Its Not That Easy Being a Green Marketer

It’s Not That Easy Being a Green Marketer

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It's not that easy being green; Having to spend each day the color of the leaves. When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold. . . or something much more colorful like that. It's not easy being green. It seems you blend in with so many other ord'nary things. And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water or stars in the sky. But green's the color of Spring. And green can be cool and friendly-like. And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree. When green is all there is to be It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why? Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful! And I think it's what I want to be. Credit to Kermit the frog!

Choosing the Right Green. Marketing Strategy Jill M. Ginsberg, Pop. Cap Games, Inc. Paul N. Bloom, Kenan-Flagler, UNC

Basic Argument • Defining green marketing as: – Efforts in developing, branding, labeling, and promoting a company’s offerings that stress environmental-friendliness as a differentiating attribute • Green marketing has often disappointed – It has not consistently created the win-win situation that advocates have anticipated – It has actually made some companies look opportunistic and manipulative • But not a “one size fits all” strategy – Different “styles” of green marketing can be work well in different marketplace situations – Careful research and analysis must guide strategy

Why has Green Marketing Disappointed? • Consumer preferences have been misjudged, as people will not sacrifice quality and performance for environmental friendliness • Consumers willing to pay a little more for greenness, assuming all else is equal, but not a lot more • It is very hard to differentiate a brand on greenness • Consumers are very skeptical of green claims • But there ARE segments that care…

Roper ASW Environmental Segments Green Gauge Report 2002 Americans Perspective on Environmental Issues Yes…But

Implications of Consumer Caring • For some products and some markets, differentiating on environmental friendliness will be limited in potential payoffs • For other products and other markets, differentiating on environmental friendliness could produce substantial returns

Key Attributes to Investigate • Substantiality of the green consumer segments for a brand • Differentiability of the brand versus competing brands – Can the company mobilize the will and resources to be really different on greenness? – Can consumers be persuaded that the brand is truly different on greenness?

Green Marketing Strategy Matrix Low Differentiability on Greenness Low LEAN GREEN Substantiality of Green Market Segments High DEFENSIVE Substantiality of GREEN Green Market Segments High Differentiability on Greenness SHADED GREEN EXTREME GREEN

Lean Green: Good corporate citizens that are less focused on publicizing their green initiatives and more interested in what those initiative can do for helping to achieve cost competitive advantages. Also concerned about living up to green expectations.

Defensive Green: Using green marketing as a precautionary measure, a response to a crisis, or a response to a competitor’s actions.

Shaded Green: Capable of differentiating on greenness, but the market May be more focused on other attributes.

Extreme Green: Letting greenness permeate everywhere because it’s what the brand is about and what the market wants.

Primary Marketing-Mix Tools in Green Strategy Product Price Lean X Defensive X Shaded X X Extreme X X Place Promotion X X

Implementation Considerations • Study own-customer records to determine whether green segments being served – What does the company stand to lose if consumer segments go elsewhere? • Study how segments see the brand competitor brands on greenness • Cultivate the corporate culture • Educate consumers • Be credible (employ 3 rd party certification) • Don’t forget attributes other than greenness!

Conclusions • It’s not easy, but certain styles of green marketing can produce good returns • Do your homework • Proceed with caution • Monitor your performance • Remember: – We’re not arguing that companies should limit the greenness of their business practices – they should be as green and sustainable as possible. – It just may not be wise for everyone to try to be “extreme green. ” – Strategies like “lean green” are very viable.