EcoBlog

Defining Biobased

2010-02-19T01:16:41Z

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) in 42 product categories as “BioPreferred designated” products.

However, are biobased products really ‘greener’? Hint: they may not be any more or less green than any other single attribute-based “green” product (Consider, for example, that organic strawberries can travel thousands of miles to your cereal bowl. Or Energy Star labelled CFLs contain mercury.)

We’ve begun the dialogue on the environmental assessment of biobased products via a public meeting held in Jan 2010 - meeting materials are available on the home page of the program’s website, http://www.biopreferred.gov

And an article by Jennifer Barry, recently published on Earth911.com does a great job of summarizing the issues, too. Check it out and weigh in on the debate!

Jacquie Ottman is president of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., advisers to industry and government on effective green marketing strategies.

Smart-Grid Enabled Appliances will help U.S. Green Marketers Compete in the Global Clean Energy Race

2010-02-13T17:19:13Z

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 power grid, to make delivery more efficient, cost effective and safer for the environment. This is the ‘smart-grid’.

Next comes the ‘smart appliances’. Smart appliances can be controlled remotely by the power company. For example, the power company could lower thermostats, switch to energy-saver mode or shut down the appliance during peak demand. Smart appliances save money- imagine an electric dryer that tumbles without heat and uses only 200 watts of electricity in comparison to a conventional 500 watt dryer on maximum heat. One million such dryers could replace six coal-fired power plants.

Smart appliances are enabled to work effectively on the smart-grid. Leading in this field are General Electric and Whirlpool. GE has developed a smart water heater that is currently being used in a test market, and Whirlpool is optimistic about a smart clothes dryer, predicting one million sold during 2011.

Looking for new green marketing opportunities? Join the race today for Smart-Grid Enabled Appliances and enabling technologies.

J.C. Darne contributed to this post.

This post was excerpted from Jacquie Ottman’s soon to be released book on doing green marketing right. Link here to be notified when the book comes out.

Method’s New Laundry Detergent—A Drop in the Bucket?

2010-02-08T01:37:46Z

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 of them to equal the plastic waste produced from one empty jug of Tide. In addition, the detergent formula is six times concentrated to save water. The lighter packaging and detergent means on the one hand, fewer delivery boxes and trucks, and for consumers, the convenience in transport home, storage and use.

To boot, the Dropps formula is free of chlorine, NPE (a stain-fighting additive to be an endocrine disruptor), and phosphate. And it’s capable of handling all colors, fabrics, washers and temperatures. (I can attest personally for how the product works. -Makes you want to be able to “dropp” a Tide in your washer. ) No wonder its found its way to the shelves of Wal-Mart, Whole Foods and Target.

Chime in on the latest in the detergent wars…let me know what you think.

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Angela Wong contributed to this post.

This post was excerpted from my soon to be released book on doing green marketing right. Link here to be notified when the book comes out.

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Green Marketing Done Right! Join me February 12, 2010

2010-02-06T19:14:19Z

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, my Five Consumer Rules, and Seven Strategies of Green Marketing. Listen in. Ask some questions. Let me know what you thought—and how you applied the learning to your own green marketing plans.

Find out more at Sustainable Life Media/ Events.

Jacquie Ottman is a consultant, author and speaker on green marketing and eco-innovation. Email her at info@greenmarketing.com

A Smart New Way to Segment Green Consumers

2010-02-06T15:48:12Z

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 energy-sipping light bulbs)? Which eco-labels do they seek out (“USDA Organic” or “Energy Star”)?

In observing green consumers over the past twenty years my colleagues and I have found that asking questions like these allows companies to distinguish between four subsegments, which we’ve dubbed “Resource Conservers”, “Health Fanatics”, “Animal Lovers” and “Outdoor Enthusiasts.” Of course, there are some overlaps among these groups, but discovering which subsegment your customers mainly fall into can sharpen your marketing. The following descriptions are generalizations, but they capture the spirit of each type of consumer.

