Jacquie Ottman's
Green marketing Blog

Jacquie Ottman's Green Marketing Blog

“Responsible Consumption” is the Next Frontier in Green Marketing

Is Tom’s of Maine toothpaste really green if consumers leave the water running while they brush their teeth? Is an ENERGY STAR-rated light bulb really green if it remains on after everyone leaves the room?

Water faucetIt is one thing to design a product to be greener, but the negative environmental impact made throughout a product’s life-cycle cannot be minimized unless the consumer uses and disposes of it responsibly.  Representing the next frontier in green marketing, this …Read more...

 

“20 New Rules, 20 Congratulations, 20,000 Thank You’s”.

Twenty thousand thanks to so many of you who dropped, “Hey Jacquie, I want to win a free copy of your book” in a subject line this past month—and showing your support and interest.  We wanted to launch my new book with some fun, generate some good will, and to do it in a way that would reward our old friends and help us make some new ones—and you helped us achieve these goals in spades. 
 
Also, thanks to …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 20.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 20:

 Keep it simple.Plato was an environmentalist: “Simplicity is elegance.” Today’s consumers are cutting out the needless purchases and getting rid of the gadgets and gizmos that don’t add value to their lives. That’s why they are migrating to brands that help express these values—Method, Starbucks, Timberland. It’s just that simple.

 —-Excerpted fromThe New Rules of Green Marketing, by Jacquie Ottman (Berrett-Koehler - U.S., Greenleaf Publishing - U.K. February 2011, $21.95, 252 pp.).  …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 19.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 19:

Authenticity.It’s not enough to slap on a recycling logo or make a biodegradability claim. Brands viewed as the most genuine integrate relevant sustainability benefits into their products.

That’s why HSBC and Stonyfield Farm aim to reduce the carbon impacts of their operations through innovative green building and methane management initiatives, respectively.

 —-Excerpted fromThe New Rules of Green Marketing, by Jacquie Ottman (Berrett-Koehler - U.S., Greenleaf Publishing - U.K. February 2011, $21.95, …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 18.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 18:

Nearly everyone is a corporate stakeholder.No longer confined to just customers, employees, and investors, today publics of all stripes are corporate stakeholders: sustainability advocates, educators, and children—even the unborn.

Forming constructive partnerships with various stakeholders, especially government eco-labelers, environmentalists, and educators, can help cut costs, improve products, bolster credibility, and enhance credibility. Transparent communications are key to stakeholder engagement.

——Excerpted fromThe New Rules of Green Marketingby Jacquie Ottman (Berrett-Koehler - U.S., …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 17.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 17:

Environmentalists are no longer the enemy.Recognizing the power of the marketplace to effect change, many sustainability advocates willingly partner with industry, offering useful guidance and expertise.

Sometimes even former environmental foes can turn into allies. In August 2009, Kimberly-Clark teamed up with Greenpeace. Ending their longstanding “Kleercut” campaign, the environmental powerhouse now assists K-C in promoting forest conservation and sourcing sustainably harvested and recycled FSC-certified fibers.

 —-Excerpted fromThe New Rules of …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 16.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 16:

 Green consumers don’t expect perfection.Just like there’s no more whitest whites, there’s no greenest of the green. Consumers expect that you’ll set high goals (i.e., perform beyond mere compliance), keep improving, and report on progress.

GE’s Ecomagination sustainability marketing campaign averted accusations of greenwash despite a history of environmental transgressions. The company treats the effort as a serious business initiative, complete with detailed metrics on revenues and environmental savings in …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 15.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 15:

 Green consumers trust brands that tell all.BP, ExxonMobil, and SIGG learned this lesson the hard way. It’s no longer enough to have a well-known name. Today’s brands become trusted by practicing “radical transparency,” disclosing the good - and the bad.

Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles microsite lets visitors trace the environmental impacts of ten products and it not afraid to critique itself. For example, it is not afraid to reveal that is …Read more...

 

Taking the Green Marketplace to the Next Level

Of all of the amazing examples, facts, figures, and case studies in Jacquie Ottman’s new book, The New Rules of Green Marketing, the one I find most encouraging comes early in the book, on page 12: More than 300,000 applications for green-related brand names, logos, and tag lines were applied for in 2007, and Datamonitor reports a tripling of sustainable product launches. What a tidal wave of innovation! And, just in time! As green mainstreams, and we all adjust to …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 14.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 14:

 Green consumers are strongly influenced by the recommen-dations of friends and family, and trusted third parties. With rampant cynicism about traditional forms of advertising and a backlash in place against perceived greenwashing, savvy marketers leverage purchase influencers and third parties like NGOs and especially eco-labelers.

But one must choose an ecolabel wisely. According to the Natural Marketing Institute, only a handful of ecolabels have significant levels of consumer awareness—Energy Star (93%), …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 13.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 13:

The brands consumers buy and trust engage them in meaningful conversation through a variety of media, especially online.

Talking “at” consumers through traditional media and paid advertising can’t build loyalty among empowered consumers in a connected world.

Method’s “People Against Dirty” campaign has over 5300 “advocates”  united in a common passion for Method and its cleaning mission. A blog keeps members updated on issues of concern, and a “humanifesto” that …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 12.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 12:

 Consumers don’t necessarily need to own products; services can meet their needs, perhaps even better.Consumers historically met their needs by owning products, but concepts like Zipcar and ebooks are starting to prove that utility and service are what really matters.

Take textbooks, a product that students typically “own” for a semester or two. While us grownups are busy reading Steinbeck on our Kindles and Nooks, college students can rent textbooks from Cengage …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 11.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 11:

 The greenest products represent new concepts (and likely, new business models) with significantly less impact.If we simply keep greening up the same old “brown” products we’ve been using forever, we’re never going to get to sustainability. With time running out, we’ve got to “leap” to service replacements for products, and adopt entirely new ways of doing business.

In the process, we just might discover that consumers’ needs are being met better and …Read more...

 

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 10.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 10:

Sustainability represents an important consumer need, and is now an integral aspect of product quality. Green is no longer simply a market position. Products need to be green. Brands need to be socially responsible. Period.

Gone are the days when consumers simply chose one brand over another on the basis of cost, convenience or cleaning power. Such new questions are being asked as: What’s in this product? Who makes it? Can I …Read more...

 

20 New Rules. 20 Free Books. 20 Chances to Win: New Rule of Green Marketing Number 9.

Jacquie Ottman’s New Rule of Green Marketing Number 9:

Businesses are their philosophies.It used to be that companies were what they made. International Business Machines. General Foods. General Motors. Now, businesses and brands are what they stand for. Method. Starbucks. Timberland.

Is your company among the 1000+ in over 50 industries that have been certified by the nonprofit B Lab to strict sustainable business standards, or benchmarked your  performance to B Lab’s free B Impact Rating System?

—-Excerpted fromRead more...

 

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