For Michael Stausholm of Sprout USA (asi/88893), the seed of an idea for sustainable promo came from a simple pencil.

Michael Stausholm, founder of Sprout USA (asi/88893), offers pencils that have a seed capsule instead of an eraser.

The supplier’s pencils look like an ordinary pencil, but instead of an eraser, they have a small seed capsule at the end, which a user can plant once the pencil side has been depleted.

In this episode of Promo Insiders, Stausholm talks with Executive Editor Theresa Hegel about his company, sustainability trends and why environmental marketing claims must be backed up by real data.

“Eco-friendly is a word that is absolutely a no-go in our company,” Stausholm says. “It’s banned from everything we say because it’s so fluffy. … It’s a marketing expression that sounds good, but there’s no backing.”

Instead, he adds, companies need to make data-driven claims about their sustainable products and initiatives.