GREEN MARKETING – OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES

Introduction
Yes, green marketing is a golden goose. As per Mr. J. Polonsky, green marketing can be defined as, "All activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchange intended to satisfy human needs or wants such that satisfying of these needs and wants occur with minimal detrimental input on the national environment."
Green marketing involves developing and promoting products and services that satisfy customers want and need for Quality, Performance, Affordable Pricing and Convenience without having a detrimental input on the environment.
Meaning
Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on their environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in it or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way.
The obvious assumption of green marketing is that potential consumers will view a product or service's "greenness" as a benefit and base their buying decision accordingly. The not-so-obvious assumption of green marketing is that consumers will be willing to pay more for green products than they would for a less-green comparable alternative product - an assumption that, in my opinion, has not been proven conclusively.
While green marketing is growing greatly as increasing numbers of consumers are willing to back their environmental consciousnesses with their dollars, it can be dangerous. The public tends to be skeptical of green claims to begin with and companies can seriously damage their brands and their sales if a green claim is discovered to be false or contradicted by a company's other products or practices. Presenting a product or service as green when it's not is called green washing.
Definition
According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining green marketing is not a simple task where several meanings intersect and contradict each other; an example of this will be the existence of varying social, environmental and retail definitions attached to this term. Other similar terms used are Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing.
The legal implications of marketing claims call for caution. Misleading or overstated claims can lead to regulatory or civil challenges. In the USA, the Federal Trade Commission provides some guidance on environmental marketing claims.
Three keys to successful green marketing
Show potential customers that you follow green business practices and you could reap more green on your bottom line. Green Marketing isn't just a catchphrase; it's a marketing strategy that can help you get more customers and make more money. But only if you do it right.
For green marketing to be effective, you have to do three things; be genuine, educate your customers, and give them the opportunity to participate.
1) Being genuine means that a) that you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in your green marketing campaign and b) that the rest of your business policies are consistent with whatever you are doing that's environmentally friendly. Both these conditions have to be met for your business to establish the kind of environmental credentials that will allow a green marketing campaign to succeed.
2) Educating your customers isn't just a matter of letting people know you're doing whatever you're doing to protect the environment, but also a matter of letting them know why it matters. Otherwise, for a significant portion of your target market, it's a case of "So what?" and your green marketing campaign goes nowhere.
3) Giving your customers an opportunity to participate means personalizing the benefits of your environmentally friendly actions, normally through letting the customer take part in positive environmental action.
Evolution of Green Marketing
The green marketing has evolved over a period of time. According to Peattie (2001), the evolution of green marketing has three phases. First phase was termed as "Ecological" green marketing, and during this period all marketing activities were concerned to help environment problems and provide remedies for environmental problems. Second phase was "Environmental" green marketing and the focus shifted on clean technology that involved designing of innovative new products, which take care of pollution and waste issues. Third phase was "Sustainable" green marketing. It came into prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000.
Why Green Marketing?
As resources are limited and human wants are unlimited, it is important for the marketers to utilize the resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve the organization's objective. So green marketing is inevitable.
There is growing interest among the consumers all over the world regarding protection of environment. Worldwide evidence indicates people are concerned about the environment and are changing their behavior. As a result of this, green marketing has emerged which speaks for growing market for sustainable and socially responsible products and services.
Benefits of Green Marketing
Companies that develop new and improved products and services with environment inputs in mind give themselves access to new markets, increase their profit sustainability, and enjoy a competitive advantage over the companies which are not concerned for the environment.
Adoption of Green Marketing
There are basically five reasons for which a marketer should go for the adoption of green marketing. They are -

• Opportunities or competitive advantage
• Corporate social responsibilities (CSR)
• Government pressure
• Competitive pressure
• Cost or profit issues

