Gree

n
Promotion
VSE Green Marketing
 Overview

Communicating the benefits of more

environmentally sound products can be
challenging, indeed, even daunting.

Establishing an environmental image for

products can help increase sales and
distribution, enhance product value, and
ward off legislative threats.
Challenges of
Green Communication
However, environmental benefits
can be indirect, intangible, or
insignificant to the consumer.

For example, consumers cannot

see the space saved in the landfill
when they recycle their cans and
bottles.
 Challenges of Green
Communication
Communications can be costly:

Consumers must be New brand names Corporate green

educated on the must be credentials must be
benefits of new established. put forth.
technology.
 Challenges of Green
Communication
A backlash can occur.
Communications that appear insignificant or insincere often
invite criticism from environmentalists, bloggers, and citizens
journalists who are quick to sniff out perceived
“greenwashers”.

Greenwashing is corporate activities that cater to

newly eco-aware consumers by launching products
and services that may intentionally or not, be less
than legitimately “green” (Ottman, 2011).
 Challenges of Green
Communication
According to a survey conducted in December 2007 at the
UN Climate Change Conference, nearly nine out of ten
delegates and participants agreed with the
statements, “Some companies are advertising
products and services with environmental claims
that would be considered false, unsubstantiated,
and/ or unethical.” (businesswire.com, 2007).
Greenwashing Example
Greenwashing Example
 Challenges of Green
Communication
Consumers can tire of the same green messages and
imagery.
“Green fatigue” is brewing due to the plethora of green
campaigns in so many consumer media.

How many messages have you seen asking you to “do it

for Mother Earth” or because “your kids will thank you for
it”?
 Six strategies of sustainable
marketing communication

01. 02. 03.

Appeal to
Know your Educate and
consumers’
customer empower
self-interest

04. 05. 06.

Reassure on Engage the
Be credible
performance community

Source: Ottman (2011)

 1.Know your
customer
Not all consumers will likely be aware of or concerned about all
sustainability-related issues, so it is important to pinpoint the
consumers who will be most receptive to your message, and to
provide any additional education that’s needed to bring
consumers on board.

For example, if you say your product is CFC free and increase the
price by 10%, you need to make sure that the consumers
understand the meaning of CFC.
NMI’s 2009 According to Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), 83% of
the U.S. population - can be classified as some shade
Green Consumer of green, signifying their involvement in green values,
Segmentation activities, and purchasing.

Model
Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability
(LOHAS) segment represents the
most environmentally conscious,
holistically oriented, and active of all
consumers.

● Naturalites aim to achieve a

healthy lifestyle and believe in
mind-body spirit philosophies in
addition to the power of prayer.
● Drifters are driven by trends
more than by deeply held
beliefs.
● Conventionals are driven to
green for practical reasons.
● Unconcerned demonstrate the
least environmental
responsibility of all the
 2.Appeal to consumers’ self-interest
Focus too heavily on environmental benefits at the expense of
primary benefits like saving money or getting clothes clean - and
expect your brand to wind up in the green graveyard, buried in
good intentions.

Therefore, focus on primary benefits in context of a full story that

incorporates the environment as a desirable extra benefit; better
yet, integrate relevant environmental and social benefits within
your brand’s already established market positioning, and you’ve
got the stuff for a meaningful sale.
 3.Educate and empower
consumers with solutions
Dramatize environmental benefits
Make your environmental achievements
tangible and compelling to your target by
citing statistics and using visuals that help
dramatize the potential benefits.

To reach their goal in 2007 of selling 100

million CFL light bulbs, Wal-Mart
underscored the facts that, by changing out
all the bulbs in an average home, customers
could save up to $350 per year, and that the
environmental savings represented the
equivalent of taking 700,000 cars off the
road or conserving the energy needed to
power 450,000 single family homes.
 3.Educate and empower
consumers with solutions
Be optimistic
Invite consumers participation via
simple actions and the prospect of a
better future - not by leveraging
fear tactics, playing pessimism, or
pressing guilt buttons.

“Better Products for a Better

Future”
 3.Educate and empower
consumers with solutions
Address the underlying motivations of consumers.

Focus your messaging on concepts that are understood by the

consumers who are most important to your business.

For example:
● Show Naturalites that environmental benefits are consistent with
healthy lifestyle.
● Provide Drifters with easy, even fashionable ways to make a
contribution that doesn’t cost a lot. Enlist the support of celebrities
and help them show off their eco-consciousness on favorite social
networking sites.
 4.Reassure on
performance
Greener products are still perceived by some as less effective or
not having the same value as the more familiar brown
alternatives.

Although these perceptions are declining, it still deters some

potential customers from purchasing greener products (NMI,
2008). Remove this potential barrier to purchase by addressing
the issue head on.
 5.Engage the community
According to The Nielsen Company survey in 2009, people in the
U.S. tend to trust the recommendations of friends and family even
more than traditional forms of paid media; hence the
astronomical rise in importance of social media in the past few
years.

To engage with the community, several steps can be conducted:

● Cause-related marketing
● Get creative
 6.Establishing credibility

● Be specific and prominent: “made with 80% post-consumer

recycled paper” (environmentalleader.com, 2008)

● Provide complete information:

○ “This water bottle is 30% lighter than our previous package”
○ “This water bottle is 30% lighter”

● Do not overstate: “ozone-friendly”

● Enlist the support of third parties. Manufacturers and retailers

have lower credibility than NGOs and government when
communicating on environmental matters.
 6.Establishing credibility

Align positively with third parties that perform independent life-cycle

inventories and certify claims and award eco-seal (Globescan report on
issues and reputation, 2009).

Consider Eco-Seals:
● Single-attribute labels: focus on a single environmental issue.
Ex: “energy efficiency”

● Multi-attribute labels: Examine two or more environmental

impacts through the entire product life-cycle.
 Eco
Seals
 Eco
Seals
 Eco
Seals
 Eco
Seals