Neil Perkin interviews John Grant

John Grant, author of the Green Marketing Manifesto, interviewed by Neil Perkin, Director of Marketing & Strategy for the commercial functions of IPC Media.
Here

Got to love Lovelock

James Lovelock formed the Gaia hypothesis, the hypothesis that suggests the world is a single organism. A very influential book, and a great one. Now he is saying, if I have this right, that reducing particulate emissions from economic activity will intensify global warming, because their aerosol properties have a counteracting effect of global dimming.
Businesses will still have to engage in solving the problem of human-generated global warming, of course. But being of a particular environmental orientation, like knee jerk reactions, doesn't necessarily help.

Long term green strategy

Ruby Gates says it better than I:
"So often marketing is focused on short term goals tied directly to revenue results. It makes sense, but eventually the consumer’s awareness surrounding sustainability eclipses impulse buying and spending frenzies. Instead, thoughtful consumerism driven by educational campaigns wins out.

"...As the definition of sustainability becomes pervasive, it won’t be the slick ad that captures the market; rather, it will be the story. Strategies designed to fold consumer values into the buying decision will complete a true and lasting market shift. These are strategies and approaches that recognize the new business paradigm and embrace the marketplace as a whole, not as separate components unrelated to each other."

from Portland's Green Marketing firm, Marketshift Strategies.

Green marketing is aspirational

Green has to do with interrelationship with the environment. In practice, Green is a hard or impossible ethic to deliver on, because companies have to make compromises, and people are imperfect; disengagement is human.

What this means in practical terms is that Green marketing has to be aspirational, or else the reality of the footprint that is actually introduced will undermines the Green claim. Buying a Prius isn't better for the environment than walking, let's not kid ourselves. And, more than this, the authorities are catching on, clamping down on spurious Green marketing claims.

Today, Australian paper The Age reports that "The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will check the authenticity of several green marketing products after receiving a growing number of complaints."

Marketing should relate "moving towards", not "having it together."

Social responsibility and social objects

Brilliant post on Social Objects by Hugh MacLeod.
Hugh comes up with a more evocative term for these things that we cluster around: Sharing device.

The implications of sharing devices are large. Especially in strategic communications.

The environment is a meta object that we all share; green marketing needs to consider the best use of social objects/sharing devices, from the meta level to the mundane.

Ecocentric thinking

In a world of almost unlimited choice, we pick a subset of available items to browse from.

This subset is typically determined by brand, retail outlet or price. I want to buy something from the Gap (or not). I will check the Clearance rack.
It's up to green marketers to deeply realize our tendency to cordon off a section of the market that we will choose from, and present a subset of globally available items in an appealing way, such that consumers are liable to access it.
Green marketers, in other words, re-frame the market.

"Ecocentra is an online marketing place for buying and selling eco friendly and ethical products
"Unlike ebay, you can list your products for up to 3 months
"Unlike ebay, we focus on products that help reduce our impact on the planet
"Unlike ebay, listing and selling your products on ecocentra is FREE. "

-see Ecocentra

thanks to Materialicous for pointing them out...

CSR

Terrible news - BBC Report
" The decline in global sink efficiency suggests that stabilisation of atmospheric CO2 is even more difficult to achieve than previously thought."

This reminds me of what now seems to be a hopelessly discordant view Corporate Social Responsibility, from Milton Friedman: "There is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud."
- wikipidia

You could agree with this, in so far as corporate policy that is not aimed at environmental sustainability is both deceptive and fraudulent.

Eradicating Green Fatigue

"...Green describes not only a product attribute but a social cause"
from Marketinggreen.com

If Green remains only cause-related, it's just a matter of time before people get burned out on this stuff. When we see it as a product attribute it is worthwhile tracing it back to its roots. Green is, in some sense, a cipher that captures an economic determinant.


Fair trade tea. The workers are paid well. It has a lovely taste. It is flavorful; you don't need a bag for the pot.