Green Marketing Mix
Every company has its own favorite marketing mix. Some have 4 P's and some have 7 P's of marketing mix. The 4 P's of green marketing are that of a conventional marketing but the challenge before marketers is to use 4 P's in an innovative manner.
 Product
The ecological objectives in planning products are to reduce resource consumption and pollution and to increase conservation of scarce resources (Keller man, 1978).
Price
Price is a critical and important factor of green marketing mix. Most consumers will only be prepared to pay additional value if there is a perception of extra product value. This value may be improved performance, function, design, visual appeal, or taste. Green marketing should take all these facts into consideration while charging a premium price.
Promotion
There are three types of green advertising: -
ü      Ads that address a relationship between a product/service and the biophysical environment
ü      Those that promote a green lifestyle by highlighting a product or service
ü      Ads that present a corporate image of environmental responsibility
Place
The choice of where and when to make a product available will have significant impact on the customers. Very few customers will go out of their way to buy green products.
Strategies
The marketing strategies for green marketing include: -

• Marketing Audit (including internal and external situation analysis)
• Develop a marketing plan outlining strategies with regard to 4 P's
• Implement marketing strategies
• Plan results evaluation

Challenges Ahead
ü      Green products require renewable and recyclable material, which is costly
ü      Requires a technology, which requires huge investment in R & D
ü      Water treatment technology, which is too costly
ü      Majority of the people are not aware of green products and their uses
ü      Majority of the consumers are not willing to pay a premium for green products
Some Cases
ü      McDonald's restaurant's napkins, bags are made of recycled paper.
ü      Coca-Cola pumped syrup directly from tank instead of plastic which saved 68 million pound/year.
ü      Badarpur Thermal Power station of NTPC in Delhi is devising ways to utilize coal-ash that has been a major source of air and water pollution.
ü      Barauni refinery of IOC is taken steps for restricting air and water pollutants.
Conclusion
Green marketing should not neglect the economic aspect of marketing. Marketers need to understand the implications of green marketing. If you think customers are not concerned about environmental issues or will not pay a premium for products that are more eco-responsible, think again. You must find an opportunity to enhance you product's performance and strengthen your customer's loyalty and command a higher price.  Green marketing is still in its infancy and a lot of research is to be done on green marketing to fully explore its potential.
BY
Miss. P. PIRAKATHEESWARI, Lecturer in Commerce,
Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous), Salem – 16.
"Progress is possible, No one can stop it, but obstacle is there, we have to face it."
 - Amartya Sen

Food Marketing Strategy

• Well-planned food marketing strategies will help increase sales. white-flour macaroni pipes image by rafalwit from Fotolia.com

  The successful marketing of food products translates into increased sales, faster turnover and higher profits. Food marketing can apply to products found at grocery stores, restaurants or quick marts. Choosing the right strategy entails a review of the current competition, product details and long-term marketing objectives. The most beneficial marketing strategies for food tie the product type to an approach that allows for immediate customer recognition and matches consumer preferences.

Offer Low Prices

• Become the low-cost leader for your food product segment. The goal is to target price-sensitive consumers who will choose your products over those of your competitors. Successful implementation of a low-cost marketing strategy requires a dedication to low overhead and streamlining production to support a high sales volume. On each sale, your food products will generate only a small amount of profit, but your total gains will grow through high turnover.

Stress Special Features

• Make your products stand out from your competitors with special features. Consider offering products in different flavors, with different ingredients, or for a specific purpose. For example, differentiate a flour product as a special frying blend, for use in bread products, or offer flour enhanced with herbs and seasonings. Support this food marketing strategy by enhancing product packaging, tailoring advertising to promote the special features of your product, and through in-store presentations.

Create a Niche

• Create a niche for your food products. Consider organic foods, green production, medically helpful food products, or another customer demographic (such as age) that can boost your product's appeal to a specific subset of the population. Implementing a niche marketing strategy may require product modifications, specialized packaging, and customized product placement.

Focus on Luxury

• Present your food product as the premier item in your competitive market. Promote high-quality ingredients and other items that distinguish your good as a luxury product worthy of a higher charge. Support your product through elegant packaging, heavy advertising and key product placement in stores. The goal is to get customers to buy your product at a higher price, which will offset lower sales and marketing expenditures. Laura Acevedo

Marketing Strategy for Groceries & Green Products

The right marketing strategies can enhance your groceries and green products business.

