Game Changers:
Delivering Customers:
Agency Collaboration:
Key Performance Indicators:
It’s amazing when more than 90 percent of American adults can agree on anything.
But when it comes to companies and their environmental responsibility, today’s consumers have some pretty high expectations.
Ninety-one percent of Americans adults 18 and older have a more positive image of a company when it is environmentally responsible.* And 93 percent believe organizations have a responsibility to preserve the environment.*
Rarely do we experience such large numbers of consumers asking for the same thing. So on paper, at least, consumers are expressing a desire for green products. And that has long-term implications for all organizations.
Just as importantly, a large and growing number of consumers are backing up what they believe about environmental responsibility. For example:
So it’s not surprising that smart companies are taking a closer look at their own product lines. They’re looking for ways to re-package or re-configure their products to meet the growing green consumerism trend.
If you’re looking for lessons in how to market green products effectively, be sure to consider the success story of Toyota and the positioning of its Prius hybrid electric car.
The marketing of the high-tech Prius is a stellar example of meeting consumer desires — a truly green car — while fostering a clean, green image. In its early days, the Prius was panned in America by those who said it was a car only tree-huggers would buy.
But in the U.S right now, more than 400,000 have been sold since being introduced in 2000. Through the first six months of 2007, Prius sales are up 93.7 percent from last year. During that same time period, Toyota has already sold nearly as many Prius vehicles as it did in all of 2006.
But what’s true genius behind the marketing of the Prius?
Right from the start, it was built as a hybrid. Compare that to the Honda Civic, Ford Escape or Saturn Vue. All three of those vehicles are identified as a hybrid only by a small badge on the trunk or side panel.
According to a buyer survey by CNW Marketing Research of Bandon, Oregon, over 50 percent of Prius buyers said the primary reason they bought a Prius was that “it makes a staetement about me.”
In short, buying a Prius allows the owner to make a green statement with a car for the first time ever. The Prius is the “green one.” People are buying a Prius and showing it off as a status symbol. Among many consumers, it’s a badge of honor to drive an undeniably green hybrid vehicle.
How is the competition responding? Well, Honda plans to enter the market with a new hybrid — one, like Prius, that’s being built from the ground up.
So what can savvy marketers learn from the marketing of the Prius?
As you reconfigure your products, consider making a separate product that is green. Like Prius, make it undeniably “the green one.”
As you survey your marketplace and your products, keep in mind the too-numerous-to-count green success stories that are happening all around us. Organic foods are growing at an incredible rate. Green architecture is making a big impact. Why not your product?
Unprecedented opportunities await those organizations that market green products. Those opportunities include enhanced credibility and marketability, as well as boosting their company image through an earth-friendly approach.
* 2007 Cone Consumer Environmental Study
** TGI Global Consumer Barometer
|
home :: about ns :: case studies :: our work :: e-news :: contact us :: privacy statement
 |
 |