Oct. 23, 2007 Timberland is estimating the carbon-dioxide emissions from broadcasting its new TV ads and offsetting them with wind energy an industry first, according to MediaPost.

The 30-second TV spots are for Timberland's new Earthkeepers boots, which have an outsole made of 30% recycled content. The boots are being billed as the company's greenest products ever, and the ad campaign aims to reflect that.

"We really wanted to challenge ourselves, and figure out if we could do this," says Charlie Raynes, senior manager of marketing for the company. "We've been including this kind of questioning in our print advertising RFPs for years, and we've been using recycled materials for our out-of-home advertising for some time."

The $1.5 million campaign will also include outdoor ads. When the campaign is over, the vinyl from the outdoor ads will be repurposed and sold as tote bags in Timberland stores.

Don Carli, senior research fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Communications, sees more companies offsetting the climate impact of advertising. "It doesn't matter whether ads run in print, on TV or digitally," he says. "They all have an environmental and social impact that can be measured and needs to be managed."

Companies like Timberland, which can seamlessly blend their mission, message, and product, have an advantage in reaching green consumers, MediaPost notes.