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Open the shoebox and fold back the tissue. Remove shoe from plastic bag. Remove the molded plastic or cardboard from heel of shoe. Remove snowballs of tissue wadded into toes. Remove possible lace tip protectors. Try on shoe.

This is one’s typical shoe shopping experience.

Now, I know women who LIVE for buying shoes. I am not one of these women. In fact, I’m wracked with guilt with the crack of each new shoebox. Okay, maybe I’m being overly dramatic, here. But by the time you dig through all of a pair’s protective layers, you’re surrounded by mountains of packaging. Packaging that lies in the aisles of department stores across the nation, until it’s collected by clerks. And guess what? Most of it can’t be recycled. All I can think is, “Is this seemingly excessive packaging REALLY necessary?” I’ll bet fine crystal isn’t this carefully packed.

Well, apparently, I’m not the only one. Puma’s Clever Little Bag (CLB) combines a reusable bag made of recycled materials with a folded cardboard insert. Due to hit shelves in late 2011, the CLB uses 65% less cardboard and requires no adhesive or assembly. Because the package uses fewer materials and is lighter than their previous shoebox, it’s estimated to reduce Puma’s annual carbon emissions by 10,000 tons and cut its water, energy and diesel use by 60%.

But the bag isn’t the only clever character in this story. Puma and its design firm, Fuseproject, are also pretty clever themselves. How do you create excitement about, of all things, a shoe bag? You create a clever little animated, viral video that tells the story of the creation of the bag, introduces the designer and spotlights the environmental benefits of its smart design. The next thing you know, people (ehem) are blogging about it all over the interwebs and you have 162,000 hits on YouTube. Voila! Instant credit for your honest, green efforts—and not just with the green press, or eco-aware bloggers, but with shoe buyers everywhere.

Clever, indeed.

Categories: Diana Bagley, environmental marketing

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