Who We Are: An Analysis of Greif’s Logo and Slogan
“Packaging success together.” That is Greif’s current slogan, born of the company’s dedication toward unity, progress, and values-oriented business. Greif has built its long and storied history on a foundation of these values, and the presentation of their company as a forward-thinking organization with a focus on people first.
Is Greif’s slogan successful? What about its logo? This article will examine the design and implementation of Greif’s logo and slogan, and discuss their effectiveness. In order to do so, this article will examine the origins of the slogan and, more importantly, the guiding principles that helped inform its creation.
The first question we will ask is “Who is Greif?” Then we will answer a variety of related questions. What gives the company its values? Does it deliver on the promises it makes?
The way the Greif brand started was with a long hardworking and rich history of dedication to the industry with a quality commitment to the consumer, which speaks to its stance and position of the Greif logo and slogan.
Greif’s Vision: Be the Best-Performing Customer Service Company in the World
If we are to fully understand how Greif perceives its own slogan as embodying the company’s values, we must first understand those values. To do so, we must look at the vision that guides the company’s policies and procedures. In the process, we will also attempt to gauge their effectiveness in helping to accomplish the company’s mission, stated above: “Be the best-performing customer service company in the world”.
Core Values
Greif claims a certain set of core values that guide the company on the aforementioned mission statement. The Greif Way, a manifesto discussed elsewhere in detail (see our brand identity analysis), is the foremost document informing the company’s values. In Greif’s own discussion of the company’s core values, the first thing it mentions is The Greif Way.
The core values listed on the website state first that Greif’s leadership wishes to build upon that long history. The company, established in 1877, began in part as a way to help bring supplies where they were needed. This is a very people-oriented business, which ties into the values that Greif presents to the world:
- People Oriented: The Greif Way urges Greif to focus on people first. “Our people are our past, present, and future.” The company’s long history has endured in large part because of the emphasis Greif places on fostering a positive culture. Integrity, respect, and both customer and employee safety are held in the highest regard. Greif also prides itself on-and successfully establishes-a strong element of communication within its ranks.
- Customer Satisfaction: Related to the bullet above, Greif focuses on communities and customers in their work efforts. The company highly values its promises to customers (as this article will examine in more detail) and seeing those promises kept by adhering to a strict code of quality.
- Environmental Support: As a global company (290+ facilities in 43 countries worldwide), Greif pledges support for responsible environmental practices and community integration. To their credit, Greif consistently maintains award-winning efforts in environmentally sustainable practices.
- Quality Products and Services: Consistent with the stated goal, Greif maintains a high success rate in both customer satisfaction and product quality improvements. The company’s concerted efforts to find and address issues in customer complaints and quality feedback have produced significant gains in these areas.
Sustainability and Responsibility
Another area in which Greif dedicates its goals is promoting sustainability and responsible business practices. As an industrial giant, one which specializes in the production of plastics, fibers, and other materials for the storage and transport of industrial chemicals, the need for responsible practices is all the greater. Greif’s leadership realizes this and has put together a roadmap that includes sustainability as its major goals, described in brief below.
- Emissions Strategy: The company aims to reduce emissions and energy costs by 10% by the end of the 2020 fiscal year.
- Water and Waste: By 2025, Greif’s plan is to reduce biochemical discharge from their mills. Similarly, the goal for waste is to divert as much as 90 percent of waste from landfills by Greif’s production facilities. This is a global goal.
- Raw Material Reduction: Greif’s plan is to reduce by one percent (from a 2017 baseline) the costs and raw materials needed to produce their current product supply.
Bearing special mention as a part of sustainability goals, Greif is currently examining “green” material sourcing for its products. The company’s goals therein are to determine if it is economically viable to use green materials in the manufacturing of their products. While the company issues no promises, if they can find a way to produce the same high-quality packaging products, Greif intends to switch to green sourcing.
Analyzing the Results
Are Greif’s goals mere lip service, or has the company been successful in its goals?
Compared to their 2014 baseline, the company has lowered its emissions intensity reduction by more than 10 percent, and has lowered its medical case rate a substantial 72 percent since 2007. In addition, the company has also increased their customer satisfaction rate while lowering the need for corrective action, as discussed in the related article (see our analysis of the company’s brand values and identity). Its recycling and sustainability programs have also proven successful.
The company used more than twice as much renewable energy in 2018 as it did in 2016, a marked improvement, as well as lowering its crude oil-based fuel usage.
The results do show an actual focus within the company on sustainability, which ties into the company’s stated values.
“Packaging Success Together”: Does it Work?
The current slogan is “Packaging Success Together”. We have looked at Greif’s goals in sustainability and the code of principles that guides the company’s business development. Does the slogan fit the company’s style, methods, and results?
All of Greif’s publicity emphasizes positivity: the company’s achievements in safety and sustainability, awards for customer excellence, participation in high-profile community events such as the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk and scholarship programs.
The slogan itself was debuted in a Latin American trade fair event in which Greif heavily participated. It has been part of a successful drive to place a great emphasis on unity in the industry, and especially within the company itself. Greif portrays the company as a people-oriented company, and the slogan emphasizes the nature of the product itself: materials need storage and packaging to be properly utilized, and packaging products need something to package in order to have a purpose.
The slogan highlights Greif’s success in publicity and in their progressive-minded business goals. The company began in an industry that required that sense of unity, and it successfully carries on the spirit of that tradition 140 years later.
Greif’s Logo: Green Means “Go”
Greif’s logo is simple and utilitarian. The logo simply consists of the company’s name, in which the “G” is stylized to have an arrow as part of its body. The arrow implies motion to emphasize the company’s commitment to progress. The logo offers little detail or visual excitement, but like the company’s own products, it offers a sense of rugged simplicity that reflects its long history.
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