Resource Conservers hate waste. (I should know. I am one.) Spot them wearing classically styled clothing, toting cloth shopping bags and sipping from reusable water bottles. Avid recyclers of milk jugs and Tide bottles, they drop off old electronics at Best Buy. They read news on-line to save trees, and are quick to re-use their Reynolds wrap. Ever watchful of saving their “drops” and “watts,” they install low-flow showerheads and compact fluorescent bulbs branded with EPA’s Energy Star and WaterSense labels. Shunning over-packaged products, they only turn on the lights when they have to, and they plug their appliances into power strips for easy shut-off when they leave for work.

Some ways to appeal to resource conservers:

1. Highlight the economical, long-lasting and reusability benefits of products.
2. Offer services that enable them to recycle, compost and save energy.

Health Fanatics worry about overexposure to the sun, fear pesticide residues on produce, and fret over contaminants in children’s toys. They apply sunscreen, scout out natural-food stores for the latest in organic foods, buy only natural cosmetics and pet care, and have switched out the toxic cleaning products for the non-toxic ones under the sink. They look for products marked with the “USDA Organic” seal of approval or EPA’s Design for Environment logo.They scrutinize websites like Michigan-based Ecology Center’s HealthyStuff.org and HealthyToys.org to get the skinny on toxic substances on products from school supplies to automobiles. Find them on the memberships rolls of Beyond Pesticides, Organic Consumers Association and to be regular readers of Natural Life Magazine.

Some ways to appeal to health fanatics:

1. Focus on organic aspects, health benefits, trust, transparency and natural ingredients.
2. Cross-promote with organic foods companies or a non-toxic cleaning product or sponsor a website like OrganicConsumers.org, or advertise in Natural Life Magazine.

Animal Lovers are likely to be vegetarian or vegan, belong to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and boycott tuna and products with real fur. They look for products labeled as “cruelty-free”, Salmon Safe, or Dolphin-safe. They seek out synthetic handbags and faux fur jackets, and favor the faux-meat options at restaurants. They perk up to news stories featuring animals in need, from manatees and polar bears to strays in their neighborhood, and are likely to volunteer at the local animal shelter. Out of concern for marine life, they eschew plastic bags. Catch them reading Animal Fair Magazine and Veg News Magazine.

Some ways to appeal to animal lovers:

1. Conduct a cause-related marketing campaign through PETA’s Business Friends program or partner with the ASPCA.
2. Advertise in Animal Fair Magazine and PAWS magazine or online on WWF.org.

Outdoor Enthusiasts spend their free time camping, rock climbing, skiing, and hiking. They vacation in national parks and plan their next adventure using tips from Outdoors Magazine. Whether they’re purchasing Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap to reduce the impact of washing dishes while camping, or toting reusable bottles like Kleen Kanteen to avoid littering the trail, they seek to minimize the impact of their recreational activities. When shopping, they look for FSC (sustainably harvested) labels on their products, are also likely to purchase outdoor gear made from recycled materials, such as Synchilla PCR (post-consumer recycled polyester) from Patagonia.

Some ways to appeal to outdoor enthusiasts:

1. Conduct a joint promotion with national parks or manufacturers of boots, reusable bottles, and trail mix snacks.
2. Advertise in Sierra Club magazine or online at Backpackers.com.

How do you segment your green customers? And how does that affect your marketing strategy?

Jacquelyn Ottman is president of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., a New York-based marketing consulting firm that specializes in helping consumer businesses derive competitive advantage from eco-innovation and green marketing.

This blog was originally published by Harvard Business Press.org. It was excerpted from her latest book on green marketing, due out in 2010. Learn more about it by linking here.

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Read Jacquie Ottman’s Green Marketing Blog

How Nike Reduces Toxicity to Balance Consumer Needs with Enhanced Corporate Reputation

2010-01-28T15:22:23Z

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 towards “deep green” consumers with innovative design that eliminates the need for excess lining and reinforcement. Compared to Nike’s established lines, the manufacturing process reduces solvent use by 80%. To strengthen corporate responsibility, Nike is now incorporating the principles of the Considered line into other products, such as Air Jordan XX3.

