A vitally important new rule for green marketing is to communicate sustainability with impact. This is just one of the 20-plus rules and ideas presented in a new green marketing handbook from one of the highly respected green gurus, Jacquelyn A. Ottman. The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools, and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2011, ISBN: 978-1-60509-866-1) tells readers that going green has gone mainstream.
Everyone seems to be some shade of green these days. According to Ottman’s research findings, 83 percent of Americans have incorporated some sort of eco-practice into their daily routines. Marketing green products, services, and initiatives has become more of a brand awareness message than a green issue awareness theme.
Generational Green
Ottman spends some time in the first chapter going back in time to show how green started, stalled, stopped, and restarted to finally reach businesses, consumers, and governments around the world. Bringing readers up to the now of green, she writes, “Caring for nature and the planet and the people who live here now and in the future... is now a core value of every living generation.”
Marketers will appreciate the information Ottman provides on how each generation is experiencing and practicing green. The data she provides is in-depth enough to help in preparing marketing messages for each individual group.
Green Marketing Paradigm
Now that green is accepted and practiced by almost the entire population, marketing has taken on its own shade of green. Ottman suggests two basic strategies:
- Develop products to balance consumers' needs for quality, affordable, and convenience with the lowest impact on the environment
- Create demand through credible, values-laden communications that offer practical benefits while empowering and engaging consumers
She further defines seven strategies for the new paradigm including:
- Understanding social beliefs and values of consumers
- Creating new products and services to balance consumers' needs as stated above
- Developing brands with practical benefits and lower impact on environment
- Establishing credibility for efforts through communications
- Being proactive and going beyond what is expected
- Thinking holistically and underscoring community with users
- Not quitting and continually striving for zero impact
Ottman clarifies several strategies, steps, and policies to address today’s eco-smart buying public. She also provides a section on the latest green labels for authenticity, which should prove extremely helpful for product development from a marketing perspective.
Green News
Ottman includes her 20 new rules of green marketing showing off her expertise and experience in both the green and marketing worlds. The biggest message of the book is that green is everywhere and is practiced in some part by everyone, and as such, marketing has a new mission when showing the green side of products, services, and brands.
The book is well-written, the points are well-substantiated, and professional marketers will gain much-needed insights from Ottman’s writings. Green is finally an integrated part of society and appears to be here to stay for generations to come.
