MediaPost | Marketing: Green

Consumer Decisions in a Green Market

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:50:03 -0400

Forget buying a lottery ticket, the future is looking green. As the United Nations' environmental agency (UNEP) reported this week, the global market for low-carbon and environmentally-friendly goods and services is projected to triple to $2.2 trillion by the year 2020. While "green trade" still only represents a fraction of the global market, the numbers don't lie: trade in certified products and environmental goods and services is on the rise.

Hospitality Industry Reduces Print And Increases Mobile

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:23:02 -0400

Mobile spending is forecasted to increase across a range of industries as the year progresses. Retail marketers, especially, have already seen the value of mobile advertising and are using it as a platform to drive sales. However, for some areas of the hospitality industry, mobile has served a very different purpose. By infusing mobile into daily business practices, hotels and restaurants further their sustainability efforts while improving the overall experience for the consumer.

The Butterfly Effect: Bumpier Flights and No Wine

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:21:02 -0400

If climate change stays the course, we're looking at a future of bumpier flights and no wine. Which means that air travel is going to be decidedly more uncomfortable for anxious fliers and those folks who have to sit next to them. Start stockpiling your wine now, folks.

Recognizing The Companies That Embrace Sustainability On A Daily Basis

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:16:02 -0400

On April 22, less than two weeks from now, more than one billion people around the world will celebrate Earth Day. Traditionally, Earth Day has been the ideal time for brands to tout their eco-friendly practices and vie for consumers' attention with incentives to promote their brand, rather than promote Earth Day itself. On a corporate level, it's a day dedicated to actually making environmental contributions. Some businesses choose to dedicate the day to conserving electricity while others encourage volunteering with a local community program that endorses sustainability. However, we should not only be recognizing brands and companies that are green during a specific time of year, but the companies that instill sustainability into their practices on a daily basis to benefit the environment for the longer term.

Selling The Long Game

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 06:11:17 -0400

As marketers, we tend to assume that people are looking for products that will make their lives easier and more comfortable. As green marketers, we hope that people will also be looking for products that are sustainable, with a reduced environmental impact.

Appeal To Emotion, Not Environmental Logic

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 06:51:39 -0400

What separates human beings from other walks of life is that we are guided by emotions. While we are constantly inundated with thousands of ads every day, we often make our final purchasing decision of a product based on how we feel about it. Statistics show that about 40% of purchases are impulse buys, an action strongly linked to emotion. As a matter of fact, some product categories rely on the act of impulse buying for the majority of their sales. If this is true, then brand connection with consumers should be simple: play up to their emotions.

Digital And Mobile Transactions Are Dethroning The Paper Receipt

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 06:17:35 -0500

Mobile transactions are revolutionizing the way consumers make payments. Of all American cellphone users, nearly half own smartphones and can assist in creating a greener environment. The ability to redeem a service or product by simply presenting a scannable receipt is not only making transactions seamless for the customer, but is also significantly improving environmental paper waste. With today's technology and the increasing dependence that consumers have on their smartphones, paper receipts are inefficient. Not only does the production of paper receipts emit carbon monoxide equivalent to that of driving a car for a solid year, allEtronic, a digital paperless service system, states that a single ton of receipt paper produces "approximately 2,278 pounds of trash" per year.

Business Model Innovation Yields Sustainability Profits

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:09:12 -0500

We've said before that sustainability - and being green - is good for business. The recent MIT Sloan Management Review / Boston Consulting Group study is another testament to that, finding that more companies are profiting from sustainable business models.

4 Ways E-commerce Can Drive Conversions From Green Initiatives

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:58:21 -0500

Going green, online-is it worth it? The short answer is yes. Many marketers may not realize that catering specifically to this type of consumer can actually increase conversion rates, while maintaining your image as a green-friendly organization. And when applying some personalization to the mix, can also help keep your green friends very, very loyal.

