Marketing "green" products often backfires because, much as we'd like all buyers to follow the altruistic "because green is better" thinking, other unaddressed factors intervene to short circuit that thinking, with the result that sustainable solutions fail to gain traction in the hearts and minds of buyers. But it doesn't have to be that way.

1. Make Sustainability Sustainable
Ed Alexander, Managing Consultant
Social Climate Group
free download at
http://bit.ly/SustainChange
a communications primer for
promoting sustainability solutions
www.1socialclimate.com

2. Let’s face it. Some conversations are complicated.

3. Mom, what
does Dad do?
Let’s face it. Some conversations are complicated.

4. Dad’s a
sustainabl… er,
a fireman.
Let’s face it. Some conversations are complicated.

5. Let’s face it. Some conversations are complicated.
Dad’s a
sustainabl… er,
a fireman.

6. oh.
Let’s face it. Some conversations are complicated.

7. The problem:
expecting a rational response
from a confused audience.

8. “I’m frustrated. Why aren’t more people concerned?“
“How can my efforts create a lasting impact?”
We hear it every time we discuss Sustainability.
Sustainability professionals ask:

9. “I’m frustrated. Why aren’t more people concerned?“
“How can my efforts create a lasting impact?”
… while a skeptical public responds:
“Is climate change really happening?“
“How can we be sure, if scientists aren’t?”
“How do distant world events affect me?”
“How urgent? Don’t we have plenty of time to act?”
“So much of it is about politics. I feel powerless.”
“I’m too focused on immediate needs to think long term.”
“I do my part. I recycle and conserve. How much is enough?”
“I wish I had clear direction to take decisive action.”
“It seems so overwhelming. I just tune out.”
We hear it every time we discuss Sustainability.
Sustainability professionals ask:

10. “I’m frustrated. Why aren’t more people concerned?“
“How can my efforts create a lasting impact?”
… while a skeptical public responds:
“Is climate change really happening?“
“How can we be sure, if scientists aren’t?”
“How do distant world events affect me?”
“How urgent? Don’t we have plenty of time to act?”
“So much of it is about politics. I feel powerless.”
“I’m too focused on immediate needs to think long term.”
“I do my part. I recycle and conserve. How much is enough?”
“I wish I had clear direction to take decisive action.”
“It seems so overwhelming. I just tune out.”
We hear it every time we discuss Sustainability.
Sustainability professionals ask:

11. We hear it every time we discuss Sustainability.
Sustainability professionals ask:
“I’m frustrated. Why aren’t more people concerned?“
“How can my efforts create a lasting impact?”
… while a skeptical public responds:
“Is climate change really happening?“
“How can we be sure, if scientists aren’t?”
“How do distant world events affect me?”
“How urgent? Don’t we have plenty of time to act?”
“So much of it is about politics. I feel powerless.”
“I’m too focused on immediate needs to think long term.”
“I do my part. I recycle and conserve. How much is enough?”
“I wish I had clear direction to take decisive action.”
“It seems so overwhelming. I just tune out.”

12. It doesn’t have to be that way.
we need strategies to keep change -
and the conversations
that enable change -
on track.
Confusion and derailment are commonplace. So…

13. Even crisis communicators are baffled.
We need a new plan.
This is it ….

14. Make Sustainability Sustainable
❶ Know your audience.
❷ Know how to get – and keep - their attention.
❸ Translate data into experience.
❹ Balance passionate appeals before they backfire.
❺ Acknowledge audience uncertainty.
❻ Leverage social identities.
❼ Foster group action.
❽ Make change easier.
The Plan:
Credit: www.cred.columbia.edu

15. Make Sustainability Sustainable
❶ Know your audience.
❷ Know how to get – and keep - their attention.
❸ Translate data into experience.
❹ Balance passionate appeals before they backfire.
❺ Acknowledge audience uncertainty.
❻ Leverage social identities.
❼ Foster group action.
❽ Make change easier.
The Plan:
Credit: www.cred.columbia.edu

16. ❶ Know your audience.
People are disconnected –
by politics:
Ironically, many people still do not
feel a personal connection to
sustainability or climate change.
67% may agree it’s happening,
but less than half (44%) agree
It’s caused by human activity.

