s a neat tactic using tradition and heritage to promote a state of the art, 21st century bit of printing kit. But Shakespeare wasn’t the only cause for drama.
“The Japanese tsunami caused product delays, although to the credit of Ricoh employees, the factory was back up and running within six days, which is incredible. However a couple of our suppliers were hit harder,” Moloney reveals. It’s a factor that would’ve been impossible to anticipate and yet Moloney’s fighting spirit undoubtedly played a key part in getting the campaign back on track.
Customer-facing champion
Despite the impressive ‘revolution’ campaign, Moloney admits bringing new products to market is a personal goal that continues to challenge him the most. “There is always room for improvement,” he says. “The goals move each time because the customer’s expectations change. Ricoh has to constantly re-evaluate what customers want and as those things change, you need to change how you execute things.”
One way in which Moloney ensures Ricoh keeps up with changing demands, is to target each board member with at least one customer face-to-face meeting per month. Moloney’s background in sales has taught him how crucial it is to directly interact with customers to discover their needs and pain points. It may not be as extravagant as a wind-powered advertising board or a cat food-eating demo, but as Moloney demonstrates, often the most simple ideas are the best.