Having the right marketing strategy in place for your groceries and green products can make the difference between turning a profit and losing sales. Marketing strategies are documents that can set your company apart from the competition. When developing a marketing strategy for groceries and green products, consider components such as goals and objectives; a marketing mix outline; communication of your competitive strengths and weaknesses; and a tactical plan. With these components in mind, develop your marketing strategy based on the unique needs of your products.

1. Goals and Objectives

   • Identify your marketing goals and objectives by answering the question, "What do I want to accomplish this year with my marketing?" When coming up with your goals for your grocery or green product, ensure they are concise, action-oriented, time-driven and measurable. For example, "Increase health and wellness product revenue 17 percent within the next 12 months" or "Double sales among eco-friendly women with our new green product line by the third quarter of 2012."

   Marketing Mix

   • The marketing mix, another component of your strategy, includes the four Ps: price, place, product and promotion. "Price" refers to pricing strategies for the goods you're offering for sale. For example, you may want to use a low-cost strategy and set your prices below those of your competitors. You can also charge more for certain products, such as those with "100 percent recycled materials." "Place" refers to the location at which you sell and distribute your groceries and green products, such as supermarkets or natural health food stores. "Product" means you should communicate the types of items you're selling, such as fluorescent light bulbs, eco-friendly cleaning products or granola bars with all natural ingredients. "Promotion" stands for the methods used to promote your products, such as direct mail, networking or email marketing.

   Competitive Strengths and Weaknesses

   • Your marketing strategy should also include an analysis of your competitors. Describe other products and stores with which you compete for business. Identify their strong points and areas in which they need improvement. Highlight the market share for each of your largest competitors in the marketplace. Finally, describe opportunities for your groceries and green products. For example, if you know one of your competitors is perceived as having high-priced organic granola, you can use a pricing strategy to position your product as the low-cost alternative, which can help you gain market share. An easier way to understand this is even though you may sell your granola at a lower price, you can gain market share due to the increased volume you can achieve when more customers purchase your product.

   Selling Tactics

   • The final part of your marketing strategy is deciding how to sell your products. There is no "one size fits all" approach, so choose a few different tactics with which to experiment that are within your budget. The key is to measure and test viable strategies and stick with the ones that work. Examples of possible tactics include direct mailings that offer product coupons; search engine marketing or buying targeted advertisements that appear when potential customers search online for your products; networking at conferences and shows; and advertising in food-related and eco-friendly publications. By Scott Christ

Green Marketing Not Over, Just Misdirected

Carolyn Parrs & Irv Weinberg

Joel Makower of GreenBiz.com just declared that green marking is dead, or in his words, “Green Marketing is Over.”  To quote Mark Twain, “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”  I think the same can be said of green marketing.
Here at Mind Over Markets, we’ve been saying for years that green marketing messages have not been communicated correctly and effectively right from the start.
The first task of green marketing, like all other marketing, should be an analysis of benefits. First to the consumer, and then to the planet. Too many opted for the latter, save the planet, as though you could with your cleaners and your pizzas. That never made any sense to me and it never will.
When Nissan Leaf used a polar bear hugging a man in their commercial instead of laying out the many advantages of EV’s to me and my life, when they don’t position their vehicles as personal benefit producers, when they don’t tell me what’s in it for me, then yes, green marketing is over.
When organic food isn’t positioned as better for your health, better tasting, fresher, more local and ultimately more enjoyable, no wonder it’s hard to justify the higher costs. The success of Whole Foods is probably based more on their gourmetness than on their greenness. They have the recipe right and continue to succeed.
The last time I saw a green marketing obituary it was centered on the failure of Organic Ragu Sauce. As though any organicite or foodie was going to buy Organic Ragu or Organic Heinz Ketchup.  That wasn’t a failure of green, but a failure of logic. When the largest manufacturers of caustic and corrosive cleaning solutions suddenly turns green, its no wonder that consumers scratch their heads and wonder if it’s real or just a mask.
When Kimberly Clark tells us they they’ve done “green right” instead of telling us that recycled paper is a better, saner way to make napkins and toilet paper than destroying old growth forests, no wonder we yawn and walk away.
To my mind, it’s not the failure of green marketing, but the failure of green marketers to have thought it out long enough and strategically enough to hire true green marketers and visionaries who actually understand not just the heart of green consumers, but the minds of the greater population.
Instead they wheeled out Kermit the Frog and melting icebergs. They should have been selling their products to me instead of making my purchases seem like a cause, charity, public service or a sacrifice that I have to make. By the way, you can’t actually save the planet all by yourself.
Talk about naive. At a time when people aren’t sure they can save themselves, much less the planet, is it any wonder that kind of thinking or marketing is on the endangered species list?
What’s saddest of all is that all the so called “green experts” failed in their expertness when they didn’t alert marketers that they were on thin ice right from the beginning. When they didn’t understand the balance of message, the need for benefits, and the need to tell consumers that they were not only doing what was right, but what was smart.
It really is a shame that the lemmings will watch the green hearse go by and help drive green even further off the cliff. That others will continue to not only sell, but tell things wrong and then lament the passing of one of the most significant opportunities to actually make things better for all of us.
– Irv Weinberg

