Green Marketing - US: Industry Report

Green Marketing - US

Product Type: Market Research Report
Published by: Mintel International Group Ltd.
Published: May 2008
Product Code: R560-3283

Description

"Green" messages have swept the marketing world over the past two years and Mintel provides the context necessary to understand the green marketplace. Interest in environmental issues, especially climate change, has surged in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, soaring oil prices, and Al Gore's Oscar-winning film and Nobel Prize. Marketers have caught on to the benefits that green messaging can bring to their brands.

Companies are embarking on green marketing campaigns, but which ones really work? When do green claims help a brand, and when do they turn consumers off and what are consumers really looking for in a green product or company? Mintel analyzes green marketing campaigns and current trends. This report builds on the findings of Mintel's Green Living 2008 report, which focuses on:

The fast-growing market for green products and services with analysis on green marketing and branding by all kinds of businesses.
Identifying the ethical and environmental issues that matter most to consumers, this research can help strategists hone their green efforts effectively.
Companies and industries that have struggled with poor environmental reputations.
Analysis of green marketing missteps, potential opportunities, and messaging that works via consumers' decision-making methodology on which messages and companies to trust.

Table of Contents

Scope and Themes: What you need to know; Definition; Data sources; Consumer survey data; Qualitative data for this report; Abbreviations and terms; Abbreviations; Terms
Executive Summary: Current reputation an asset or a liability; Greens get their info online; Design, color, and symbols; Breast cancer, treatment of employees, human rights seen as more important than environmental issues; Women and those earning <$75K more likely to respond favorably; Wide variety of drivers means corporate greening has staying power; Carbon neutral claims to lose their shine; Green consumers are mainstream consumers; One in three shop based on corporate behavior; Punishments are more common than rewards…; ...but most may not know who to punish or reward; Push advertising meets with skepticism; Spreading skepticism made easy by watchdog sites online; Many paths to “greenness” illustrated; Toyota; Stonyfield Farm; Nike; Unilever; Frito-Lay; Chevy; Wal-Mart
Trends in Green Marketing: Traditional campaigns; Powerhouse green brands; Toyota: capitalizing on hybrid leadership; Stonyfield Farm: focus on organic growth; Nike: casting off negative publicity with a long-term plan; Subaru: leveraging a previous image into the green arena; Unilever: buying into the green marketplace; Clorox: developing a green line alongside its conventional products; Frito-Lay: aiming to green the conventional line; Procter & Gamble; Overcoming negative images; General Motors (GM); Wal-Mart: making the changes before promoting them; BP; Online and alternative marketing campaigns; Facts, honesty, and having fun on the company website; Interactive cause marketing a hit with 18-24s; Using the news media to do your green marketing; Harnessing customers’ creativity; The power of green symbols; Getting in good with citizen watchdogs
Competitive Context: Other Cause-Related Marketing: Introduction; CRM is on the rise; Consumers expect corporations to be socially responsible; Green issues important, but breast cancer is the most popular CRM; Top socially-responsible companies include green brands; Who responds to CRM?; More than half of adults respond to CRM; CRM helps brand image among young adults; Women respond more favorably than men to CRM; A link between children and CRM; CRM attracts Hispanic loyalty; Benefits of CRM; How consumers learn about CRM and how it influences purchases; Products that might benefit from CRM partnerships; CRM and green marketing share potential pitfalls; Corporate environmental practices compared to other issues; Core green consumers care about all aspects or corporate ethics; Women focused on people and the environment; Income mediates expectations of business
Market Drivers: Green investing impacting company valuations; Follow the leader or fall behind; Wal-Mart flexes its environmental muscle; Peer pressure drives everyone green; Keeping one step ahead of government regulations; Green media channels proliferate; Green goes mainstream; Health and safety concerns boost the green market
Trends in Green Business Practices: Carbon Neutral: trendy but confusing; Carbon accounting can be murky and challenging; The rising popularity of the carbon-neutral claim; Is the claim legitimate?; The growth and appeal of offsets; Problems with offsets; Metrics and standards on the rise
The Green Consumer: Shades of green; How do Greens think?; Age and green shopping patterns; Household income and green shopping; Race and ethnicity; Education; The impact of children in the household; Reasons for buying or not buying green
Consumer Attitudes Toward Corporate Responsibility: Going green affects the decisions of one third of online respondents; Corporate ethics does not resonate so well with the 18-24s; Education drives expectations for corporate behavior; Most worry about corporate behavior but do not act
Rewarding Ethical Brands: One in nine respondents will pay more for ethical brands; The young and educated more willing to sacrifice convenience for greenness; College grads and students committed to rewarding ethical brands
Punishing “Bad” Brands: The stick is more common than the carrot
Deciding Which Brands are Green: Sources of information; Age-related media divide governs the way people learn about green issues
Which Green Issue is Most Important?: Women more concerned than men
Limits to Knowledge about Corporate Responsibility: Half of concerned respondents cannot name a company they approve of; Higher-income respondents feel more informed; Responses by education
Attitudes Toward Green Advertising: Consumers willing to believe, but also following up; Advertising probably not the best foot forward; Women safer targets for green advertising; College grads skeptical of green ads
Results by Race and Ethnicity: Charitable giving and local efforts important to people of color; Hispanics willing to compromise for green brands; Whites more committed to punishing bad corporate behavior; Green ads are missing blacks
The Qualitative Survey: Consumer Concerns and Behavior: Concerns; Recycling the leading way to lead a green life; Green shopping commonalities; The Qualitative Survey: What Companies are Green?; Introduction; Impressions of specific companies and industries
The Qualitative Survey: Green Branding: Introduction; Packaging a key theme for respondents; Energy-efficient products a clear driver of perceptions; “Greenness” of retailers depends on products carried above corporate policies; Promote your solar panels and telecommuting employees; Advertising tainted by concerns about credibility; Exuding that green feeling; Green the brand, not the parent company; Healthy = green; green = healthy; Companies that care about people and communities care about the environment; Yesterday’s negative brand image taints today’s green initiatives; Distribution a key source of credibility
The Qualitative Survey: Responses about Packaging: Simple packaging sends a green message; Product packaging claims: offer facts and figures; Consumers want evidence, but not too much
Appendix: Trade Associations

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