KEY POINTS:
Did I miss something, or is there actually a good reason why Erin Brockovich is fronting a new series of TV adverts for consumer electronics retailer Noel Leeming?
As I watched the slickly-made ads which were on high rotation last night and then visited the website where different versions can be viewed, I found myself increasingly perplexed at this particular celebrity endorsement.
Anyone who has seen the excellent movie Erin Brockovich will be familiar with the woman's courageous fight in the early 1990s to seek legal redress on behalf of the people of Hinkley, California, who were drinking contaminated water. She helped win them a massive settlement. Brockovich's blog outlines her continuing interest in environmental matters and her passionate advocacy of products "made in the USA".
So why did Brockovich, with so many good American causes to chose from, decide her first appearance in a TV advert should be one for a New Zealand retail chain?
Well, according to Brockovich, she did her research on Noel Leeming and found that the retailer "is choosing to do the right thing by you the consumer."
What does that mean? Brockovich didn't go into details. But given the fact that Noel Leeming's owners appear to be seeking to offload the chain to the highest bidder and that New Zealand's other significant electronics retailer Harvey Norman is the most likely buyer in such a deal, I'm not sure if she can say with any certainty whether the right thing will be done by you the consumer.
Given Brockovich's background, I was expecting the adverts to reveal some major green initiative by Noel Leeming - a recycling programme for consumers to return old electronics like the one I saw in Japan earlier this month or an undertaking to only sell the most power-efficient products.
Given the Government's concern over energy-sapping fridges and flat-screen TVs, that would have been a particularly topical vein to tap.
But nothing like that was outlined. The Noel Leeming website is similarly vague on the matter. Under the heading "We care for the environment" it claims:
"We have a responsibility for the environmental impact of our behaviour. As an appliance retailer, we take this responsibility seriously, and we are working with our suppliers and our customers to minimise the impact we make."
Any local celebrity, even a dejected All Black, could have been hired to push the things Noel Leeming is really highlighting with its glitzy new campaign - stock standards like value, fair pricing, breadth of products and customer service, stuff we should expect from a retailer anyway.
The use of Brockovich in that sense seems bizarre and a wasted opportunity to harness some star power to put consumer electronics and environmental protection in the same meaningful sentence.
Instead I'll be doing my bit for the environment and turning off my TV when these inane Noel Leeming ads come on. That'll save a few watts at least.
Response from Andrew Dutkiewicz, Noel Leeming CEO
Thanks for taking the time to comment on our campaign. Read your comments on the nzherald.co.nz website with interest, and thought I had better answer your queries but it was too long to post myself.
When I took over as CEO of the Noel Leeming Group in April this year, I started to take a look at what we do well, and what we could do better, in terms of customer service, social responsibility and our environmental impact. I found out we were doing a whole lot of things within the business that were really positive, and together with the management team we decided to commit to a range of initiatives aimed at improving our record with customers, the community and the environment. We've called this programme The Real Deal, and to make sure it happens throughout the company, we engaged the world's toughest customer, Erin Brockovich, to communicate our vision to the New Zealand public. This was a bold and scary step, because it will force us to continue to deliver on our service promise where we have got it right, but scary because we had better lift our game in any areas where we don't get it right - and quickly!
Some of the Real Deal initiatives are things we were doing already, such as working with Fisher and Paykel to recycle our customers' old whiteware, and we will be extending this initiative in the New Year. And some are new ideas, such as our commitment to reducing power consumption by 10% this year. We are also about to enter into a partnership with Habitat for Humanity, a charity that we think exhibits the Real Deal values by giving Kiwis who need a hand to become independent homeowners - six months in the planning, but now becoming a reality.
There's more to come, so keep your eye on us. The Government's e-waste agenda is something that we have been close to, and will continue to make a contribution to. The reality is transforming a business like this doesn't happen overnight, but we are committed to the journey, and having Erin on board as a focus point is a major step forward.
Thanks again for your comments.
Best regards
Andrew Dutkiewicz
Chief Executive Officer
