March 24, 2009 - Advertising firm FD Element has zeroed in on five green-marketing trends to watch:

1. Closer tie between green marketing and overall brand image. "This means that environmental stewardship will no longer be a section buried in the back of a company’s website," FD Element predicts. "We'll likely see more companies tying their green initiatives directly into their overall marketing scheme."

2. Increased attention to audience and customer engagement. "Companies will become further engaged in a dialogue with their stakeholders, tailoring sustainability initiatives to specifically suit the values and expectations of everyone from investors to suppliers to the individual customers," says FD Element. "This will be achieved through 'reporting 2.0,' or the use of online tools to develop this two-way communication."

3. Smart ads and online video. "The growth in popularity of YouTube and other social media networks makes the sharing and linking of videos increasingly easy, so don't expect this trend to dissipate any time soon," the company warns. "The increased portability of the internet (through Blackberrys and the like) will also affect the way messaging is conveyed."

4. Goals will be more clearly identified using specifics. This means "clear, understandable initiatives, identifiable benchmarks, and tracking progress (both positive and negative) over time," according to FD Element. One casualty of this trend? Carbon offsetting, which the firm expects to "taper off as the push for carbon regulation (such as cap and trade legislation) intensifies in 2009."

5. More partnerships with environmental groups. "Working with these advocacy groups, companies will start to take active roles in conservation, wildlife protection, and other areas of sustainability and issue advocacy," FD Element says.

Read FD Element's complete predictions here.