Bộ tiêu chuẩn Chất lượng Xanh

Sứ mệnh phát triển chất lượng tiêu dùng Việt Nam

Ngày 12/5/2011, tại Tp.HCM, thay mặt mạng lưới các tổ chức phối hợp phát triển Chương trình Chất lượng Xanh, Viện IDR – Viện Nghiên Cứu Kinh Tế Phát Triển (Đại Học Kinh Tế Tp.HCM) chính thức công bố “bộ tiêu chuẩn Chất lượng Xanh” áp dụng cho sản phẩm hàng hóa toàn cầu phục vụ cho thị trường Việt Nam. Đây là bộ tiêu chuẩn đánh giá chất lượng sản phẩm hàng hóa gắn kết với yếu tố thân thiện môi trường và văn hóa kinh doanh, có sự kết nối với nhiều chương trình và bộ tiêu chuẩn quốc tế hiện đại như LEED, HACCP, CSR, ISO…, có sứ mệnh góp phần nâng cao chất lượng tiêu dùng Việt Nam.
Theo quan điểm của Chương trình Chất lượng Xanh, chất lượng của sản phẩm hàng hóa không phải là nhân tố duy nhất làm nên chất lượng tiêu dùng, mà bên cạnh đó sản phẩm hàng hóa còn phải có “giá trị Xanh”. Giá trị Xanh bao gồm: tính thân thiện môi trường của sản phẩm, văn hóa kinh doanh của doanh nghiệp… Nói cách khác, “Chất lượng” và “Xanh” là 02 nhóm nội dung lớn làm nên giá trị của sản phẩm hàng hóa phù hợp kỳ vọng tiêu dùng của một nền tiêu dùng hiện đại.
Chất lượng Xanh là giá trị căn bản tạo nên “Sản phẩm Xanh”. Không thể có sản phẩm xanh, thương hiệu xanh nếu sản phẩm, thương hiệu ấy không có Chất lượng Xanh. Nói cách khác, Chất lượng Xanh là một chuẩn sản phẩm hàng hóa giúp cộng đồng tiêu dùng xác định được đâu là sản phẩm xanh, thương hiệu xanh đích thực.
Không chỉ đánh giá trực tiếp sản phẩm hàng hóa cung ứng cho thị trường, bộ tiêu chuẩn Chất lượng Xanh còn khảo sát cả giá trị của doanh nghiệp trực tiếp sản xuất ra sản phẩm hàng hóa đó theo một số nội dung kinh điển: tác động môi trường, ứng xử với lao động, ứng xử với người tiêu dùng… Tất cả nội dung đánh giá này thể hiện rõ nét triết lý cổ vũ tiêu dùng “hài hòa, cân bằng” của bộ tiêu chuẩn Chất lượng Xanh
Những sản phẩm hàng hóa phù hợp với chuẩn Chất lượng Xanh sẽ được gắn nhãn Chất lượng Xanh. Sản phẩm hàng hóa được gắn nhãn Chất lượng Xanh là những sản phẩm hàng hóa có chất lượng, có yếu tố Xanh (có hàm lượng nguyên liệu, giải pháp thân thiện môi trường, tốt cho sức khỏe…) và doanh nghiệp sản xuất ra sản phẩm hàng hóa đó được dư luận xã hội tôn trọng.
