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04.22.2009

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Sustainability: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility

Sustainability: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility is the definitive roadmap plotting consumer behavior and purchases in the new culture of sustainability and adjusting to new economic realities.

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Earth Day Special: 5 Tips for Marketing Sustainability

Long before environmental marketing was fashionable, The Hartman Group tracked consumer interest and involvement in sustainability. For more than 20 years now, we’ve provided actionable insights to manufacturers and retailers on consumer habits and preferences in the broad, and still largely undefined, sustainability landscape.

One thing is true: The breadth and depth of consumer involvement in the sustainability space touches upon such a broad scope of products, services, attitudes and behaviors that even something as profound as today’s recession may have a hard time knocking the consumer fascination with sustainability back a notch.

The current economic downturn is not changing most sustainable behaviors, but consumers are making more considered decisions and tradeoffs in less essential categories. To shed light on the consumer sustainability journey amidst the current economic storm, and in honor of Earth Day, we offer the following 5 tips to successfully market sustainability.

1. Speak to consumers using their own words to describe sustainability
Consumers define sustainability in a multitude of ways. As we’ve said in the past, while the term "sustainability" is not a household word it is an umbrella term for six key values: healthier, local, social responsibility, environmental responsibility, simple living and control. Before framing messages of sustainable values it is important to find definitions that consumers can relate to.

2. Link your product or service to a personal consumer benefit if possible
One of the important insights we’ve gleaned from our two decades of sustainability research is that green attitudes do not necessarily translate into green behavior. Consumers are intrinsically preoccupied with matters of personal and family health and wellness; these in turn represent absolute gateways to sustainability. Consumers need to see a personal benefit to initially act on sustainable aspirations.

3. Understand that sustainability isn’t just about environmental concerns
A variety of values trigger consumer awareness and interest in sustainability. Consumers express attitudinal concerns for issues ranging from economic and social to environmental and personal safety. Individuals can be drawn into awareness through any one or several different triggers depending on their experiences, lifestyle, and interests. Initial triggers for awareness are often radio, television and print media.

4. Tell consumers the story behind your sustainable product
Packaging is among the first things consumers notice. Consumers are seeking narratives and storylines regarding sustainable practices and the people and places behind sustainable products. To the untrained eye it may be product packaging but to the average consumer it can be a field, a farm or a factory.

5. Connect “value” with quality in the current economic downturn
Economic concerns top the list of consumer concerns. Recent events have shifted consumers’ perceptions that quality of life will change for the worse. The current economic downturn is not changing most sustainable behaviors, but consumers are making more considered decisions and tradeoffs in less essential categories.

For more, watch our recent webinar “5 Tips To Successfully Market Sustainable Brands in a Downturn Economy”

(Run-time: 45 minutes)











Did you know?

  • Nearly half of consumers (44%) are confused by the term “sustainability”
  • Close to three-quarters of consumers do not know which products (75%) or companies (71%) are truly sustainable
  • About one-third of consumers (34%) are willing to pay a premium for sustainable goods despite the economic downturn
  • About one in five core consumers (21%) are actually buying more sustainably

Source: Sustainability: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility, The Hartman Group, Inc., January 2009.


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