Jacquie Ottman's
Green marketing Blog
Stand By Your Cause: What Marketers Can Learn From Dawn’s Involvement In The Gulf Oil Spill
Posted on July 12, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Long marketed by Procter & Gamble as an “effective yet gentle” way to keep dishes free from even the greasiest of grease, Dawn dishwashing liquid was widely publicized during the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in 1989 as an ideal way to remove residue from afflicted bird and mammal species.
Fast forward to mid-April 2010, just days before the 40th anniversary celebration of Earth Day. P&G decided to create awareness for its 30-year long support of bird rescue groups by launching a new installment to a campaign begun last …Read more...
A Creative Way to Handle Prescription Drug Disposal
Posted on July 10, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
As someone quite involved in issues of product takeback and disposal in general, I became quite alarmed to discover how much Percoset and Vicodin, two controlled substances, were left in our medicine cabinet after my late husband’s bout with cancer.
Not wanting to dispose of the drugs in the toilet (for fear they would contaminate local waterways) or in the trash (where the drugs would linger in plastic bags on the sidewalk in front of my Upper East Side NYC coop where they could easily …Read more...
How We Used “Framing” to Sell the Wind
Posted on June 10, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
This is a guest blog post written by Cathy L. Hartman & Edwin R. Stafford.
Introducing “Framing”
By aligning marketing strategies with the core values of your audience, you can successfully craft a message that resonates with a 
targeted public, and increase your campaign’s chances for success. This is called “framing” and it’s well illustrated in the following two case studies.
Case Study: Utah & ‘The Winds of Opportunity’
In 2003, we collaborated with the Utah Wind Working Group to campaign for wind energy opportunities. At that time, …Read more...
Now Even Your Eyeglasses Can be “Green”
Posted on May 27, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Look for ECOs the next time you shop for eyewear. ECO stands for EARTH CONSCIOUS OPTICS, a new line of eyewear from our client MODO. We are proud to be assisting them in their exciting launch.
ECOs come in all kinds of fashion colors (not just green!) and are made from a minimum of 95% recycled stainless steel or 95% recycled plastic. (Another client of ours, ULEnvironment has validated the claims.) Reflecting a life cycle approach to sustainable design, each pair of ECOs comes with a special box …Read more...
Give Your Stuff Away and Unclutter Your Life
Posted on April 12, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Wouldn’t it be great if in just one weekend, we could get rid of some of the clutter in our lives by making it available to others who need it?
That’s the idea behind Mike Morone’s Give Your Stuff Away Day, happening on May 15, 2010 all across the country.
The deal is pretty simple: Just bring safe, valuable items that you no longer want to your curb (keeping in mind that no trash, recyclables, food, drugs, chemicals, or weapons should be included) and instantly be involved in the country’s largest giveaway effort! Others will …Read more...
Doing Well by Doing Good for Your Employees
Posted on March 30, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Employees are more than worker bees when it comes to green marketing. They are potential advocates in the community, and engaging spokespeople for the brand. By investing their time, they become stakeholders more than mere employees. Ideally, their beliefs, thoughts and ideas should be aligned with a greater sense of brand values. Timberland and Starbucks are two companies that share an understanding of what it takes to green one’s the workforce, align employees with brand values, and turn employees into advocates.
Timberland
Timberland provides an excellent example of how fostering a positive internal environment for sustainability has the potential to …Read more...
How to Turn Passive Consumers into Brand Advocates
Posted on March 30, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Consumers have been traditionally viewed as a lesser species with only the power to buy or not buy. (Are readers old enough to remember David Ogilvy’s famous line, “The consumer is not an idiot, she’s your wife.”) In contrast, Method has created a network of brand advocates and pseudo-marketing consultants by engaging their consumers effectively and by tapping into a green culture. How has Method been able to turn their consumers into brand advocates, and what is the advantage of doing so?
Method uses no paid media. Instead, they use social media -and primarily an innovative “People Against Dirty” campaign …Read more...
40 Million Kilowatts in 40 Days
Posted on March 23, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Jenn Dolin, our old friend and client who’s now at Sylvania, invites you to take the Sylvania Earth Day Challenge. Representing a great way to get consumers involved in energy efficiency, Osram-Sylvania is challeging consumers to take energy-efficient actions at home and at work, that, in the 40 days leading up to Earth Day, will add up to 40 million kilowatt hours of energy savings.
Just visit their website, populated with easy, energy-efficiency actions for the home and office. Select the steps you’ll willing to do for 40 days, and see your energy savings grow and grow.
