This paper examines green marketing as both a business strategy and a consumer philosophy, tracing its rise in response to climate change, pollution, and resource conservation. Drawing on Entrepreneur magazine's "7 Steps to the Perfect Marketing Plan," the paper applies this framework to a wide range of real-world green marketing examples — including campaigns by Philips, Ford Motor Company, BP, McDonald's, and Portland General Electric. It also reviews regulatory guidance from the EPA and FTC, certification programs such as Green Seal, and critical perspectives from scholars including Toby Maureen Smith and John F. Wasik. The paper ultimately surveys both the promise and the limitations of green consumerism as a tool for meaningful environmental change.
The paper uses a framework-driven structure: it introduces Jantsch's 7-step marketing plan as an organizing lens, then evaluates real-world green marketing examples against that framework. This technique — establishing an analytical framework early and applying it throughout — is a strong approach for survey-style research papers, showing how theory and practice intersect.
The paper opens with a contextual introduction defining "green" as a marketing philosophy, then presents the 7-step marketing plan in detail. The largest section reviews diverse green marketing case studies drawn from energy, automotive, food service, and retail sectors. Subsequent sections cover regulatory requirements and certification, followed by a critical counterpoint from Smith and a forward-looking synthesis from Grant and Wasik. The paper closes by gesturing toward the future of green innovation.
Over the last decade or so, the word "green" has taken on meanings far beyond the color itself. In response to the urgent issues of climate change, pollution, and responsible consumer use of natural resources, "green" has come to mean a philosophy and a strategy that consumers can adopt to reduce their carbon footprint. As a result of the popularity of "going green," manufacturers, corporations, and advertisers — even the small mom-and-pop store down the street — are learning how to market green products, green services, and green lifestyles. This paper reviews a wide range of green marketing examples and strategies, and applies Entrepreneur magazine's "7 Steps to the Perfect Marketing Plan" to the context of green marketing.
Entrepreneur's John Jantsch explains that a marketing plan should be "a simple — in some cases, one page — document that specifically answers who you are, what you do, who needs what you do, and how you plan to attract their attention" (Jantsch, 2009). When reviewing the marketing strategies of a number of companies, Jantsch's simple plan is often not fully met. One reason the "who you are" component is not always spelled out is that consumers already know major corporations like Ford Motor Company very well, making exhaustive self-introduction unnecessary. Still, the seven steps laid out by Jantsch are thorough, and every new product launch by a relatively unknown entrepreneur should adhere to them faithfully and fully.
Step one, "narrow your market focus," suggests that the plan should describe "the ideal customer" in the "narrowest and most detailed terms possible." Step two, "position your business," means delving deeply into "what you do best and what your target market wants." If you are unsure of your niche, Jantsch suggests phoning a few clients and asking why they buy from you. Step three, "create education-based marketing materials," urges marketers to "recreate all your marketing materials, including your website, to focus on education." The key question is: what is your core message, and how effectively and succinctly can you convey it to your target market?
Step four, "never cold call," advises marketers to "educate before you sell" and ensure that advertising is "geared toward creating prospects, not customers." Ads placed in publications, on television, or online should motivate viewers to seek more information. Step five, "earn media attention," means building relationships with reporters who cover your industry and producing newsworthy events. Step six, "expect referrals," means making every customer a "marketing and referral contact." Step seven, "live by a calendar," means setting goals, scheduling appointments faithfully, and establishing firm deadlines for pivotal milestones.
Before launching a new marketing plan, Jacquelyn Ottman, President of J. Ottman Consulting in New York, suggests that companies avoid "green marketing myopia" (Ottman, 2006). The example of myopic marketing Ottman et al. put forward involves a 1994 product launch by Philips. The company produced the "EarthLight," an energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) designed to use far less energy than standard incandescent bulbs. It was a great idea in one respect — it offered an estimated $20 in savings over the bulb's five-year life. However, the myopic aspect was that Philips' bulb had a "clumsy shape" that was not compatible with conventional lamps. The name "EarthLight," while "noble," only appealed to "the deepest green niche of consumers" (Ottman, 2006). The vast majority of consumers will ask, "If I use green products, what's in it for me?" Today, of course, the spiral-shaped CFL bulb is widely used and delivers noticeable benefits to consumers.
Still on the subject of green marketing in the energy industry, Portland General Electric (PGE) entered into an "alliance" with Northwest Environmental Advocates (NEA) in 1999 — an arrangement that made strategic sense then and certainly does today. NEA is a conservation group that developed Renew 2000, a "green-power marketing program for utilities," whereby 50% of the premium from renewable energy sales — such as wind power, geothermal, and solar — would be used by PGE to build renewable-energy plants or fund "salmon habitat restoration projects" in the Northwest (Electrical World, 1999).
Journalist Tiffany Hsu writes in the Los Angeles Times that the green "scene" has been "flooded with conferences, conventions, trade shows" in an attempt to fully capitalize on "the popularity of sustainability and concerns about climate change" (Hsu, 2010). Trade show marketing is clearly a smart strategy, but Hsu notes it may be approaching overload. There are now even conferences dedicated to how to run green meetings that "use sustainable carpets and biodegradable trash liners" and avoid bottled water and printed brochures.
Hsu quotes Stephanie Corbin, senior assistant at Tradeshow Week magazine, who said that prior to the economic slowdown "green was the hot topic" at trade shows. "While it's definitely slowed," Corbin explained, "and was put on the back burner for the recession, I don't think it's going away" (Hsu, 2010).
