Jacquie Ottman's
Green marketing Blog
Is There a Green-Consumption Gap?
Posted on October 14, 2008 by Jacquelyn Ottman
A new poll shows that 76% of consumers say they want to help others and 69% aim to provide a better life for their children, but only 26% say they actively seek out environmentally responsible products - a challenge for sure for green marketing. Paradoxically, more than 90% say that the environment influences their day-to-day purchasing decisions. What's going on?
If the environment is truly influencing as many as 90% of consumer purchasing decisions, chances are respondents are either overreporting to a surveytaker in the interest of looking worthy …Read more...
Play Ball with a Polluter—or Not?
Posted on September 04, 2008 by Jacquelyn Ottman
ExxonMobil is coming around to the fact that a green reputation is necessary to compete. Among other steps, they are investing in their R3M technology to remotely detect oil and gas and reduce drilling. From a marketing perspective, they are running an extensive campaign in major dailies and newsweeklies, and among other things, are sponsoring the Washington Nationals’ LEED-certified baseball park.
But not everyone is so comfortable with Exxon’s green marketing efforts. Sponsorship of the baseball park is drawing flack from environmental activists, who are pressing the Nationals to …Read more...
Is There a gDiaper in Your Baby’s Future?
Posted on July 31, 2008 by assistant
Can anyone topple the disposable diaper giants? The makers of gDiapers promise an attractive, well fitting, convenient diaper that can be flushed, home composted or tossed. All parents want a diaper that is easy to dispose of, safe, absorbent, and affordable. Can gDiapers provide all of this with less load on the planet? Let’s see how the facts stack up.
Diaper Facts: Sustainable vs. Conventional
There’s no doubt that disposables are the easiest to use. All you do is undo the plastic …Read more...
How Far, Pray Tell?
Posted on July 22, 2008 by Jacquelyn Ottman
How far have your products traveled from manufacturing plant or farmer's field to market? Perhaps it's time to tell your consumer. In a marketplace where more and more consumers want to know their carbon footprint, and the marketers themselves are often confused about how to craft their sustainability messages, meaningful, easy-to-understand information is at a premium. Too many think, for instance, that bamboo (which travels 6,000 miles to get to your floor) and fair trade bananas are going to "save the planet," when the truth is that locally procured alternatives …Read more...
Controlling Interest
Posted on July 22, 2008 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Consumers' desire to control a world that's increasingly viewed as spinning out of control lies at the heart of green marketing. If they didn't feel that greener products made a difference, there would be no market for organic produce, non-toxic cleaners, or Energy Star-qualified appliances.
Getting Your Consumer to 'Bite': Green Marketing Strategies
Empower your consumers with messages that underscore the difference they make as one consumer or in concert with all the other …Read more...
Green, No…Greener, Maybe
Posted on July 22, 2008 by Jacquelyn Ottman
You'd never know it reading the press kits, but there's actually no such thing as a green product. All products use resources and create waste to some extent. At best, there are "greener" products that have less environmental impact than others. If you're mindful of a potential green backlash (and you should be!), develop your sustainability message with this in mind.
Are you reading this, Mercedes-Benz? I hope so. That "clean-air blue" motif is cutting it a bit fine. I read somewhere that Toyota's ad agency once presented them …Read more...
Why I’m Tired of Hearing About Green Fatigue
Posted on May 29, 2008 by Jacquelyn Ottman
"Green Fatigue." It's a term that's come out of the U.K. recently to describe consumers and designers who are so overwhelmed with "in your face" green marketing pitches that they have "gone back" to tried and true products and messages focused on performance and quality. I find the term preposterous! The lone U.K. journalist who coined it in the fall of 2007 may have had his own ears so tweaked to green, he may be personally fatigued, but the average consumer is just getting going. Most green-product categories only have …Read more...
Consumers Want Better Products, Not Processes
Posted on May 29, 2008 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Many companies tout their green processes as they lobby for consumer recognition as a green company. but it would be far more productive to spotlight products instead.
Michael Mendenhall, CMO of HP, demonstrated his understanding of this when, in a recent Ad Age interview, he stated that purchasing carbon credits are not enough to qualify a company as green—that products, like his company's own Dynamic Smart Cooling System, was a "key plank" in any corporate sustainability platform.
Campaigns susch as BP's Beyond Petroleum and GE's …Read more...
What Green Marketers Can Learn from Prius’ Success
Posted on March 30, 2008 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Hardly a week goes by without Toyota’s Prius making green marketing headlines. Let's take a step back and analyze why this product has been so wildly successful, attracting a broad swath of consumers — and not just deep-green ones — like a powerful magnet, all the while creating a new definition of automotive cool. By Jacquelyn Ottman
Let’s start with the car itself. Its distinctive styling and unique silhouette acted as a moving billboard for the new technology. Inside, passengers get all the creature comforts they expect from pricier vehicles …Read more...
