Greener Insights

A "Kernel Insight" Regarding Dark Green College Students

2009-11-20T05:22:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, November 19, 2009, Deeper Insights conducted an exploratory focus group with "dark green" college students regarding their attitudes, beliefs and behaviors as regards the green movement, green products, and corporate social responsibility.

The purpose of the focus group was to generate what we call "kernel insights". A kernel insight is a simple, broad insight that we will study in greater detail in a more formal follow-up study.

One issue we investigated was the locus of motivation; we wondered whether students who were most passionate about green and sustainability issues experienced that passion as emanating from an inner source (ie, their deep, inner personal values) or whether they experienced that energy as being driven by an external source (ie,their immediate peer group, the broader social climate, or the media climate).

We had suspected that dark green students would experience that motivation as coming from within. And, indeed, we found students whose drive to be green found its source in their innermost convictions. However, we also found some dark green students whose drive to be green came from without. To summarize the comments of those dark green students who experienced that motivation as being external: "...if the majority feels that we should be green, then it must be true".

We will be elaborating on this kernel insight with in-depth interviews and online bulletin board focus groups. We also will be studying the implications that this insight has for marketers.

Green Marketers Miss The Forest For The Twig

2009-10-26T06:40:00.001-07:00

A slew of recent research studies have found that consumers are confused by the approximately 400 green product certification programs. Apparently the sheer number of these programs has left consumers hollow-eyed and unable to absorb any meaningful information about them. As a result, having your product certified by such programs will have little impact on sales.

We needed research studies to tell us this?

I think we're missing the proverbial forest for the twig. It's intuitively apparent that this green marketplace is a confusing mess for the average person. In addition to the 400 green product certifications with which consumers must contend, they are also faced with the following: a handful of terms that are (somewhat) synonymous with the "Green Movement"; lack of clarity regarding the focus of that movement; little sense of the events that have driven the evolution of the movement; and no universally-defined terms to use when discussing the movement.

Can we expect to be able to access the deeper motivations of consumers, and channel them to purchase green products, if they are at a loss about the green movement and the green product marketplace? No, we can't.

We must help the consumer order her thinking about the green movement. Specifically, we must:

1. provide consumers with a brief timeline for understanding how the green movement has evolved to where it is now;

2. provide consumers with an organizing framework to understand the components of the green movement as it exists today;

3. provide consumers with clear, standard definitions of the terminology that is being used in today's green movement;

4. provide consumers with some central issue that can serve as the organizing priority for the green movement today.

Only when we have accomplished these things will we be able to channel the consumer's deeper motivations toward the end of purchasing green products. Until then, promoting things like green certifications is firing scattershot at a fragmented market.

Is The US Poised For A Decline In Global Economic Competitiveness?

2009-10-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

This is a great blog post that pulls together the information making a case for green technology being the future basis of global economic competitiveness. If this indeed is the case, the US is being left in the dust. China is poised for a major leadership role in this regard, as is Europe. We had better wake up.

http://greeneconomypost.com/greening-china-surpass-america-4782.htm

Green Consumer Case Study: 21 Year Old, Liberal Male

2009-10-05T05:06:00.000-07:00

At a coffee shop that I frequent I recently engaged a young man in a conversation about his view of the Green movement.

This young man is 21 years old. He attended a private Catholic high school, and currently attends a Catholic college. He works at this coffee shop part-time. I don't know him very well, but I had a sense that he possessed a liberal political bent.

One of the insights that emerged from our conversation is that he himself views the Green movement as encompassing a broad spectrum of issues; he doesn't view it as being narrowly focused on the environment. He implicitly understands that the movement encompasses environmental, social, and economic issues, although he didn't explicitly state this view in those specific terms. Rather, he discussed the movement in terms of the specific issues (ie, fair trade, sustainability, recycling) that comprise the movement. He told me that "...everything is connected...".

He told me that some of his friends don't see it the same way. Many of them tend to be focused on one particular issue. For example, he said that some of his friends belong to the "Fair Trade" club at school. Others belong to the "Anti-Sweat Shop Club". They tend to be into their pet issue, and aren't necessarily looking at their one special interest as being part of a larger constellation of related issues.

This conversation suggests that an intuition of mine might be correct. I have felt that, because the consuming public is really unclear about the modern manifestation of the green movement --- in terms of what it encompasses --- that this leaves people to project their personal interests onto the movement. Another way to say this is that some people might be more drawn to the economic thread of the green movement. Others might be focused exclusively on the environmental aspects of the movement. And yet others might be focused on the social aspects of the movement.

