Monday Morning Marketing: Out with the Old

What Account Associate Jamie Wagner was really thinking about while shopping last weekend:

While checking out the post-holiday sales at Best Buy this past weekend, something stood out to me – not the promotions for shiny new iPads or the sale tags on giant 80” flat-screen televisions, but rather the signage requesting old electronics. Several Best Buy locations in Baltimore are taking part in the electronic superstore’s e-recycling program. Customers can bring in almost any electronic device they no longer use (or no longer know how to use… that’s right, they accept VCRs too), and Best Buy will take care of the rest.

Every part of every electronic is sorted, cleaned and recycled to be used in new products – plastic could be used for park benches and playgrounds, parts of old batteries are used to make new batteries, and so on. It doesn’t matter where the device was purchased – Best Buy will take it.

I appreciate the program for its environmental impact. The improper disposal of electronics can release toxins into the environment and have detrimental effects on our health. By recycling over 300 lbs. of e-waste for every minute it’s open, Best Buy is providing some serious support to the solution to a very serious issue.

Best Buy’s e-recycling also has a positive impact on their bottom line and is good marketing. The initiative gives both new and returning customers a great reason to come into the store. This type of public service effort is just what we as PR professionals like to see – an organization carrying out their social responsibilities and increasing good will while boosting revenue.

As we like to say here at Himmelrich PR, good thinking.