Ecolab Launches ‘Beyond Green’ Sustainability Program

Ecolab Launches ‘Beyond Green’ Sustainability Program

Ecolab is set to introduce an aggressive new environmental campaign behind its Blue Coral brand that the company believes will change industry sustainability standards. The Vehicle Care division’s Blue Coral Beyond Green program includes certification for participating carwash operators and a complete marketing and merchandising component to help operators attract eco-minded customers.

“Our industry is trailing others on sustainability so we are drawing a line in the sand and defining what it means for a wash to be sustainable,” said John Rolando, Ecolab’s RD&E vice president of corporate technology, services and emerging businesses.

“Over the past several months, Ecolab Vehicle Care has focused its research and development resources on one goal: to ensure every carwash product — not just one line of products or one brand — is sustainable and meets or exceeds regulatory compliance standards in every corner of North America,” added Gaetan Lambiase, vice president and general manager of Ecolab’s Vehicle Care business.

The Blue Coral Beyond Green certification ensures that the chemistry used to produce the product eliminates harmful substances, such as phosphates and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), and meets volatile organic compound (VOC) compliance no matter where a carwash is located in North America, the company said.

With a tagline declaring that Blue Coral is “hard on dirt” but “easy on earth,” the Blue Coral Beyond Green program will be backed by an aggressive consumer marketing campaign that promotes Ecolab’s environmental message and encourages consumers to look for carwashes that carry the company’s certification.

“No matter how great a technology may be, if you don’t tell customers about it, it doesn’t have value,” Lambiase noted. “The merchandising behind this program is just the latest example of the first-class, end-user marketing for which our team is very proud.”

Ecolab launched its i-Style merchandising campaign last year during the International Carwash Association’s Car Care World Expo. The i-Style program is a visual merchandising campaign that incorporates lifestyle imagery with messaging designed to elicit an emotional response and influence consumer buying decisions.

Signage and messaging for the Blue Coral Beyond Green program will follow a similar style. 

“Connecting with end consumers on issues that are important to them is the key to successfully marketing any business,” stated Mark Miller, vice president of marketing for Ecolab Vehicle Care.

“We will be working with our customers to help educate carwash consumers as to the specifics of what sets a Blue Coral Beyond Green certified wash apart from the others,” Lambiase explained. “By speaking directly to the environmental concerns that our carwash customers are expressing through their wallets every day, Blue Coral Beyond Green will resonate with consumers and cause a shift in the purchase decisions many of them make.”

By reaching out to consumers, Ecolab believes it will increase public knowledge and help create a benchmark of customer expectations for what sustainability means within the carwash industry. If so, environmentally friendly carwashes that are compliant through a sustainability program will likely benefit from the increased customer awareness.

“Blue Coral Beyond Green is going to change our industry,” remarked Miller.

The program is an extension of Ecolab’s companywide environmental initiatives designed to foster environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic progress. For example, the company is committed to developing products and services that minimize customer use of water and energy.

“One of Ecolab’s core technologies that is utilized throughout the company is ‘solids,’” Lambiase explained. “By creating chemistry which is provided to our customers in a highly concentrated solid form, less water is used to

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