Nike knows that consumers are focused on maximum performance, so they smartly focus communications on increased performance rather than on health. However, communications targetted to employees, investors and other important stakeholders do discuss reduced toxicity, and as such enhance their brand and corporate reputation. So the value is captured more indirectly, but captured nevertheless!

Note: This blog post is excerpted from my soon-to-be-published book on doing green marketing right. Learn more and sign up to be notified of its release by linking here.

Ashley Blakemun contributed to this post.

Underscore Health Benefits to Add Relevance to Green Marketing Messages

2010-01-13T21:16:12Z

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.

Folllow Jacquie on Twitter

Brianna Rogers of J. Ottman Consulting helped to prepare this post.

When it Comes to Marketing Green Appliances, Silence is Golden

2010-01-11T21:13:47Z

Ads for Bosch’s super quiet, high performance appliances make a point about doing green marketing right loud and clear: focus on the benefits most relevant to consumers.

As I discuss at more length in my soon-to-be-published book, “Consumers buy products to meet basic needs, not (primarily) to save the planet.” Said another way, consumers walk into the store with their, well, consumer caps on, not citizen ones.

Commercials for Bosch’s super-energy efficient appliances focus on how quiet they are, with secondary emphasis on their environmentally preferable attributes. In one ad that I discussed in the book, a gentle deer walking through a forest meanders upon an operating Bosch Nexxt washer and dryer tandem and never notices the appliance. A second ad shows an owl swooping through an orange canyon to rest upon the (quiet) Bosch Evolution dishwasher.

So to do green marketing right: Appeal to consumers’ self interest. Focus too heavily on environmental benefits at the expense of primary ones and doom your product to the green graveyard!

To learn more about my new book, link here.

Brianna Rogers of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc. assisted with this post.

Opportunities for Marketing to the Green Consumer

2010-01-09T18:07:57Z

Consumers buy over $200 billion of natural personal care and cleaning products, organic produce, hybrid cars, fair trade coffee, compostable plates and cups, and other green products and services.

Please join me on February 4, 2010 (in New York City) for Opportunities to Market to the Green Consumer. Network with members of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club and other senior marketing professionals from New York. Listen to green marketing practitioners from HSBC, Ozocar and Sundance Channel talk about opportunities to build green brands, innovate new products and services, and contribute to the bottomline. I’ll be moderating the panel and kicking things off with a presentation on “Doing Green Marketing Right”.

This event is part of a Sustainable Business Certificate Series. Attend this event and five more in the series and receive a certificate from the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of NY.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Link here to learn more and to Register.

Questions! Email: sustainablebusiness@cbsacny.org

How to Avoid Greenwash

2010-01-09T17:30:35Z

Greenwashing—communicating (even unintentiionally) that one’s product or company is greener than it actually is—is the Number One challenge of green marketers today. Greenwashers can expect swift retribution from consumers, advocates and the media in the forms of lost sales and tarnished reputation.

To help smooth the way for our clients and other green marketers, I’ll be moderating a special virtual conference on Thursdday, Jan 14, 2010. It’s called: Building Credibility, Avoiding Greenwash.

Join us online for a look at unfolding strategies and best practices for establishing credibility for your sustainable brand.

This jam-packed, full-day, online conference will teach you…How to make sense of the multiplicity of eco-labels in the US and worldwide….Whether an independent eco-label is right for you…Alternatives to eco-labels and evaluating their cost/benefits…How sustainable packaging lends credibility to your brand….Game changing initiatives coming from Office Depot, GoodGuide.com and others.

I’ll be presenting a session on “Alternatives to Eco-Labels” Link here to learn more.

I hope to see you online. For more information and to register link here .

Guest Blog: Green Marketing and the Simultaneous Pursuit of Growth and Reputation Enhancement

2009-10-16T15:51:34Z

This is a guest blog post, written by Eric Lowitt.

A company that I admire shared a story that highlights a green marketing conundrum faced by a growing number of companies. The story, told by a progressive drink distributor, went something like this:

The company held an off-site with the salesforce dedicated to one of their key accounts. The company invited executives from the key account to present ways the company could increase sales through the account. Nestled among the usual suspects was “prove that you are a sustainability leader.”