While you’re there, …Read more...
To Sell Green, Look Beyond the Planet
Posted on March 11, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
This past Tuesday I opened my morning New York Times and decided one of my favorite columnists, Jane E. Brody, should be selling green. Her article (which I paraphrase in tribute here), entitled, To Keep Moving, Look Beyond the Physical, describes various motivators to get people to exercise beyond the specific benefits of the exercise itself. Borrowing the motivational approach often used by commecial marketers— an “emotional hook that creates positive meaningful expectations of how exercise can enhance people’s lives, a way to feel better,” she describes such non-health motivators as enjoying nature on an early morning walk, using …Read more...
Defining Biobased
Posted on February 18, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Biobased products are getting a lot of attention lately. Who doesn’t like the idea of making products out of corn, soy and other agricultural ingredients? We are proud to be working with the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) BioPreferred program. It’s a USDA-led initiative designed to increase the purchase, use, and evaluation of biobased products, including biopolymers.
USDA defines biobased products as those composed in whole or in significant part of biological ingredients; forestry or renewable agricultural materials - including plant, animal, or marine (e.g. algae) ingredients. USDA identifies more than 4,500 biobased products (products must meet/exceed minimum biobased content) …Read more...
Smart-Grid Enabled Appliances will help U.S. Green Marketers Compete in the Global Clean Energy Race
Posted on February 13, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
The global clean energy race has begun and the powerhouse economies of Asia-China, Japan and South Korea -are already proving to be key challengers. Although the United States and E.P.A. have made great strides, the Obama administration has yet to take firm action in the form a comprehensive clean energy bill, forcing conscientious businesses and consumers to carry the baton for the U.S.
On the green marketing front, the future of energy consumption in the United States lies in ‘Smart-Grid Enabled Appliances’. Invested players including government, and product and software manufacturers such as Google and Microsoft are digitizing the nation’s …Read more...
Method’s New Laundry Detergent—A Drop in the Bucket?
Posted on February 07, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Method deserves kudos for its new super-concentrated laundry detergent: 50 loads packed into a trim squirt bottle and 95% plant-based. Sounds great! A major achievement that should put Tide and Wisk on notice and turn heads at Wal-Mart. But let’s not let Dropps get lost in the hoopla.
Dropps, the product of a Philadelphia-based start-up, represents what may be an even greater achievement in source reduction. Eschewing the concept of dispensing with detergent from a bulky plastic jug, 20 dissolvable detergent capsules (“dropps”) come packed in a collapsible plastic pouch. The stand-up packs are so thin, it would take 292 …Read more...
Green Marketing Done Right! Join me February 12, 2010
Posted on February 06, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Want to learn how the pros do green marketing right (and some of them a little wrong?) oin me February 12 for a 90-minute installment of the Sustainable Brands Boot Camp. It’s a 13-week series of 90 minute sessions, one per week, conducted by experts in sustainable branding and green marketing.
Join me Friday, February 12 and get a sneak preview from my new book, due out later this year about how to court mainstream consumers credibly, impactfully—and without a hint of greenwash.
I’ll specifically be sharing: some of the latest data on LOHAS consumers from the Natural Marketing Institute, …Read more...
A Smart New Way to Segment Green Consumers
Posted on February 06, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
When you target customers, it helps to know if they’re “dark green”, “light green” or “basic brown” in their attitudes, but, with so many green issues, products, and labels out there, it may be more relevant to your branding and communications to understand their personal green interests.
Ask: To which environmental organizations do members of our target audience belong (The Appalachian Mountain Club or Greenpeace)? Which types of vacations do they take (hiking or the beach)? Which environmental magazines and websites do they read or visit? (Sierra or Animal Fair?) Which types of products do they buy? (green fashions or …Read more...
How Nike Reduces Toxicity to Balance Consumer Needs with Enhanced Corporate Reputation
Posted on January 28, 2010 by Jacquelyn Ottman
Toxicity affects products at every stage of their life cycle, so naturally, reducing toxicity is good for business. As I discuss at more length in my latest book on green marketing to be released later this year, it reduces the liability associated with worker rights, and via alternatives that are safer to handle, can enhance productivity and cut workers’ compensation claims. And of course, there’s the opportunity to market to the growing number of mainstream consumers looking for safer alternatives.
Nike’s Considered line of reduced toxic shoes
Nike aims to eliminate noxious adhesives with its Considered line which is targeted …Read more...