Theo kế hoạch, từ nay đến hết năm 2012 Chương trình Chất lượng Xanh sẽ chọn lọc và cấp phép gắn nhãn Chất lượng Xanh cho 200 thương hiệu trong và ngoài nước đạt chuẩn Chất lượng Xanh.
Ông Nguyễn Vĩnh Thái, Tổng Giám Đốc Công ty Xã Hội RONGVIET VALUES – Tổ chức điều phối Chương trình Chất lượng Xanh, chia sẻ thêm, “Chất lượng Xanh có sứ mệnh đương nhiên là phát triển chất lượng tiêu dùng Việt Nam với tầm nhìn về một hệ giá trị tiêu dùng mới dựa trên nền tảng giá trị Xanh hiện đại, góp phần phát triển triển chất lượng tiêu dùng Việt Nam,thông qua đó sẽ gián tiếp thúc đẩy doanh nghiệp phát triển Xanh, bền vững, góp phần từng bước giải quyết căn bản bài toán xung đột môi trường sống đang ở mức độ cực kỳ gay gắt trên quy mô rộng lớn”.
“Tiêu dùng Xanh phải được xác định là "hệ tiêu dùng mới", ở đó người tiêu dùng xanh và nhà sản xuất xanh, doanh nghiệp xanh... có thể bỏ qua rào cản giá cả, để cùng chia sẻ những giá trị mà họ kỳ vọng và nhận thức là có lợi, hữu ích cho chính họ, cho chất lượng cuộc sống, cho phát triển trong tương lai... Đó là lợi ích toàn cục được thức tỉnh”, Ông Thái chia sẻ thêm.
Theo nhận định chung, bộ tiêu chuẩn Chất lượng Xanh là bộ tiêu chuẩn sản phẩm hàng hóa nổi bật, đặt ra những nội dung và xu hướng có ý nghĩa về giá trị sản phẩm hàng hóa, chất lượng tiêu dùng, có khả năng góp phần thúc đẩy phát triển xu hướng tiêu dùng Xanh, tiêu dùng sinh thái, kinh doanh bền vững… tại Việt Nam, phù hợp xu hướng giá trị mà toàn nhân loại đang nỗ lực theo đuổi.
Nhân dịp này, Chương trình Chất lượng Xanh công bố một số dự án chiến lược vận động tiêu dùng Xanh và kinh doanh bền vững như: Hội thảo Phát triển chất lượng tiêu dùng Việt Nam, Festival Chất lượng Xanh thế giới tại Việt Nam, dự án Giáo dục tiêu dùng xanh cho học sinh - sinh viên tại Việt Nam, dự án Hội thảo và Tư vấn chiến lược xanh hóa doanh nghiệp…

[Nguồn: Chất lượng Xanh]

