Well, this is also a golden rule for consumer engagement too.

When interviewed by marketers, consumers tend to reply that they want to buy green & eco-friendly. But as we know, the main bias of market research is that ‘intent’ rarely translates into ‘action’. Because a product will save the planet does not mean that consumers will love it.

Successful green marketing practices follow an ‘eco-frugal approach’. The rising prices of energy and the current recession have been an unprecedented opportunity to switch the marketing focus from ’spending green’ to ’saving green’. As John Grant, author of The Green Marketing Manifesto, says: ‘There are very few instances where saving money and saving energy are not compatible, and, in that sense, reducing the impact on the environment is the only silver lining in the recessionary clouds”.

Rather than promoting green credentials as an end in themselves and trying to bolster green brand image as a result, the strategy for brands to effectively and durably engage consumers (while not being suspected of ‘greenwashing’) is to help them make the life-style choices that will make a difference to both their pockets AND the environment, such as using washing power that can be used at low-temperature (30°C) or switching to eco-efficient light bulbs, which in turn help lower electricity bills as well as carbon emissions emitted in the atmosphere.

This is the approached for example used by EDF, France’s main energy company, which developed an online platform to advise customers on how to save energy (and therefore money) by managing and rationalizing energy consumption in their homes (i.e. electric appliances, etc…). The website called “Ma Maison Bleu Ciel” offers a full set of news, forums, blogs, Q&As, personalized support & follow-up, and more to be developed soon.

You may think it is not that groundbreaking (compared with what other companies may have already done in the past). But it is something simple, helpful, efficient and which matches consumer’s key concerns and needs.

This is green marketing 101, isn’t it?

This was without GoodGuide’s latest innovation, which makes it an even more powerful concept: thanks to a newly developed Iphone application (which is free!!), consumers can scan a barcode in the supermarket aisle and immediately see detailed and independently researched ratings for health, environment and social responsibility for over 62,000 products and companies right on the phone.

The presence of too many eco-labels, their complexity, and the inability to discern what’s authentic from what is not are often mentioned as the main barriers to consumer’s ‘ecopowerment’.

Well, now it seems that this application can make it easier. Helping consumers make informed decisions, real time, and all the time. Everywhere, anywhere. This will have major implications for retailers and brands.

Definitely a trend to watch. To download the app., click here.

Credits Image: GoodGuide

Sources: Treehugger

]]> http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/11/24/geek-and-green-goodguides-new-iphone-app-to-scan-products-get-product-info-on-the-spot/feed/ 1 http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/07/14/how-to-ramp-up-your-csr-sustainability-communications-learning-lessons-from-the-obama-campaign/ http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/07/14/how-to-ramp-up-your-csr-sustainability-communications-learning-lessons-from-the-obama-campaign/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:43:58 +0000 admin http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/?p=205 The “Obama For America – Change We Need” campaign has recently won two major prizes at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France – a global festival for those working in advertising and related fields. For its  masterful mix of new media, community & grassroots engagement and traditional television advertising, the Obama campaign won the Grand Prix in both the categories of Titanium and Integrated Lions, respectively given to ideas that create a movement, and for great ideas that were made better with different touch points (i.e., innovative use of communications channels and vehicles).

These two prizes are another proof that this campaign will remain as THE campaign, not only as a revolution into political communications but mostly as a groundbreaking, forward-looking push to challenge communications conventions.

A campaign that we need to learn from for any kind of communications in order to break through to target audiences in a powerful, authentic and engaging manner, especially in the fields of CSR & Sustainability communications that are still (sadly) associated with greenwashing, “looking good” PR or spin.

:: What CSR & Sustainability comms lessons can we learn from the Obama campaign?

It is something that I had in mind for few months now. I have finally found some time to put a presentation deck together, to share with you all some of the key takeaways from the presidential campaign that I find extremely relevant to CSR & Sustainability in today’s turbulent times.

Watch the official video of the Obama campaign presented at Cannes below:

:: What is it?

Developed by a “For Benefit” startup and with the contribution of a team of experts (i.e scientists, consumers researchers, technologists from diverse organizations such as the MIT or the University of California), this website rates consumer products based on their health, environmental and social impacts.

More than 70,000 food, household and personal care products and even toys are ranked on the website, from the shower gel you use everyday to the latest toy you were planning to get for your kids at Christmas. At home on your PC or in the stores on your mobile, you can get the information that is most important to you about any kind of product your are planning to buy.

:: Bluring lines between brand reputation and corporate reputation

Very interestingly, I noticed that GoodGuide not only provides product-related information (ingredients, toxicity with carcinogens for instance) but also analyzes data on company’s performance (i.e. climate change policies, labour concerns, etc.).

This demonstrates that brand reputation and corporate reputation are now inextricably linked. How you operate as a company is as important as what you do and what kind of product or service you sell. Product and service quality are still important, but now the definition of what constitutes “quality” also includes social and environmental-related corporate performance.

Therefore GoodGuide is raising issues and challenges not just for marketers, but also has important implications for corporate behavior and corporate communications. I am especially thinking about the risk of greenwashing, for instance if a company is commercializing an eco-friendly product while other products in the same catergory and the company’s operations as a whole are not up to the same standards.

:: Hypertransparency

GoodGuide’s core mission is to provide the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of products and companies. It is another example that brands have lost control. Enabled with the transparency and immediacy of the web, brasnds are dealing with empowered consumers.

And no brand can now ignore this: “Increasingly discerning, well-informed consumer consumers are moving outside the purchasing funnel—changing the way they research and buy your products, resulting from the explosion of product choices and digital channels. Two-thirds of the touch points during the active-evaluation phase of a product or service involve consumer-driven activities such as Internet reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family” (McKinsey Quarterly, The Consumer Decision Journey, June 2009)

:: What to do then? Some general principles to protect corporate reputation and enhance brand equity

• Never presume that you can hide or distort information about your company or products – there will always be someone to find it out and expose your potential misconduct to a greater audience. Same goes for greenwashing or ‘fake’ CSR

• Consumers expect transparency from the companies they buy from, so be transparent and be ready to constantly question your practices.

• Be ready to rethink your marketing & communications model. Now marketing is about directly connecting with your consumers through dialogue, openess, relationships, shared experience & engagement.

You can also follow GoodGuide on Twitter

PS: Goodguide.com is a member of bcorporation.net, a consortium of nearly 200 for-profit companies that, according to its Web site, uses “the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.” The B stands for ‘benefit’, a new kind of hybrid between for-profit and nonprofit that we are seeing more and more of today.