Top Sustainability Consultants: Where Do You Rank?

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:21:04 -0500

As green marketers, we spend a lot of time thinking about brands as clients. In Verdantix's recent study Global Sustainability Leaders Survey: Brands, the tables are turned as they rank the consultants and service providers offering counsel on sustainability. The study was based on interviews with 250 senior sustainability decision-makers at firms with annual revenues greater than $250 million, across 21 industries in 13 countries.

A Resolution For A Sustainable New Year

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:06:29 -0500

As marketing professionals, we need to think of "green" marketing not only in terms of helping our clients create socially responsible images, but also how we can practice sustainability within our own agency cultures. For this New Year, we can resolve to eliminate waste on the back-end for ourselves and our clients, which will in turn make the experiences we create for consumers that much more delightful and engaging.

A New Year For Storytelling

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 07:04:19 -0500

Sometimes following what goes on in the world of sustainability feels a bit like doing homework. Carbon emission reduction targets, true cost, carbon markets, standardized reporting, climate change mitigation -- the list goes on. While it's critical to understand what each of those topics means for businesses and consumers, it's not the type of language that will get mass audiences to "go green."

Reflections On 2012 Sustainability Milestones

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:41:23 -0500

2012 was a big year for sustainability with major world events such as Rio+20 and the Summer Olympics and natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy propelling the conversation forward on a global platform. While the debate surrounding both causes and solutions continues to swirl, what is definite is that sustainability is part of a global dialogue.

They've Said It Before And I'll Say It Again: The Key Is Transparency

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 06:37:25 -0500

Newsweek recently released its Green Rankings 2012 list, which highlights America's greenest companies. Environmental impact has become one of the biggest selling points for brands when striving to gain consumer attention. However, something I've noticed over the years is that the companies who are making green efforts can be placed into two different categories: those that are naturally perceived as green (therefore having to put very little energy into pushing their green message due to the nature of the product) and those that exercise green practices, yet whose efforts go relatively unnoticed if they are not purposely advertised.

CSR Reporting: Think Small

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:09:16 -0500

Most everyone believes companies need to be "responsible for doing the right thing," but it was interesting to read that 84% of those surveyed in a recent Cone Communications study felt companies are also just as responsible for effectively communicating said actions. What's more, nearly half of those surveyed claimed they'd avoid a purchase if they couldn't find out about a brand's CSR efforts.

Marketing Lessons From The Obama Campaign

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 05:18:02 -0500

Regardless of your political affiliation, one can't help but admire the Obama campaign's relentless and successful marketing strategy. In the next few months, marketers of all stripes will be scrutinizing what worked and what missed the mark. As marketers, we can all learn more about our craft by studying this recent election cycle. In the following, let's examine how some of these lessons can be applied to green marketing strategies.

Holidays Mean More Than Just Green Trees To Consumers

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 07:33:01 -0500

According to a recent BBMG Report, two out of three Americans would consider themselves a "Conscious Consumer," that is, more likely to buy from companies that offer energy-efficient products and commit to environmentally-friendly business practices. One in two Americans are even willing to pay a premium for products if they have proven environmental benefits.

A Spirit Of Transparency: Not As Frightening As You Think

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:00:19 -0400

In keeping with the spooky theme of the season, let's talk about a scary topic for a lot of folks in the C-suite: openly sharing the status of their sustainability efforts.

Walking A Mile In Your Pet's Shoes

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:29:57 -0400

I consider myself to be quite environmentally conscious. But since I became the owner of an adorable puppy that eats anything in its path - and frantically scramble to pick up any trash on the sidewalk that he might eat - I've become acutely aware of the amount of garbage that we produce, so cavalierly discard, and the impact that it has on others.

Don't Command Green, Bond Over It

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:29:05 -0400

"Going green" is being touted loud and clear these days. However, according to a study conducted by Cone Communications earlier this year, people aren't so quick to buy into products' claims of "greenness." In fact, consumer trust of green claims has decreased by 12% since 2008. Surveys have shown that consumers are increasingly turned off because of the price, skepticism, and confusion that surround green products.

