Jacquie Ottman's
Green marketing Blog
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 consumers of your products.
Be dramatic. The direct mail …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 with a Prius ad featuring the hybrid vehicle juxtaposed against …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 a 1%-2% market share.
Green Fatiguers, listen up (and smell …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 Ecomagination each demonstrate the power of a product-centered campaign to …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 (including BMWs from whom they stole some market share) like …Read more...
