European Commission EU Ecolabel Helpdesk Presenting the Ecolabel at the Salon des Maires Contact Bio Intelligence Service S.A.S. Véronique Monier Cécile des Abbayes Tanja Muenchmeyer Julia Vorburger + 33 (0)1 56 20 28 98 veronique.monier@biois.com cecile.desabbayes@biois.com tanja.muenchmeyer@biois.com julia.vorburger@biois.com 1
Content 1. Introduction... 3 2. The stand... 5 3. Stakeholders met and results obtained... 8 4. Conclusion... 10 2
1. Introduction In the framework of its marketing activities as the European Ecolabel Helpdesk, BIO Intelligence Service focused its 2007 promotion activities on various product categories and stakeholders. One of the stakeholder groups targeted was public purchasers who, following two European public procurement directives from 2004 1, can actively develop Green Public Procurement (GPP) by inserting environmental criteria (for example the EU Ecolabel criteria) in their calls for tender. As public procurement accounts for approximately 16% of EU GDP, public purchasers are among the most important actors who can leverage the demand for EU ecolabelled products and thus indirectly increase the number of EU Ecolabel holders. This report presents the results of a marketing activity promoting the European Ecolabel to public purchasers: the participation to the 12 th edition of the Salon des Maires in Paris on 20-22 November 2007. This activity was conducted in collaboration with PFC, a French producer of EU ecolabelled detergents. The Salon des Maires et des Collectivités Locales (Mayors and Local Authorities Fair) is the yearly meeting place for local authorities (visitors) and their suppliers (exhibitors). This year, 783 companies exhibited their products and services on more than 50 000 m², in seven thematic areas that represent 130 business sectors: Institutions, finance, and public services Information technology and telecommunications City development Equipment, transport, and vehicles Construction and public works Energy and Environment Security 42 700 people visited the fair this year, 50% of which were elected representatives, 26% other local authority representatives, and 24% private actors. This year, the fair focussed strongly on sustainable development and offered sustainable, ecological and proximity solutions in all of the seven thematic areas. More information can be found on www.salondesmaires.com The objectives of the Helpdesk at the Salon des Maires were two-fold: To further assess the level of awareness of the Flower amongst public purchasers, To inform public purchasers on how the EU Ecolabel criteria can be used in green public calls for tenders. 1 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC 3
Prior to the fair (and under the Lot 7 Marketing for products contract), BIO IS sent a mailing with information about GPP and the Flower and an invitation to the Salon des Maires to a database of approximately 100 contacts. Furthermore it established contact with different public authority networks, for example the French Association of Eco- Mayors, who then sent out this text to their networks members. 4
2. The stand The Helpdesk presented the Flower at the Salon des Maires during the three days of the fair. The following representatives of the Helpdesk were present at the stand: 20 November: Mrs Tanja Muenchmeyer 21-22 November: Ms Julia Vorburger The stand was shared with the detergent producer PFC, which enabled to save 2000 Euros of the budget and permitted to attract visitors to the stand due to the display of their products. To ensure an equal treatment of all EU Ecolabel holders, an email was sent to all French holders of the Flower within the product groups that are of interest to public purchasers, offering them to share the stand. PFC was the only company that responded to this offer in time, and was therefore chosen as partner. Other holders sent in samples to be displayed on the stand. Promotional material Two large posters were displayed on the stand : «L Europe passe au vert» ( Europe goes green ) The Flower makes it easy to choose green Information and communication material such as the GPP and the general consumers brochures, both in French, were printed and distributed. Goodies were also given out to visitors, of which the Flower pins were especially popular. 100 copies of the list of all French producers of EU ecolabelled products were available at the stand. Samples of EU ecolabelled products were displayed on a shelf. These were mostly but not exclusively PFC products. The PFC leaflet contained a definition of the European Ecolabel and information on the Ecolabel criteria 5
Please see below for some impressions of the Ecolabel stand: Pierrick Maitre, Marketing Manager at PFC, presenting EU ecolabelled products to a visitor 6
Ms. Julia Vorburger from the Helpdesk at the EU Ecolabel stand Pierrick Maitre, Marketing Manager at PFC, presenting samples of EU ecolabelled products for professionals 7
3. Stakeholders met and results obtained Visitors met at the stand 2007 was the first year that the Helpdesk had its own stand at the Salon des Maires under the name of the European Ecolabel as in 2006 it presented the Ecolabel at the stand of Novamex. Although having its own stand was clearly appreciated, the best locations at a fair are normally proposed to companies that have been present at the fair for years, and the Ecolabel stand was therefore not in the most visited area and not grouped with related official institutions such as the French Energy and Environment Agency (ADEME) and the French CB AFAQ AFNOR. Still, the stand was located at the end of an alleyway so that the promotion posters of the Ecolabel could be seen from far away. About 50 people per day came to the stand during the first two days of the fair, amongst which about half were interested in further information about the Flower, whereas the other half was only interested in the detergent products of PFC. The last day was much less crowded, most likely because it was the last day and the closure was earlier than on the other two days. The profile of visitors was very similar to the one in 2006: Many visitors were actually mayors wives from small local authorities. They often knew EU ecolabelled detergent brands such as Rainett ( Froggy in Belgium or Frosh in Germany) or L Arbre Vert which they buy on a regular basis in their supermarket. Being satisfied with these products, they were interested in knowing more about EU ecolabelled products that could