“Groene producten succesvol maken”

Hogeschool Gent, 4 April 2010

Stefaan Vandist www.trinity-planning.be

Watisduurzaamheid?

Profit

People Planet

What it is

“verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding practices of a company or the environmental benefits

of a product or service.”

Green·wash (grēn'wŏsh', -

wôsh')

What it is

Spending more on advertising green then actual investing in sustainable action

Like BP, ”Beyond Petroleum”: 45 million in solar versus 5 billion on oil exploration in Alaska

1

changing buying patterns in consumer markets

Why it happens

CFCFREE|ORGANIC|FREERANGE|CRUELTYFREE|BIO|DOLPHINFRIENDLY|NONTOXIC|

BIODEGRADABLE|RECYCLABLE|ECO|CARBONNEUTRAL|FSC|AGAINSTANIMALTESTING|

VEGAN|FAIRTRADE|LOCAL|OZONEFRIENDLY|CARBONOFFSET

Smallestofniches

1/33

Verydesirablemarket,settogrow

1/3

“Green is a new sort of ‘good manners’” 

CULTURALCREATIVES|LOHAS|NEWWORLD’S|BLUEGREENS|POSITIVECHOSERS...

high-educated, involved, opinionated, active, merely urban, double income, early-adapting, ...

And marketers are starving to get them

2

OureducaYon:we’remoYvatedtotellthestory

inthemostbeauYfulway

Why it happens

Isn’t this how you would think of advertising milk?

We are educated to make things look nice

Why all the fuss? Why is that so bad?

HARMING THE FUTURE

  More complaints against advertising   Undermining confidence in business   Sabotage of environmental movement in

business. Damage credibility of sustainability   Feeding cynical views on sustainability

HARMING YOURSELF

  Brand image damage, bad press attention   Decreasing employer motivation   Decreasing goodwill of strategic stakeholders   Honestly…It is simply annoying   And last but not least…

You don’t want this kind of circus on your doorstep

2 ways you can avoid greenwashing

A

SYcktotheMAINPRINCIPLEofGreenverYsing:

“Green Marke*ng is not about making normal things seem green (greenwashing), it is about making green stuff seem normal” 

Greenisspecial Greenisnormal

B

Be aware of the

“seven sins of Greenwashing”:

1

The sin of suggestive pictures:

Greenimagesthatindicatea(un‐jusYfied)greenimpact,

likeflowersbloomingfromexhaustpipes

2

The sin of the hidden trade off:

Greenproduct/DirtycompanySuggesYonofbeingGreen,basedonasingleenvironmentalabribute,while

blurringallotherparameterswhicharemaybemoreimportant.

Expl.talkingaboutyour4%greenenergy,tohidealltherest

3

Thesinofnoproof:

Claimsthatcouldberight,butarenotsupportedbyanyevidence,

orbyanyreliablethird‐partycerYficaYon.

4

The sin of vagueness:

Claims that are expressed with fluffy language without a fixed meaning, like ‘earth-friendly’ packaging

5

Thesinofirrelevance:

environmentalclaimsthatareredundantandunimportantforcustomers

seekingenvironmentallypreferableproducts.ItisirrelevantandthereforedistractstheconsumerfromfindingatrulygreeneropYon.

Like‘unleadedfuel(allfuelinEuropeisunleaded)…

6

The sin of lesser of two evils:

These are “green” claims that may be true within the product category, but that risk distracting the consumer from the greater Health- or other

negative impacts of the category as a whole

Like organic cigarettes

2MillionEuro’snarrowingthe‘open’debatetoproversuscontranuclear,ignoringallalternaYves

7

Thesinoffibbing

out‐right lying, and produce 

totally fabricated claims or data 

Let’sgettopracYce:

“Findme5sinsofGreenwashinginthisad”

“Findme5goodpracYcesinthisad”

Cutoutandkeep

1. ThesinofsuggesYvepictures2. Thesinofthehiddentradeoff3. Thesinofnoproof4. Thesinofvagueness5. Thesinofirrelevance6. Thesinoflesseroftwoevils7. Thesinoffibbing

“The seven sins of Greenwashing”

Old versus new marketing

How to become the purple cow in post-advertising marketing?

At this moment, the marketing industry is on the edge of a big shift

You should know, because if developing sustainable innovation, you better leapfrog, and start from the new practice

Theoldrulewas:

Createsafe,ordinary

productsandcombine

themwith

massmarkeYng

The new rule is:

Create truly innovative products, and build the marketing right into it

The offer and the message become one again

Messaging Experience Oldbrandingparadigm Newbrandingparadigm

Branding?