The company was surprised, not because they doubted that green features were helpful to sales; rather because they regularly are recognized for their progressive actions. The feedback from this key account suggested that their sustainability leadership position was not communicated throughout the company’s organization in a way that resonated; an opportunity to evaluate their approach to green marketing had presented itself.

Knowing that the global community actively watches their advertising to detect signs of greenwash, especially promotions targeting the individual consumer market, this company has adopted a conservative approach to marketing. The feedback suggested the company needed to find a way to preserve their external modesty while ramping up the sustainability dialogue internally. The company has since developed green marketing engagement strategies for their key accounts.

This story should serve as a wake-up call for all companies that serve both individual and institutional customers, and are chasing a course of green action. Your company might be sacrificing growth opportunities in the institutional market for the sake of mitigating the risk of greenwash accusation. So how can companies simultaneously be ‘quiet on the outside, and loud on the inside’? By taking these five steps:

1.    Ensure the launch and execution of your green marketing campaign is informed by the latest thinking in the greenwash arena. One way to do this is to develop a database of greenwash infractions, as noted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and/or Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority.

2.    Vet advertising campaigns with internal and external observers before launch. Since the FTC doesn’t prescreen ads for greenwashing claims, companies should consider forming an internal marketing governance committee and leverage their NGO partnerships to cast a skeptical eye towards new campaigns.

3.    Prime consumers to connect with your green campaign. Companies are employing one or more of the following three approaches to achieve this. Some are communicating their green qualities through visible clues, such as minimal packaging. Others are working with their industry peers to develop standard eco labels. And various companies are connecting with green product devotees through social media (see Jacquelyn Ottman’s recent HBR Leading Green Blog post, Green Marketing Really Has Gone Mainstream, for some great examples of this approach in action).

4.    Step up efforts to communicate green selling points to your salesforce. Companies in industries as diverse as financial services and high tech are holding teach-ins, seminars, and other events to raise their sales teams’ knowledge of their company’s green efforts. They’re supporting these efforts by producing sales collateral that explains their green messages in terms that are meaningful, not ethereal, to their salesforce.

5.    Develop targeted key account environmental sustainability marketing messages that clearly map your green efforts to your key accounts’ green focal points. Companies like the one highlighted in the above story are taking the time to map out each of their key account’s green efforts, to identify common points that are then used to develop specific engagement strategies.

In today’s growth constrained economy, every little bit counts. Now is the time to employ your green strategy as a growth strategy.

Note: Eric most recently led Accenture's sustainability research program for two years as a research fellow in Accenture's Institute for High Performance.

Earn Your Sustainability Certificate!

2009-10-09T20:35:58Z

Looking to learn more about sustainable business? Want to switch into a green job? Consider earning a certificate in Sustainability from the MAKING GREEN FROM GREEN Sustainability Certificate Series hosted by the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of NY (which I Co-Chair). All you need to do is attend 6 of the 8 topics in order to be certified. (OK to just attend one or two events, too -- and you don't have to be a member of the Columbia B School Club, the series is open to all.)

This is an 8 part series that covers the following topics: Real Estate (October 20), Renewable Energy (November 10),Green Marketing (February 4), International (february 23), Corporate Social Responsibility (March 18), Finance (April 20), Energy Efficiency (May 18), and Emerging Technologies (June 15).

Here is some helpful information:

WHAT: Making Green From Green Certificate Series
WHO: Open to the public
WHEN: October 20, 2009 – June 15, 2010
BUY TICKETS TO NEXT EVENT: www.CBSACNY.org/article.html?aid=795
MORE INFO: http://www.cbsacny.org

Why Jacquie Ottman’s Green Marketing Remains Relevant

2009-09-08T18:28:10Z

Guest post by Peter Korchnak, who writes the Sustainable Marketing Blog.

I recently read for the first time and reviewed Jacquie Ottman's Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation (2nd edition) and this is what struck me: "[M]ost of what I read nowadays about sustainability and marketing, Jacquie covered in Green Marketing more than a decade ago."