If this indeed is the case, then marketers must take this into account when marketing to consumers. They can't assume that all green consumers are interested in, concerned about, and motivated by each individual thread of the green movement.

However, it also means that marketers might benefit from educating the consuming public about the green movement. Doing this could serve to broaden the perspective of many people, thereby transferring part of their focus beyond their narrow special interest issue and onto the whole of the green movement.

'Dot-Eco' Internet Domain Suffix Up For Grabs

2009-09-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

"The New York Times" today reports that several organizations are competing to be granted exclusive rights to the ".eco" top level domain suffix by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Suffixes.

Creating a website under the ".eco" suffix promises to be a way to present one's company as being "green". Thus, it will be interesting to see what criteria are created for determining whether a company is qualified to use the ."eco" suffix.

The article can be viewed at:
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/comapnies-vie-for-control-of-dot-eco/?scp=2&sq=green%20consumer&st=cse

"...we need emergency action all around the world to curb (greenhouse gas) emissions."

2009-09-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

The quote that titles this entry is by Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed. He is yet another foreign voice crying out desperately to a seized US legistlative engine and a nearly oblivious citizenry. He and other world leaders are desperately shaking us by the shoulders and slapping us in the face to awaken us from our state of adolescent denial.

Why? By most accounts humanity must cut its emissions of greenhouse gases by between 50-90% within 5 to 10 years or our children's children are doomed. This will require rapid and massive behavior change and sacrifice. We must face this, our media must face this, our businesses must face this, and our government must face this.

If we ourselves can't muster the will to do so, let us hope that those responsible nations of the world can muster the will to abandon the face slap for the sucker punch. We will need and deserve one.

To read President Nasheed's "Huffington Post" Op-Ed piece select the link below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mohamed-nasheed/climate-change-requires-a_b_292747.html

Are We Personalizing Responsibility For Climate Change?

2009-09-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has estimated that humanity must cut its production of greenhouse gases by 50 to 80 percent by the year 2050 in order to avoid catastrophe. If we individualize that goal, then each and every one of us must cut our individual production of greenhouse gases by 50 to 80 percent.

So how are we meauring up to that goal? To answer that question let's examine one particular greenhouse gas-producing activity in which most of us partake daily: driving.

In order to achieve the IPCC's goal we should be cutting our driving emissions by 50% to 80%. Are we making the life-changes that are necessary to do this? Are we, for example, working from home 3 or 4 days a week? Are we carpooling to work several days a week? Are we scheduling times with our neighbors to share a ride to the grocery store? Are we dining in to avoid driving to restaurants? Are we riding our bikes or walking whenever we can? Are we carpooling to our children's soccer practices? For the vast majority of people the answer to these questions is "no".

Indeed, most of us are making only minimal, painless changes to our lives. We buy reusable shopping bags at Ikea, recycle our snack wrappers before we exit Whole Foods, and park a few extra gas-saving spaces away from our supermarket. And for these neglible acts we pat ourselves on the back and tell ourselves that we "...are doing our part..." .

Clearly, the types of things we're doing aren't going to add up to a 50 to 80 percent reduction in our individual production of greenhouse gases.

But why aren't we taking the drastic actions that are necessary to stop climate change? Why aren't we making the major sacrifices that the science warrants?

J. Walter Thompson Finds The Language Of Green Is Unclear

2009-09-15T03:18:00.000-07:00

In a recent consumer study ("The Recession and its Impact on the Environment": July, 2009) J. Walter Thompson (JWT) found that "...some of the terms we use to talk about being green...are not clear to consumers, or even defined at all".

In light of this finding JWT counsels marketers to "Drop the buzz words. Talk to consumers about tangible benefits in realistic terms to avoid seeming disconnected or, worse, to appear to be green-washing or pandering ".

Speaking to consumers about tangible benefits in realistic terms makes absolute sense in any context. However, that doesn't mean that the rampant confusion around green nomenclature should be ignored. The only way that our society as a whole can maintain a fruitful green dialog --- whether that dialog is about green products, green companies, green policy, or individual green behavior --- is to first have a set of universally-accepted, clearly-defined terms that can facilitate that dialog.

