American Consumers and Your Supply Chain

Three words to keep in mind when communicating to consumers from my reading of Cone Communications, Trend Tracker of March 2012:

1. Honesty (you)
2. Preciseness (your copywriters)
3. Responsibility (yours) 

Responsible marketing these days is all about you when it comes to communicating with the consumer who has been influenced by the "Cradle to Cradle" messaging of William McDonough (video here). 

How your supply chain is working to eliminate waste to save the consumer money is one story, but the bigger one is the whole story of your supply chain integrating the three elements of sustainability - people, planet, and prosperity. As the Cone folks suggest "an opportunity for companies to reframe the discussion and educate consumers about what they’re doing to reduce a product’s impacts across the supply chain. Why?

"American consumers expect companies to address the full environmental impact of a product’s lifecycle, from the impacts associated with disposing of the product, to using it, 

to the manufacturing it."

Amen.

P.S.  
Ethical Sourcing moves up in the topics you will be addressing in this process. Here's some leaders interviewed at the Ethical Sourcing Conference 2012. Videos here.