Captivating Connections.

green is still good.

"Marketers have heard a lot in the last year about the ways green consumers have scaled back to accommodate tough economic times, but a new study suggests it would be a big mistake to interpret reduced sales as reduced interest.

In fact, according to new research from GfK Roper Consulting, there's been little change in their commitment to the environment -- just a big shift in how they approach it, replacing idealism with hard-boiled pragmatism.

'Consumer commitment to green living is very stable,' Tim Kenyon, senior analyst for GfK's consumer trends division, tells Marketing Daily. 'But if products are too expensive, they will find other ways to express that commitment. They may buy fewer green products, but they'll do things like cut their energy costs or reduce consumption.' The study finds that 60% of people now believe green products are too costly, a 6-point increase from 2006.

The recession has ushered many of these consumers from environmental altruism to a more practical approach, he says, with green purchases more likely to be driven by the desire to save money, be healthier, or get more value. They're also measuring the worth of their time differently, with 28% saying they are 'too busy' to do what it takes to be green.

For marketers, that means it's essential to focus on green innovations that consumers will regard as both easy and affordable. And while the report also finds that environmental awareness is becoming more mainstream, there is also a growing cynicism about marketers in general. 'They are frustrated,' Kenyon says. 'On one hand, they say product packaging is a leading source of information about environmental claims, and on the other they also say those claims can be confusing and misleading.'"

can green help qsrs?

According to research, green initiatives may help qsrs gain consumers (or at least increase frequency):

"While eco-friendliness isn't a make-or-break factor in choosing a QSR for most consumers, it may encourage greater frequency by making consumers feel good about their choice, judging from a new survey from M/A/R/C Research.

The study surveyed 7,000 U.S. consumers who had dined within the past month in one or more types of QSRs (burger, chicken, Mexican, pizza, sandwich, seafood).

Asked how important it is to them that fast-food restaurants participate in green initiatives, nearly half (48%) said this is very important (29%) or extremely important (19%). Fifty-two percent of women and 44% of men fell into one of these two categories. About a third (34%) of total respondents ranked green initiatives somewhat important, 10% not very important and 8% not at all important.

Over half (51%) said they 'prefer' fast-food restaurants that care about green issues but won't go out of their way to patronize them, and 39% said that green issues have no impact on their QSR choices. However, about one in 10 (11%) said they are willing to inconvenience themselves to patronize a restaurant that demonstrates environmental responsibility,

In termes of frequency of visits, nearly half (46%) said they support green initiatives, but that these do not affect their usage pattern, while more than one-fifth (21%) said they would visit a specific QSR more often if they knew that the restaurant focused on green practices."

going online in order to get green(er).

Here's another (and often) overlooked reason why people are often choosing to shop online:It's greener.

According to new a Shop.org survey, "35% of respondents believed that online shopping is better for the environment than store shopping," while "60% of those who believed in the environmental merits of online shopping said they would shop online more as part of a greener lifestyle."

Even better? The recession doesn't seem to be really hurting this belief:

"In a Cone survey, over four times as many respondents said they were more likely to buy green products today than expected to buy fewer."

organic grows, er, organically.

Organic hasn't suffered as badly as anyone thought it would:

"Sales of organic products grew during 2008, despite a weakening economy, according to the Organic Trade Association.

U.S. sales of organic products, both food and non-food, reached $24.6 billion by the end of 2008, growing 17.1% over 2007 sales, according to the OTA, which released final results from its 2009 Organic Industry Survey on Monday. However, the industry's growth rate last year was its slowest since 2004, when the year-to-year increase was 14.6%. Organic food sales grew 20.9% in 2006 and 18.5% in 2007, according to OTA.

'Organic products represent value to consumers, who have shown continued resilience in seeking out these products,' said Christine Bushway, executive director of the Greenfield, Mass.-based OTA."

Ah, it's that New Value Equation back at work! :)

consumers still want green brands.

Green is still on the list of consumer 'wants'...

"Even as shoppers continue to hold back on spending, the evidence that they're thinking greener than ever continues to pile up. The latest is a study from the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Deloitte, which reports that 54% of grocery shoppers say they 'actively consider' a brand's sustainability characteristics before tossing them in the basket.

But that doesn't necessarily translate into buying green, and only 22% of the more than 6,400 shoppers interviewed as they left the store that day actually bought a green product on this particular shopping trip."

As Brian Lynch, director of sales and sales promotion for the GMA, explains, "One key finding that was an initial surprise was the broad scope of the green shopper demographic. We found it particularly interesting that the Baby Boomer demographic achieved the highest concentration of green shoppers in our survey, while younger green shoppers appeared hesitant -- at least for now -- to act on their green ideology when it comes to purchasing decisions."

green growing, despite recession.

A lot of people have been asking what is going to happen to 'green' products because of the recession. Those who attended TrendSchool know we discussed how many products are being repositioned to being both a solid value and green, and using green to be a part of the value equation. As a result, 'green' is suprising a lot of people by doing well in the current economy...

"Datamonitor shows 458 launches so far in 2009 of package-goods products that claim to be sustainable, environmentally friendly or 'eco-friendly.' If that pace holds all year, it will triple the number of green launches last year, which in turn was more than double the number in 2007. Seventh Generation CEO Jeffrey Hollender said his company's sales were up 50% last year and 20% in March year over year despite Clorox, Church & Dwight and now SC Johnson entering the space. 'The good news is that in general these products are faring better than most categories,' he said. 'A lot of people would be desperate to have 5% growth.'