The branding community should take the bull by the horns and be a positive agent of change in this regard. It should develop such a green terminology and make a concerted effort to disseminate it among the consuming public.

And it should do this as soon as possible. We are amidst a climate crisis that is getting worse by the day, and we will be grappling with climate change for a long time. Therefore, the sooner we can develop a standard green nomenclature, the sooner we can advance our dialog about becoming greener. Dialog will enhance our understanding of our climate problems. And understanding will motivate behavior change.

The branding community's motivation for doing this should be altruistic; stated simply, the branding community should do this because it is able to do it. However, we simultaneously may recognize that we ultimately will gain a financial benefit from our action. Because as we move long the path of becoming greener, consumers most certainly will purchase more green products.

To download this study visit http://www.anxietyindex.com/. Enter "The Recession and its Impact on the Environment" in the search box. This will yield an article titled "Prius does green marketing right". In the second paragraph of this article click on the link bearing the title "The Recession and its Impact on the Environment". Complete the form and then you will be given access to a downloads page containing many of JWT's Anxiety Index papers and reports. Scroll to find this report.

"The Recession and its Impact on the Environment" by J. Walter Thompson's Anxiety Index

2009-09-14T05:23:00.000-07:00

J. Walter Thompson (JWT), the global advertising agency, recently published a report titled "The Recession and its Impact on the Environment".

The report presents the results of a survey conducted in March 2009 by JWT's Anxiety Index. It examines various sources of anxiety among consumers, with a special focus on the recession and the environment. It's a great resource for anyone in the green marketplace.

To download a copy visit http://www.anxietyindex.com/. Enter "The Recession and its Impact on the Environment" in the search box. This will yield an article titled "Prius does green marketing right". In the second paragraph of this article click on the link bearing the title "The Recession and its Impact on the Environment". Complete the form and then you will be given access to a downloads page containing many of JWT's Anxiety Index papers and reports. Scroll to find this report.

The Evolution Of The Green Movement: Beyond The Environment

2009-09-13T05:44:00.000-07:00

The green movement used to be about keeping the environment clean and conserving our environmental resources.

In recent years the green movement has broadened. It's still about the environment; but it's now also about the sustainability of social and economic systems.

The broadening of the movement began with the creation of the UN's Brundtland Commission. The Brundtland Commission was created in 1983 by the UN General Assembly to address "...the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development". The Commission released a report in 1987 titled "Our Common Future".

The commission's report crystallized the recognition that the world's environmental, social and economic systems were inextricably linked, and it thus marked the beginning of the gradual expansion of the green movement.

Many consumers realize that the green movement today has expanded beyond environmental concerns. However, they often don't understand precisely how or why. This void of understanding leaves consumers to project their own personal values onto the green movement, and, by extension, onto the green marketplace. Consequently, we find a fragmented green consumer marketplace, with some consumers finding more resonant the environmetal aspects of the green movement, others the social aspects, and yet others the economic aspects.

The implications of this fragmentation are quite clear: the branding community must explain to the consumer in simple, clear terms what exactly the green movement today encompasses. Until we do, marketing to the green sector will be a frustrating, inefficient, and chaotic endeavor.

The LOHAS Segmentation Model

2009-09-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

I am an Editor with "Views", a magazine about qualitative market research that is published by the Qualitative Market Research Consultants Association (QRCA).

For the current issue I commissioned and edited an article titled "Sustainability Segmentation: Using the LOHAS Segmentation as a Window to the Green Marketplace". The article was authored by Gwynne Rogers of the Natural Marketing Institute, which is the organization that created the LOHAS model.

To read the article click on the link below and select page 16.
http://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=21809

The Branding Community Needs A New Green Nomenclature

2009-09-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

In "A Clockwork Green", my recent Op-Ed piece which ran in Mediaweek, Brandweek, and Adweek (http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/community/columns/other-columns/e3i8fb28a31928f66a57d5965d7f7948652), I assert that the term "green" has become useless from a branding perspective because its meaning had become so diffuse.

I then propose that the branding community develop a new "green" nomenclature that assigns unique labels to each individual way of being green. Having such a meaningful and precise language will allow consumers and CPGs to not just claim to BE green, but to claim HOW they are green. This, in turn, will facilitate a deeper dialogue in the advertising/marketing space regarding green products. The deeper dialogue will facilitate greater involvement. The greater involvement will facilitate greater affinity, and, eventually, greater sales.