•  Promising•  Messaging

•  StaYccampaigns•  Passiveaudience•  IdealisYcImage•  Consistentstyle•  Top‐down•  Illusion

•  DemonstraYng•  Experience•  Evolvingexperience•  AcYveparYcipants•  TruecollaboraYvemission•  DiversityofinnovaYon•  Bobom‐up

•  AuthenYcity

Old Marketing New Marketing

Buying attention

Being Interesting

Reach Message Repeat

Connect Engage Empower

Downtalking Uptalking

Connectwithalargersocietaltendency

Connectwithpeoplewhobenefit

spreading

Designorprogramaunique

performance

Developpromise

CampaignwithafakenarraYve

Repeatasmuchaspossible

Thesedays,brandsarenotitsadverYsingidea’s,baselinesorlogos.Itaresimplythesumsofthegreatidea’sthatbuildthatbrand.

ABRAND=ACLUSTEROFCULTURALIDEA’SWITHANINTENTION

CREATIVITY=BLENDINGTHESECULTURALCOMPONENTSANDCREATESOMETHINGNEW

Asbrandsareclustersofculturalidea’s,youcandepictthemasmolecules

Run London

Just do it

Nike Plus

Nike Free

Nike ID

Nike Considered

Tiger Woods

Brazilian Soccer team

Jordan

Nike BIZ

Products Brand Company

MTV

Cutoutandkeep

“Old versus new marketing” •  Promising•  Messaging

•  StaYccampaigns•  Passiveaudience•  IdealisYcImage•  Consistentstyle•  Top‐down•  Illusion

•  DemonstraYng•  Experience•  Evolvingexperience•  AcYveparYcipants•  TruecollaboraYvemission•  DiversityofinnovaYon•  Bobom‐up

•  AuthenYcity

“7 building blocks of the right belief system”

#5

Brompton1)  Unique performance and/ or flatteringstory

2)  Sharability

3)  Connection with a larger societal movement

4)  Clear and single-minded eco-benefit

5)  Credible proof

6)  Credible corporate intention

7)  Ease & attractiveness

Ben & Jerry’s1)  Unique performance and/ or flatteringstory

2)  Sharability

3)  Connection with a larger societal movement

4)  Clear and single-minded eco-benefit

5)  Credible proof

6)  Credible corporate intention

7)  Ease & attractiveness

Ecover1)  Unique performance and/ or flatteringstory

2)  Sharability

3)  Connection with a larger societal movement

4)  Clear and single-minded eco-benefit

5)  Credible proof

6)  Credible corporate intention

7)  Ease & attractiveness

Kuyichi1)  Unique performance and/ or flatteringstory

2)  Sharability

3)  Connection with a larger societal movement

4)  Clear and single-minded eco-benefit

5)  Credible proof

6)  Credible corporate intention

7)  Ease & attractiveness

Prius | Renault Zoë Ze 1)  Unique performance and/ or flatteringstory

2)  Sharability

3)  Connection with a larger societal movement

4)  Clear and single-minded eco-benefit

5)  Credible proof

6)  Credible corporate intention

7)  Ease & attractiveness

Veil Solar Shade1)  Unique performance and/ or flatteringstory

2)  Sharability

3)  Connection with a larger societal movement

4)  Clear and single-minded eco-benefit

5)  Credible proof

6)  Credible corporate intention

7)  Ease & attractiveness

Zipcar1)  Unique performance and/ or flatteringstory

2)  Sharability

3)  Connection with a larger societal movement

4)  Clear and single-minded eco-benefit

5)  Credible proof

6)  Credible corporate intention

7)  Ease & attractiveness

Cutoutandkeep

1)  Unique performance and/ or flattering story 2)  Sharability 3)  Connection with a larger societal movement 4)  Clear and single-minded eco-benefit 5)  Credible proof 6)  Credible corporate intention 7)  Ease & attractiveness

“7 building blocks for the right belief system”

Personal beliefs Itshouldstartwith“relocaYngdreams”

Itisnotabout“changingtheworld”,itisaboutcontribuYngtochange,eachwithourowntalentsandspecialism

Ifitdoesn’tsell,itisnotsustainable.Youshouldconnectwitharealconsumerbenefit,otherwise

itwon’twork

RaYonalargumentswon’tchangebehaviour,itisaboutsocialstatus

Thanks for your attention! www.trinity-planning.be

stefaan@trinity-planning.be

@stefaanvandist