May 2008

Green Imaging
By Christine Giordano

The Pro-environmental wave in marketing is hard to ignore. It’s actually becoming mainstream. Clorox has a new "Green Works" product line. Enterprise car rental is announcing its pledge to plant 50 million trees. Lockheed Martin flashes buzz words like "environmental stewardship" and "carbon reduction"to lead people to the website Lockheedmartin.com/how, which boasts about its positive contributions to the community. Hummer ads end with an outer-space view of planet earth.

    A quick search on www.youtube.com for "environmental commercials" brings up more than 1,000 advertisements clamoring for your attention --  announcing environmental pledges and warning about global warming.

    Is green marketing going to be a quick trend that fades away, or is it here to stay?

    "As long as the price of oil continues to rise, people will look for alternatives," says Paul Wapner, American University associate professor of the School of International Service and Global Environmental Politics.

   Decades ago, the Washington D.C.-based professor worked as a consultant to get companies and legislators to reduce ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)s that oozed from refrigerants, styrofoam and aerosol sprays. Now, Wapner notices a more educated consumer. "Businesses know that consumers want to buy products that are not made of wood, are sustainable and don’t use or off-gas toxic material," he said.

    Whereas tree-hugging, granola-eating environmentalists used to be relegated to the fringes of society, main-stream consumers are now embracing their health-wise message. Traditional supermarkets now have organic sections. Consumers opt for carbon offset credits to reverse activities that would have a negative effect on the greenhouse gasses.

    "The international community realizes that oil supplies are dwindling," noted Professor Wapner. Spain and Germany are now investing heavily in wind energy and China has surpassed the U.S. in producing solar energy cells. Global investment in renewable energy has quadrupled since 1995. Needless to say, conserving the environment could be a pivotal issue in the 2008 U.S. election.

    Companies that are slow to take green action may hinder their own growth, according to an August 2007 study by GfK Roper Consulting, a research firm that measures print ad readership.

    More than 70% of those surveyed said that a company's environmental practices are a key factor in their purchasing, investing, and shopping decisions, as well as whether they would recommend the product to others.

    A conflict still exists, however, when consumers weigh economic growth against environmental protection -- consumers were divided 48% to 52 % in deciding which is more important, according to GfK.

Target Marketing

    Waste Management has been spending $25 million to $30 million a year to run pro-green print and television advertisements highlighting the amount of waste-based energy it generates (enough to power one million homes), the amount of acreage it has set aside for wildlife habitats (now more than 19,000 acres), and the number of trees it has saved by recycling paper (41 million last year), according to a February 7 article in The New York Times.

    "I think the most important thing is, people don't understand what waste management does," said Waste Management spokeswoman Lyn Brown.

    The ads, placed in national news, sporting events spots, and business magazines, aim to target civic minded opinion leaders and those who actively share their opinions. The waste company's first goal is to educate, and, eventually, to cultivate.

    "It's ultimately to gain trust," Brown said.

The Toyota Prius

    With auto-emissions named as one of the biggest culprits of global warming, it's hard to ignore the marketing efforts of one of the more successful products -- the Toyota Prius. The gas-electric vehicle was once targeted primarily to true-blue environmentalists, but the commercials evolved with a growing eco-friendly consumer base.

    With the evolution came a change in tone. The first Prius commercials had almost a vigilante tone with the hybrid car being driven past wilting oil rigs. Now, Prius commercials note the car's low environmental impact as the hybrid is uncovered in a peaceful forest being hailed by all of nature. The new commercials are part of Toyota's goal to hit the mainstream market, according to spokeswoman Cindy Knight.

    "If we want to move the needle on creating sustainable mobility, we have to get millions behind the wheel," Knight said.
    With its advertising campaign success, consumer demand outstripped Prius manufacturing. The Prius had waiting lists at dealerships until Toyota opened a second factory in Japan.
 
    Whereas traditional car commercials rave about power behind the wheel, how did Toyota predict that marketing a car with minimal environmental impact would tap a nerve with Americans?
   
    "Consumer spending reflects heightened awareness,"Knight said.

    Knight cited recent research by Yankelovich, a leading consumer research company, who found that 56% of consumers surveyed purchased a brand because of admiration for social responsibility efforts.

    Furthermore, in his book Cause for Concern: Results-Oriented Cause Marketing, author Stephen Adler noted that 58% of consumers surveyed paid more for a product because it was environmentally friendly, and 77% of consumers changed their purchasing  habits due to a company’s environmental image.

    Toyota is now working on utilizing hydrogen fuel cell technology and fine tuning a plug-in prototype.

Regulation?

    The increase in Green marketing has caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission. "In the past year there's been a virtual explosion of green marketing," said FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras during a January 8 workshop that was held to review the guidelines for green marketing.

    When the guides were revised in 1998, terms such as sustainable, biobased, cradle to cradle and carbon neutral did not exist.

    "We do a regular review of our guides and rules but this one we have decided we need to do at an accelerated pace,"said Platt Majoras.

    The January workshop was an attempt to get a handle on how to separate genuine green initiatives from false "greenwashing." The FTC's "Green Guides" help ensure claims are not deceptive and are adequately supported, but they are not law.

    The Commission is seeking information on how claims are understood by consumers, whether they're truthful and substantiated, and what advice the FTC can give to help people avoid making deceptive claims.

    "In short, marketers have to have a reasonable basis to support their advertising claims," said Platt Majoras.

    Workshop transcripts can be found at www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/-carbonoffsets/index.shtml. There will be more workshops held this year, but the dates are yet to be announced.