State Fair of Texas, Sept 30 - Oct 23
The Nissan Leaf pulled into the Texas Discovery Gardens at the State Fair of Texas this past week.
The Nissan Leaf is a full electric car, with a lot of nifty features. But since this is a marketing blog, not a car blog, I want to talk about the branding of the Nissan Leaf and how that brand message can be extended via the use of promotional products. And this starts with the seats in the Leaf.
The Leaf, like most other “sustainable” vehicles (the Prius and the Volt come to mind) is marketed mainly on two interconnecting themes: they get great mileage and they are “good” for the environment. And a secondary marketing point is often their use of new technology and technological innovation.
Seat fabric on Leaf is made of recycled material
So the question is, when dealers are out and about showing off their sustainable cars, how are they extending those messages – good for the environment and technological innovation – to their marketing collateral? Nissan is not going to give away a bunch of Leaf cars, but they are likely to hand out a lot of Leaf collateral. Is it green? Should it be? Here is an idea.
The seats of the Leaf are rPET, 100% recycled plastic. As are the ECO caps in this video produced by USA Headware. I say put the two together. A custom ball cap made from the same material as the seats of the Nissan Leaf is a perfect giveaway for car shows. The uniqueness of the sustainable materials and design elements of the Leaf could easily be transferred to a 100% recycled content custom Leaf cap. Taglines like “keeping technology top of mind”, etc., could play into an audience outreach program built around the cap. The folks at USA Headware are so good at design and have so many imprinting options, I bet they could even incorporate a QR code (again, showcase technology) into the design of our imaged Leaf rPET cap. The QR codes could then link directly to Leaf videos or additional information online.
My point is this. Indeed the main point of all these blogs is this. If you are marketing a product or service that has sustainability as part of your core marketing message, you need to be using sustainable marketing solutions. They are better for your message, and in the long run, better for us all.
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If you are an ASI distributor looking for sustainable cap solutions talk to Buck Hogle at USA Headware. If you are interested in getting sustainable caps for your company or event, contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.
Adventures in Green Marketing 
These are all good ideas. The automotive market is more competitive than ever before and car companies need to be creative in order to grab the attention of buyers. Making a hat out of the seating materials is quite a good idea.