Don't 'Go Green,' Go Bold

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 05:31:44 -0400

Full disclosure: I'm not a fan of the term "green marketing." While phrased with the best intentions, it's far too limiting and self-serving for my taste. At its worst, it risks a myopic focus on leveraging environmental commitments to earn points with consumers. I've often thought, "Is the term green marketing itself green washing?"

Fifty Shades Of Grey Skies: Why The Carbon Disclosure Project Report Is A Must Read

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:33:03 -0400

The recently released Carbon Disclosure Project report doesn't exactly scream bedtime reading. It's 50-plus pages of findings from the CDP's annual survey of top global companies, written on behalf of 655 investors with assets of $78 trillion.

Going Green From All Angles

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:12:50 -0400

Is it just me, or have natural disasters around the globe been occurring at a faster rate than ever before? Every time I turn on the TV or go online to get updated on current events, I read or see a story about another earthquake, flood, or wildfire wiping out people's houses and destroying parts of cities. According to a survey by the National Survey of American Public Opinion on Climate Change, 62% of Americans feel that climate change is real and occurring right now. That's a 7% increase from the same study conducted last year.

Exit Signs

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:51:00 -0400

Hey, marketer? As pop singer Avril Lavigne famous asked, "Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?" Fall is an important period of head scratching and number crunching as corporations and governments plan marketing and communications budgets for the next 12 to 18 months. Typically, stuff gets out of hand when a bunch of well-meaning execs who need to deliver numbers pile into meeting rooms with creative marketing types. It's like seeing how many people can fit in an old VW Beetle. There's a lot of uncomfortable contact.

Making Sustainability Pinteresting

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:13:55 -0400

Your company's sustainability commitments can be some of the toughest stories to tell. There's often no "hard news," very few reporters actually cover the topic as a dedicated beat and initiatives often take place thousands of miles away, far from the backyards of the average consumer.

Do You Need A Bag With That?

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 07:09:46 -0400

On a recent trip to Calgary, Canada, I noticed that I was repeatedly being asked the same question every time I went shopping and it wasn't "paper or plastic." I was being asked, "Do you need a bag with that?" I wondered ... are Canadian cashiers better environmental stewards? And then I noticed on my receipts that for every "yes" answer, I was being charged five cents. It was enough to motivate a change in behavior: I began answering that question with a polite "no."

The Confusing Case Of Olympic Brand Sustainability

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 06:53:36 -0400

A study published in the journal Public Understanding of Science in July 2012 found that the rate of green marketing in the marketplace rises and falls consistently with key indicators of economic growth, such as GDP. According to Lee Ahern, assistant professor of Advertising and Public Relations at Penn State's College of Communications and one of the three primary researchers in the study, "marketers have their fingers on the pulse of public sentiment. Using the level of green advertising as a proxy for general environmental concern, we can see that economic trends significantly predict this 'greenness' indicator."

When Green Is The Lowest Common Denominator...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:31:29 -0400

Ten years ago, being green was great for marketing. It was unique, it was innovative, it was thoughtful...it was a real marketplace differentiator. Now it's simply expected.

Aware But Unwilling to Change? Green Guilt Not Enough To Change Behavior

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 08:05:24 -0400

According to the National Geographic Society and the consultancy GlobeScan, Americans lag behind the rest of the world regarding sustainable behavior, but notably don't feel that bad about it.

The Evolution Of Green Marketing And The USP

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:51:41 -0400

Four years ago, I saw the CEO of Patagonia, Yvonne Chouinard, tell a crowd that his company and other companies could make more money by going green. He was referring to finding sustainable methods of creating products, but,also, his message related to a company's image. Consumers were making more informed decisions and were evaluating what product was better for the environment, and themselves.