New Sun Chips Bag Proves Frito-Lay Has Learned Its Green Marketing Lesson

Remember the brouhaha last fall over Sun Chips’ noisy “compostable” bag?  It prompted Frito-Lay to withdraw the special bags on all but their “Original” flavor (which they retained as a show of support for their green strategy).  They’ve just come out with a quieter option. It’s on-pack messaging tones down the composting message, and in doing so demonstrates, however counter intuitively it may appear, that they have actually learned some valuable lessons about how to do green marketing right.
As I commented this past October, a key issue with the compostable bag-and a reason why snack eaters were not to be faulted for committing environmental hypocrisy- is that, while admirable and eco-innovative, the compostability of the bags was not relevant to the average consumer.  (Only about thirty percent of American adults claim to compost.) So, when faced with the decision to buy a noisy bag that interfered with their eating enjoyment (the reason to buy the chips in the first place), the snackers dropped the brand like a hot potato, causing sales to fall amidst a raft of mocking YouTube videos.
A Shift in Strategy
The new bags now turn up the dial about the natural ingredients of the chips themselves. The large shout out for “The world’s first compostable snack chip bag” that once dominated the front of the large (10.5-ounce) bags has now been replaced with a more subdued message, about one tenth the size, transported to the upper right hand corner, stating “100% Compostable: Made with Renewable Materials.”  The key message that is now front and center are the words and accompanying visual “Made with All Natural Ingredients,” “No MSG - No Preservatives”, “No Artificial Flavors” and “Great Multi-Grain Taste”.
On the back, the dramatic sequence of images that showed the bag degrading over the course of fourteen weeks-the subject of a popular you tube video last fall, has been replaced with a more guarded message about the potential degradability of the bags in appropriately hot (industrial-type) composting facilities-thus tamping down the suggestion that the bags might easily degrade in one’s own backyard.
This more subdued communication correctly takes away any hint of potential greenwash from the widely publicized video that the bags might degrade in open air. The shift in emphasis from “compostable” to “natural” represents good green marketing at its best: start with a legitimately greener product and package, and lead with the primary benefits (in this case, great taste and high quality ingredients)-not with promises of “saving the planet.”
I do need to raise a question, though.
Frito-Lay deserves kudos for sticking by their commitment to compostability, and recognizing that the secondary message about the renewable ingredients of the bag can add an important dimension to their overall story.
Why stop at linking the compostable material simply to the abstract sounding “renewable materials”?  Is Sun Chips possibly missing an opportunity to be more explicit about the corn-based ingredients of the bag?  “Corn” after all, better conjures up delightful images of sunny cornfields, while helping out Midwest farmers and reinforcing the now highlighted multi-grain taste message.
According to a representative of NatureWorks LLC, the company that makes the Ingeo^TM-based bag material, although made of corn-based PLA (polylactic acid) today, plans are in place to make Ingeo out of such other plant-based sugars in the future as sugar cane or cassava.  I suppose Frito-Lay’s, in addition to keeping their options open for the future, wouldn’t want consumers thinking they could actually eat the bags-confusion that might propel the You Tubers into another Sun Chips feeding frenzy.

May 23, 2011 by Jacquelyn Ottman

Heinz Vietnam awarded Asia’s Best Employer Brand Awards 2010

Congratulation for Mr. Nguyen Dang Duy Nhat on leading Heinz Vietnam successfully in 2009 and being awarded BEST EMPLOYER BRAND AWARD 2010 by CMO Asia. Mr. Nhat has also been appointed to be a representative of CMO Council Worldwide in Vietnam and one of 47 APAC Senior Advisor.

"To Nhat Nguyen
Greetings from the Employer Branding Institute & Welcome to Asia’s Best Employer Brands.

The Asia’s Best Employer Brand Awards are hosted by Employer Branding Institute, CMO Asia with their Strategic Partner CMO Council. These awards will be held on 23rd July, 2010 from 2.30pm – 5.30pm at Suntec Singapore (Level 3, Room 303 -305).

Over the years the Employer Branding Institute (http://www.employerbrandingawards.com/) has carefully researched the Best Employers who
a)     Create a culture of Contribution and Innovation at Work.
b)    Believe in Consistent improvement in Human Resources Policy by measuring organizational health and inculcating values that help to achieve the vision.
c)     Being a Social Employer.
d)    Developing a future leader.

With the above perspective we are pleased to confer Asia’s Best Employer Brand Award to “ HEINZ VIETNAM ” for achievements in 2009.  The Award will consist of a Statuette and a Citation to recognize the valuable contribution your brand is making to be the most sought after Employer. We expect 200 Senior Leaders to attend the Award Ceremony besides bureaucrats from various Countries. The Event is organized for a Professional cause and sharing of Knowledge."