17. ❶ Know your audience.
People are disconnected – by “Corporate interference”:
Distortion , manipulation and suppression of valid science
by corporate and other entities with a financial stake
• Corrupting the science
• Restricting agency effectiveness
• Influencing legislature
• Shaping public perception
• Exploiting judicial pathways
(click to visit the source)

18. ❶ Know your audience.
People are disaffected – by biases
Example: Confirmation Bias:
Embracing information that
confirms what we already think,
want or feel;
avoiding, dismissing, or forgetting
information that might require us
to change our minds or behavior.
Dr. Gavin Schmidt, Goddard / NASA:
“It’s all in the long term trends”.
CNN: “Do recent storms prove that
climate change is real?”
Neuromarketers estimate over 90% of all decisions we make are unconscious.

19. ❶ Know your audience.
It can be corrected, though.
Fortunately, Mental Models are not static.
We update them by:
• Making new connections with
existing knowledge
• Building new frames of
reference
• Correcting misinformation

20. ❶ Know your audience.
Caution: This is not a
job for your sales pitch.
Address it separately.

21. Product performance / Quality
Price
Value for the money
Brand
Health and product safety
Promotions / discounts
Convenience / easy to use
Innovation / new features
Fits my identity / style
Environmental impact / benefit
Appearance / makes me look good
Origin / where it came from
Supports causes I believe in /
Has positive social impact
Developing CountriesDeveloped CountriesAll 6 Markets
Motivations for Switching Brands
Question 2: When you make or influence purchase decisions, which 3 of the following factors
would you say most influence you to try something different from your usual brand?
www.sustainablebrands.com Fall 2012
❶ Know your audience.
50%
Caution: This is not a
job for your sales pitch.
Address it separately.

22. ❶ Know your audience.
P.S. It is about
the money.
How we
make it …

23. ❶ Know your audience.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/01/157664524/how-the-poor-the-middle-class-and-the-rich-spend-their-money
P.S. It is about
the money.
…and how we
spend it.

24. ❶ Know your audience.
We can only focus on a few
worries at any time. We tend
to focus on big ones.
Right now, Energy & Utilities
are tiny. Transportation and
Housing are primary concerns.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/01/157664524/how-the-poor-the-middle-class-and-the-rich-spend-their-money
P.S. It is about
the money.

25. ❶ Know your audience.
The Ogilvy Earth report:

26. ❶ Know your audience.
Close the Green Gap (from the Ogilvy Earth report)
• Make it normal
People want to fit in, not stand out, so mainstream your message.
• Eliminate the Sustainability “Tax”
Match your pricing to less “green” competitive products.
Price your offerings to fit in among competitive, less “green” options.
• Make Eco-friendly Male Ego-friendly
Sorry, but men want to go fast and look good doing it. Appeal to that.
• Lose the Crunch
Eliminate the “G” word or make it “incidental”.
• Hedonism over altruism
People just want to enjoy your product/service. Help them do that.
Source: “Mainstream Green” – Ogilvy & Mather

27. Keeping Sustainability Sustainable
❶ Know your audience.
❷ Know how to get – and keep - their attention.
❸ Translate data into experience.
❹ Balance passionate appeals before they backfire.
❺ Acknowledge audience uncertainty.
❻ Leverage social identities.
❼ Foster group action.
❽ Make change easier.
The Plan:

28. Ed Alexander
Managing Consultant
(781) 492-7638
Social Climate Group
@socialclimate
For the rest of this presentation,
or to arrange a briefing for
your executive team,
contact:
Make Sustainability Sustainable
www.1socialclimate.com