be used in their local authorities. The second largest group of people visiting the stand were public purchasers. Those coming from larger communities that are required to publish calls for tender were interested in the EU Ecolabel criteria that can facilitate the inclusion of environmental criteria in these documents. A large number of public purchasers came however from small communities that are not concerned by this requirement because their purchases are below the threshold amount above which a call for tender becomes obligatory. To these the EU Ecolabel and the advantages of ecolabelled products were explained in more general terms. A number of private consulting companies advising local authorities on environmental, quality and security issues were also advised on the EU Ecolabel and GPP. Generally speaking, most visitors were interested in ecological issues and sustainable development. What became clear though is that a large part of visitors were mostly interested in general information about the Flower and in how they can integrate the criteria in their calls for tender, but rarely in more technical information, such as specific criteria. This was also the reason for not distributing product group fact sheets to visitors which was done last year. As compared to 2006, this year the Helpdesk managed to obtain many more contact details of visitors. The number of contact details obtained in 2007 amounts to 89, compared to 17 last year. A number of these contacts had specific questions that were answered by the Helpdesk following the fair. These questions included topics like 8
specific criteria for a product group, arguments for the EU Ecolabel that can be used to convince colleagues, contact details of the French CB, etc. Awareness of the Flower A large number of visitors did not know the EU Ecolabel prior to the Salon des Maires, or knew the word ecolabel but not its exact meaning. Many thought it was a bio or organic label. Talking to visitors however showed that they often knew brands of awarded products such as Rainett from the company Werner & Mertz or L Arbre Vert from Novamex because nowadays they are sold in many supermarkets in France. It was noted that a number of visitors were still rather negative on ecolabelled products and reluctant to use green detergents claiming that this kind of product cannot be efficient and that a detergent can by definition not be green. The Follow-up The follow-up with visitors met at the Salon de Maires consisted in two different operations: Specific questions from visitors, for example on product group criteria, were answered in individual emails immediately after the fair. A more general email thanking our contacts for their interested in the European Ecolabel is currently being prepared to be sent to all contacts made. This email will include references to the Europa website and its section on GPP, and the offer the contact the Helpdesk for any questions regarding the Flower and GPP. 9
4. Conclusion Being present at the Salon des Maires enabled the Helpdesk to directly inform about 90 stakeholders from local authorities and private companies about the European Ecolabel and the role it can play in GPP. This was a good opportunity for them to learn about environmental friendly products and to consider their use in their communities. The fact that the fair had a strong focus on sustainability issues and the largely increased number of visitors that left their contact details and asked further questions leads to the conclusion that ecological issues have gained in importance over the last year and that the European Ecolabel is better known. However, the still relatively large number of public purchasers not knowing the meaning of the Flower and the possibility to use its criteria for GPP shows that further promotion activities among this stakeholder group is very much required. An important advantage of representing the Flower at the Salon des Maires is that representatives of small communities are present at this fair, who tend to be less informed about GPP issues than large communities and with whom it is difficult to get in contact with in a time and budget efficient manner. Large communities in France are generally better informed about GPP issues thanks to information disseminated by ADEME or existing GPP networks, and because they might have sustainable development actions plans (i.e. Agenda 21) implemented. Furthermore these communities are more likely to have the means and available staff to provide GPP training to at least one of their employees. Still, representatives of large communities that are present at the Salon des Maires also showed strong interest in the European Ecolabel and might have had more specific questions than their small community counterparts. Sharing the stand with a producer of EU ecolabelled products has an important advantage besides budget savings: It is always important to present EU ecolabelled products on a stand when promoting the Flower at fairs so that the label does not remain an abstract concept. That is why the Helpdesk always asks holders for product samples to display them on the stand. This does however attract even more visitors when representatives from the company producing these products are also on site to give further explanations about the products advantages and its technical performance. Contrary to last year, the European Ecolabel had a stand under its own name in 2007 which means more publicity and a clearer message towards visitors. Furthermore the process of offering a share of the stand to all French holders meant that none of them could feel disadvantaged. It is therefore recommended to use the same concept for the GPP fair in 2008. It could furthermore be interesting to rent a larger stand and share it with multiple holders producing different types of EU ecolabelled products that are relevant for public purchasers in order to show the variety of the Flower s product groups, which was the initial idea for 2007 but was not implemented due to the low interest raised amongst holders. One possible explanation for this low interest may be that the email inviting holders was not read, or did not reach the right person (most of the time the contact person is the R&D or Quality manager, not the Marketing manager). A way to increase interest would be to send repeated emails to holders, and also to call them directly. However, calling all 90 French holders is a very time-consuming task. 10