This millennium is officially sponsored by green. But how many companies, from the top of your head, can you say are “green?” I can think of Smart (the car manufacturer), that Tom’s brand (that makes deodorant and beauty products sold in Trader Joe’s)… that’s about it for me. I’m sure your lists are a bit longer, but by how much? What about these:
Which of these are “green?” Believe it or not, all of them, they’re the leading green initiative companies today. Grail Research conducted a study that showed that 85% of consumers had no clue that any of those companies were green either. That’s quite a lot. So should that tell them, or anyone else who wants to make green strides? It tells them that is regardless of whether or not the tree, which fell in the forest, made a noise, if no one is around to hear it, the effort is fruitless in gaining market share (please take a moment to appreciate my “fruitless tree” pun, I’m very proud of it).
To throw a little more incentive toward brands to advertise they’re green efforts, Grail also discovered that despite the recession, 84% of consumers remained loyal to their green lifestyle. They may have traded down to a more affordable brand, but green they remained. To even with the proper green PR, to keep your consumers spending their green on your green, brands must stay competitive on price and performance of their products (which should be true regardless of color trends). Unfortunately, the study also showed that there is no one particular attribute that influences purchasing all green products, but 81% of the ones surveyed are buying. Here are the various influencers
Here’s some more info to tickle you pink… I mean green. Within the industry, there are two classifications:
Dark Green Shoppers: Older, more affluent, more educated
Light Green Shoppers:
Dark greenies (a term I’m trying to coin) showed 31% go directly in to stores green aisles, and only 2% of light greenies.
So, what’s the take-away here? For a company to get a green makeover and not show it off is ineffective. With the amount of money needed to revamp a brand into the Green millennium, why not tell someone?
If 85% of consumers have no clue which companies are green, than how can 84% of consumers remain loyal to a green lifestyle and 81% of consumers are buying. I have always love to have fun with numbers.
About the Author Rena Prizant
Rena Prizant is a copywriter, ad creative, SEO gal, and mammal in the Chicago area -- professionally word-playing since 2002. Rena’s craft is wordplay and her medium is language. She creates smart, dynamic concept and copy on both the client and agency-side, as well as, not-for-profit organizations. She also runs her own advertising blog. Additionally, Rena is an ex-actress, left-handed, and an excellent driver. Follow Rena on Twitter.
