Jacquie Ottman's
Green Marketing Blog
Underscore Health Benefits to Add Relevance to Green Marketing Messages
January 13, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
As I have said numerous times over the years, the number one reason why consumers buy greener products is not to “save the planet” but to save their own health. AFM understands this well—and puts their understanding of this green marketing fundamental to work in two ads that do a great job of underscoring the health benefits of their line of Safecoat paint.
One ad features 16 buckets of paint lined up in a row. Fifteen of the buckets are painted red and sport descriptive labels touting benefits including “long lasting”, “high quality”, “sustainable.” The sixteenth bucket stands out in green and announces, “The only paint that is doctor recommended.”
The second ad uses the headline, “It’s not paint. It’s phytochemistry”, and goes on to say that “Safecoat naturals, like the bark on a tree…sheathes your home’s interior—emitting no toxins and leaving no trace.” By focusing on the health benefits of its product, AFM succeeds in communicating their paint as a smart consumer choice that is good for the environment, too.
Key Green Marketing Lesson: Appeal to Green Consumers’ Self Interest
To appeal to the mainstream, green products must appeal to more than just a consumer’s eco-conscience. It must appeal in some way to their self-interest. As AFM has discovered, health is an especially potent benefit. Others include cost savings (the reason why energy-saving light bulbs and applicances are so popular), and self-actualization (a key reason why Prius owners buy their cars.)
Note: This blog post is excerpted from Jacquie Ottman’s soon-to-be- published book on doing green marketing right. Learn more and sign up to be notified of its release by linking here.
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Brianna Rogers of J. Ottman Consulting helped to prepare this post.
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