Imagine selling 'small', and making more.

Reverse Engineering Happens

From Seth Godin: "I can clone a frog from one skin cell--and get the whole frog. Can I clone your brand from one interaction, from one web page, from one referral?"

Brand identity is determined by experience. People sniff it out.

Wrapping the brand in a monolithic capital e Experience is getting tougher and tougher to do. So, what companies really do is vital; a company's real character either supports, or destroys, a green brand proposition.

Leave behinds

We dumped Telus and went with a Peopleline VOIP phone the other day. Not because it was cheaper to do this, or even 100% more convenient - though this is part of Peopleline's sales approach. We switched because the Telus approach to managing us and our communications needs became less and less relevant to the way we want to live.

A more humane life is at the heart of the eco value proposition. In the end, people don't want to get LESS for their money. That would be absurd. But the eco appeal is better value through features, rather than straight dollar savings. The cost cutters and enviro exploiters will win in a straight cost war.

That said, facts & figures that support dollar savings are good as a leave-behind.
From Consumer Reports:

http://greenerchoices.org/globalwarmingsavecarbon.cfm

Green is about Discovery.

The marketplace is about discovery.

Seems strange for a marketer to say this, but if people really want to find green, they will find it. Like they rediscover locally grown produce. Food from a family farm may not be always 100% pesticide free, but its basic goodness is there for all to see. People are starting to FIND these places. The companies don't have to spell everything out, in fact its better they don't: not only is the marketplace about unearthing quarry - Green is about ethics/self discovery, anyway.

Of course marketing is needed. The message up front should be energetic and relevant. But Marketing, to be effective, needs to have symmetry - aligning form and content. Green advertising should appear, and should conserve energy. Show the new features, show the quiet, show the real costs. Don't paint the town green - it's a waste of time. People who need to buy something that is good will catch on, like they catch on to Apple computers.

Punk green marketing notwithstanding, you probably don't have to yell. Let the green recede into the background, or appear in the fine print, where it will be found.

FlowMarket

Art that gives pause , cool - link from the Kitchen Designer
every day is blog action day. etc.

Green is relevant.

From Greenormal
"Future dictionary definition: [Carbonarian:noun]
A person who has resolved to avoid all high carbon products, companies and activities. Analogous to vegetarian."

In the 1990's there was a forward looking gourmet vegetarian restaurant, on Vancouver's trendy Robson Street. 24 Carrot was all high end: linen, fine food, organic wines, lovely... Trouble was, Vancouver wasn't New York City. The clientèle, as I remember it, was pretty dour. Most didn't drink. Sales of juice and food were insufficient to keep the place afloat; one year after opening, they were closed.

A large proportion of self proclaimed Greens are 'problem' customers, who can't have this, won't have that, 'I-cant-afford-to-tip, -and-anyway-you-forgot-to-refill-my-water'-types. Some of them are Carbonarians, and certainly many are Absolutists, plagued by the realization that to best reduce your footprint, you should probably off yourself.

But there is a Green that is relevant to human life, and hence markets:

"When there is a need for a building, and the design and construction team remains loyal to the expression of that need, we see ecological and humane buildings rise from the earth. They provide homes that keep our families safe and warm. They contain schools for our children to learn, centers where we can heal, and places to work. We need to adopt a mindset not of being green by doing the least harm, but of being green by honoring our bond with the earth at every step of the... process. - Tristan Korthals Altes, BuildingGreen.com

Greening to Gold

Andrew Winston, author of "Greening to Gold" writes:

"Green works as a “3rd button” in marketing—first you get them on price and quality, and then grab them with the green. The segment of consumers who will only buy green or pay more for green alone will stay very small. But the percentage of consumers who will choose the green (or ethical) product—if it’s the 3rd button and does everything else they want it to at a good price—may rise to nearly 100%. It will be a critical differentiator."

Full article at Change This