Though sustainability* has made inroads throughout the corporate world, with the likes of Nike and Walmart implementing sustainable practices on a large scale, green marketing literature and blogs recycle the same old themes. If green - or at least parts of it congruent with the established mass-consumption business models - has entered the mainstream, why does green marketing tread water?

I believe the story has two sides: both consumers and companies are responsible for the failure of green marketing to become the dominant business paradigm.

On the consumer side, I've identified a number of barriers to mass adoption of sustainability, most of which have to do with psychology. The human tendency to resist change and fall back to the familiar and the concrete render sustainability irrelevant to the average consumer's life. Green has a marketing problem in that it fails to tell a good story.

From that standpoint, part of green's failure is positioning. Green tends to be couched in ethical terms. The problem is, "sweatshop free", "not tested on animals", or "ecological" and other terms green marketing (ab)uses to advocate for green wares are too narrow in their appeal. Consumers who wish to consume altruistically represent narrow niches with limited growth potential. It's not that the average consumer doesn't care about the environment or community. Green comprises only a tiny sliver of the average consumer's purchases because green is just one of several factors in her purchasing decisions.

Paradoxically, green can only prevail in gaining mass acceptance if it diverts attention from itself. The average consumer must decide to buy your green product not because it's branded as green but because it satisfies her needs, whatever those may be. For example, American Apparel, a brand that is famous for its worker friendly labor practices, logo-less designs, and the Made-in-the-USA label, exploded into the mainstream only when it stopped touting its ethics and started selling "sexy T-shirts for young people". In other words, keep the product green, just don't try to sell it as such.

Green Marketing remains as relevant in 2009 as it was in 1998. For green marketing to succeed it must transition from the strategy of niche appeal to satisfying larger, more fundamental needs.

* Despite differences between the concepts, for the purposes of this post I use green and sustainable as interchangeable terms.

Jacquie Ottman's Green Marketing Blog welcomes guest posts. Please contact us if you would like to contribute.

Jacquelyn Ottman is president of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., a New York-based marketing consulting firm that specializes in helping businesses derive competitive advantage from eco-innovation and green marketing. She is the author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation, 2nd edition.

Follow Jacquie on Twitter or read her Green Marketing Blog

What If Mainstream Consumers Don’t Care About Green?

2009-08-14T15:30:56Z

A professor from India queried me this morning about this intriguing green marketing question: How are we going to serve the customer who is not at all worried about green? In India with the kind of population we have the awareness levels I feel India is going to be a tough market where people are more price concious than Environment.

Government may or may not provide any incentive to the green consumer.

My answer (and I hope it's not too glib): Not to worry! Most green products simply work better. So highlight the direct consumer benefits instead. The Toyota Prius launched with a campaign targetted to technology enthusiasts that underscored the quiet ride and new technology. Tide Coldwater focused mainstream consumers on the money to be saved on hot water bills. Each overlaid their campaigns with supplemental messages to green consumers.

And then there's also the opportunity to educate consumers about the environmental issue that your product does solve as part of your marketing campaign. See my article on this website entitled, Five Simple Strategies of Green Marketing.

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USDA Proposes Voluntary Label for Biobased Products

2009-08-03T19:11:00Z

If you're a manufacturer, or part of another organization that deals with "biobased" products (i.e., made out of agricultural, forestry, or marine-based ingredients), you will be interested to know that our client, the USDA is proposing a special eco-label for such products or packages. Examples of products on the government's "BioPreferred" list include PLA-based plastics, vegetable oil-based cleaning fluids, and soaps made from natural ingredients—but not food or fuel.

You have 60 days, (from now until September 29) to comment on this proposed "BioPreferred" eco-labeling program.

For more information:
     - Read the BioPreferred news release
     - Read the proposed rule in the Federal Register
     - Leave comments (First, click on "Search for a Proposed Rule" and insert "0503-AA35" or "biobased" (no quotes) under "keyword.")
     - Visit the BioPreferred Web site at www.biopreferred.gov

Feel free to contact us directly with any questions that you may have.

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