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a component of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, published a "status report" in 2006 titled "Green Power Marketing in the United States: A Status Report (Ninth Edition)." At the time of publication, more than 600 utility companies — representing 20% of all utilities nationally — were offering some kind of green power program, meaning approximately half of all U.S. utility customers had the option to "purchase some type of green power product" (Bird et al., 2006). Bird's report shows that in 2005, about 0.2% of total U.S. electricity sales came from renewable energy sources, totaling 8.5 billion kilowatt-hours. Of those kilowatt-hours, wind energy provided 61%, biomass (including landfill gas) 27%, hydropower 6%, geothermal 5%, and solar 1% (Bird, 2006).
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) published a marketing report called "Promoting Green Purchasing in North America," which identifies several obstacles preventing growth of the North American green procurement market (CEC.org, 2005). Those obstacles include a lack of shared information between organizations and agencies; a shortage of information about "successful procurement techniques"; limited data about "market segments within and outside the national governments"; insufficient "life-cycle or cost-benefit" tools; too few government or third-party certification opportunities; and "no common baseline of energy and environmental attributes for given products or services" (CEC.org, 2005).
Ford Motor Company in 2005 "went environmental" — and perhaps a bit overboard — to help market its Escape Hybrid vehicle (Plant, Willowdale, 2005). To demonstrate its green commitment, Ford constructed a billboard in downtown Toronto featuring more than 750 living plants, shrubs, vines, and evergreens arranged above Dundas Square. The plants were fed by a "300-metre custom irrigation system with 150 spray nozzles," and crews went up weekly in bucket trucks to trim and prune. While not especially practical, it was eye-catching and deserving of credit for the creative effort at a time when Ford was competing with Japanese hybrid manufacturers.
In the world of Broker magazine, "green" means more than just "saving a tree or an ocean" (Finkelstein, 2008). Green also means "doing the right thing like making quality actions for the customer." In a column called "Green Marketing," Finkelstein also claims that the basis of the green movement — according to a marketing entrepreneur — is building "a sustainable relationship with the right customers" (Finkelstein, 2008). While Finkelstein somewhat twists the logic of green into a sales tool, he does acknowledge that another basis for the green movement "is the use of products that promote sustainability." This source is presented as a cautionary example: now that green is hugely popular and widely used in marketing, consumers should beware of sales people who exploit the concept of green for purely capitalistic advantage.
Another article featuring Jacquelyn Ottman, published at greenmarketing.com, suggests that McDonald's was the very first corporation in the United States to truly innovate in a green context (Ottman, 2002). McDonald's innovated away from Styrofoam by adopting "quilt-wrap" packaging, and in doing so, Ottman asserts that McDonald's "ushered in a new era of corporate environmentalism," catapulting the fast food giant "to the top of the corporate responsibility list" (Ottman, 2002).
Ottman also commends the energy giant British Petroleum (BP) for producing honest and effective green marketing. While it is laudable for an oil company to invest in green technologies, BP did so with "appropriate humility that admits its own guilt while setting the stage for conversion to alternative energy sources" (Ottman, 2002). By contrast, Ottman criticized Exxon for running "green-themed" ads at the time that focused on the need to "find more oil."
In another green marketing article, Ottman writes in Business that while the George W. Bush administration "abdicates responsibility for a strong response to slowing down" global climate change, Bush's lack of leadership opened "a unique window of opportunity for America's advertisers and marketers" (Ottman, 2002). Her advice to marketers: use the same effective communication techniques employed in the "stop smoking" and "buckle up" campaigns, and design campaigns that "make it cool for Americans to take a stand on climate change" (Ottman, 2002).
Taking the exact opposite tack from Smith, author John Grant states that "We are on the verge of a green innovation revolution — it's already started in fact." He suggests that a great example of green marketing is the promotional video for the 2006 hit single by Eric Prydz. In the video, apparently delinquent boys break into houses carrying bricks — but rather than causing damage, they make energy-efficient improvements: placing bricks in toilet cisterns to reduce water used per flush, placing bricks in the refrigerator as heat sinks, and replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient CFLs. The pop video makes several of the same points Grant makes in his book: (1) most people are "nice" and not antisocial or apathetic; (2) being green is not just a strategy for middle-class, liberal, educated people — "it's everyone's issue"; (3) we cannot rely solely on governments or corporations — individuals must take responsibility themselves; (4) green marketing can and should be "funky, edgy, intriguing, playful, impactful and creative"; and (5) "it doesn't even have to look 'green' to be effective" (Grant, pp. 19–20).
Meanwhile, David de Rothschild is marketing green in a most dramatic fashion — not selling any products or services, but pitching the idea of living green by preparing to sail from California to Australia in a catamaran built from 12,000 recycled two-liter soda bottles lashed together (La Ganga, 2010). An article in the Los Angeles Times reports that de Rothschild — son of a wealthy European banking family — plans to sail the catamaran, called "Plastiki," into the now-famous Eastern Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean before continuing to Sydney. The Eastern Garbage Patch is a vast swirling mass of plastic and refuse estimated to be twice the size of Texas, and de Rothschild plans to blog "about the evils of plastic and a consumer society" along the way (La Ganga, 2010).
De Rothschild, who calls himself an "environmental storyteller," will also be promoting an innovative adhesive developed by his team from cashew hulls and sugar. He argues that standard epoxy is "horrible, noxious stuff," but his bio-based glue — used to cement together the 12,000 soda bottles — "could go on the market today" and replace epoxies "off the shelf." As unconventional as this project appears, it has the potential to generate substantial positive news coverage for the idea that consumers must go green and reduce their dependence on plastic wherever possible. Green marketing, in all its forms — from corporate campaigns to individual acts of environmental storytelling — continues to evolve as both a commercial strategy and a cultural force.
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