Consumers are still buying sustainable lines despite their higher cost. Nielsen Co. data show sales growth of organic food at 5.6% year over year in December from a year ago, though that's down from the double-digit pace of years past, and its SPINS tracking service showed sales at natural-food stores up 10.9% to $4.2 billion last year. Though growth slowed in the fourth quarter, it was still more than 7% in December, far healthier than the rates at even top-performing grocery retailers such as Walmart or Costco."

AdAge even provides 4 tips for green marketers...

1. Combine environmental with economic sustainability.
Consumers define sustainability more broadly than the environmental concerns marketers mainly have tended to focus on, and they care more about social and economic issues such as poverty, employment and health care more than environmental concerns by a substantial margin, according to research by shopper-marketing agency Saatchi & Saatchi X. The agency is pitching the idea that green marketing is tired but that "blue marketing," which encompasses environmental with other social causes, will work better.

2. Retailer support matters.
With 298 different environmental certifications for consumer brands, consumers often don't know what to believe regarding green claims, said Curtis Munk, VP-insights for shopper marketing at Saatchi X. As a result, they look to retailers to be the arbiters, placing the most trust in more-green-positioned retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, but also some others, such as Walmart, that have been working hard to burnish their green credentials.

3. Opportunities remain.
Research by Nielsen's concept-testing service Bases shows that environmentally focused Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability consumers have above-average purchase intent for personal care, pet products, and refrigerated, shelf-stable and frozen foods but perceive only average current product availability in those categories.

4. Address skepticism about price and quality more than the actual green claims.
Bases found more than 80% of consumers in all categories—including 89% of those most inclined to buy green but also 80% of those unconcerned about green claims—found green claims completely or somewhat believable. Only 9% to 16% of consumers said they believe green products aren't as green as claimed—fewer than half the proportion who said they completely believe such claims. Yet a vast majority of consumers said they believe green products cost more and don't perform as well as others.

eat & compost.

SunChips is launching a new product with, multiple uses...

" The company is rolling out compostable, organic-based packaging bit by bit this year, with a fully compostable bag due out on Earth Day in 2010.

The marketing effort includes a 45-second ad showing a time lapse of the 100% biodegradable bag decomposing over 14 weeks. It will run once on "American Idol" on Tuesday -- the day before Earth Day -- followed by a home-page takeover on various social/video Web sites, primarily YouTube the day after."

keeping it simple.

Between food recalls, movements like organic and locavore, and people wanting to get ‘back to basics’ with their foods, the idea of KISS (keep is simple, stupid)is working its way into packaging and marketing trends.

 

“Advocates for healthful eating have long tried to steer Americans away from highly processed foods that contain dozens of unnatural and unpronounceable ingredients. Now, driven by a drumbeat of food recalls -- ground beef, peanuts and, most recently, pistachios -- consumers may be more inclined to heed the call.”

 

As Phil Lempert, a food and consumer behavior analyst who calls himself the Supermarket Guru, explains, “It's a convergence of health, food safety, taste and traceability. People are reading labels more carefully than they were previously. When they pick up a product and it has 30 ingredients and they don't know what half of them are, they are putting it back on the shelves."

It’s important to note that just because there are a lot of ingredients in something. it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad. As Michael Pollan, an author and advocate for less processed foods, argues, "It is better that the food be simpler than more complex. On the other hand, this is another case of food manufacturers reformulating to reflect whatever the latest critique of their food is and turning what it is a criticism into a marketing strategy to sell more food."

This is an interesting argument and one that we’re going to be seeing over and over again over the next year or so. What do you think?

do you buy (into) green electronics?

"Electronics" and "green" are two concepts that often don't match up or make sense together. Even electronics that ARE green may not be fully accepted and believed by skeptical consumers...

"According to the results of a recent survey by Retrevo, a consumer electronics information web site, 75% of consumers said buying energy efficient products is important to them. However, less than half of them -- 35% -- are willing to pay any premium for green products, even if those premiums would be passed on in energy savings.

'We were surprised to see that it wasn't as widely accepted as these companies might want,' Andrew Eisner, director of content for Retrevo, tells Marketing Daily. The company queried 1,500 people for the study.

Moreover, 40% of the respondents said they had trouble believing companies' environmental claims, saying companies are selling the idea of being environmentally friendly, rather than by creating or selling energy efficient products. Only 13% of the respondents said they believed these green claims.

'Consumers are naturally skeptical, and the green labels might not mean as much as these companies might think,' Eisner says. 'It looks like [these companies] have got to be doing a better job of educating consumers. If they can't educate them, they're going to have to drop prices.'"

Or maybe do both! He he he.

getting the green across on packaging.

Those looking to market green products need to understand that it's an uphill battle the entire path to purchase, but one often-missed opportunity could be on the product itself.

"When it comes to selling green products in a bleak economy, researchers at the Hartman Group say marketers may be missing a major opportunity: Using labels to create a story line.

In its ongoing research of people who fall all along the green continuum -- from those who don't participate at all to the most committed organic shoppers -- product labels are far and away the most important source of information for consumers, named by 33%. (Internet search engines come in second with 28%, but a company's own Web site ranked near the bottom of the list, with just 14%.)

'Consumers want to know the story -- the narrative behind a sustainable product,' says Laurie Demeritt, president and COO of the Hartman Group, who made a presentation Tuesday on the issue. 'For marketers, it's important to remember that sustainability claims are markers of quality, and product narratives help. The more you can tell people about how it's made, the greater its appeal.'

But it's important to do this in words that make sense to shoppers. The Bellevue, Wash.-based consulting company's research shows that 'consumers are thinking much more broadly than marketers about what words like organic, green and sustainable mean,' she says, adding that responsibility may be a word with greater resonance. 'They use more positive words to describe these products," she says, 'like hope, connection, simple living, authenticity and control.'"