Adventures in Green Marketing

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Green Marketing, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

In 2010 Shepenco has taken their popular Terra-Riffic Grip Pen and introduced two additional pens in the line, the Terra-Riffic Slim and Terra-Riffic Stick.

What, you have not heard about Shepenco? Well you certainly should have by now. Shepenco has been in the pen and pencil game since 1933. It is family run. In all that time Shepenco has stuck by their pledge of No Rainforest Wood EVER, and they carry a large line of CPSIA compliant and 100% FSC products, plus they are a leader in the promotional products market for PLA, and other eco-material pens and pencils.

Yea, those guys.

So let us talk about Shepenco’s terrific Terra-Riffic pen line-up. Why talk about pens? Because in the promotional products field, pens are big business. Think about how many pens you see each day with an organization or business name printed on them. Promotional pens are everywhere and they are a small item that I would very much like to see move from petroleum based plastic to PLA and other more eco-friendly materials.

The Terra-Riffic Grip Pen (pictured above) has been on the market for a few years. The model follows the basic grip design – hence the name. The hook is that everything but the spring and refill are made of 100% certifiable compostable / biodegradable starch material. The colored nub, offering a bit of grip and comfort while writing, is also made from biodegradable material.

Terra-Riffic Grip Pen has an EQP of $0.82 and comes in five accent colors, black, blue, green, yellow and red. A solid basic pen that happens to be eco-friendly.

For a little less money at EQP $0.70 the Terra-Riffic Slim is basically the click model of the Terra-Riffic Grip Pen, made from the same materials.

This simple click pen also comes in black, blue, green, yellow and red trims. Since it is a classic stick design the pen is more likely to go under the radar as an “eco-pen”, and depending on your target audience perhaps that is a good thing.

Another point to mention is that like all click pen designs the Terra-Riffic Slim has few moving parts, which in my opinion makes it a longer lasting design.

Last in the line is the Terra-Riffic Stick Pen. Think your basic bank pen. Take the cap off and start writing.

At EQP $0.67 and with caps in the same black, blue, green, yellow and red colors this pen is once again made from the same 100% certifiable compostable / biodegradable starch material as the other two pens in the Terra-Riffic line.

With all these pens, users really are not going to recognize them as eco-friendly unless that fact is pointed out to them. For that reason we suggest incorporating the text compostable or biodegradable into the artwork printed on these pens.

The Terra-Riffic Grip Pen can handle a multiple color imprint and is certainly the best choice for a detailed, multi-color logo.  Stepping down the Terra-Riffic Slim is limited to a two color maximum imprint, while the Terra-Riffic Stick is one color imprint only. All three pens do have very generous print areas as can be seen in the image provided.

If you are an ASI member with questions about Shepenco Joyce Allen is the contact to talk to.

If you are interested in these items to promote your own business contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

Tags: biodegradable, compostable, pens, proforma green marketing, Shepenco Pencil Co.