Examples of Great Green Marketing

In today’s era of authenticity and corporate transparency, a growing number of consumers, especially Millennials and Gen-Zers, state they are no longer satisfied with brands that ignore their role in sustainability. These consumers truly expect organizations to take a firm stand and convey concern when it comes to climate change.

Perhaps that is why green marketing – a promotion of environmentally friendly products, services, and sustainable initiatives, is moving from a company’s “nice to have” to their “must have” lists. Consumers want to see it.

Knowing this, organizational leaders are realizing that putting purpose before short-term profits needs to be part of their long-term growth strategy as well. Which is not a business model that traditional leaders think about first. However, taking this approach now prepares them for the inevitable future of government regulations forcing sustainable practices. So, businesses should think now about trade-offs they’re willing to make in order to be profitable, clean and healthy. It will be difficult, but doable.

4 Examples of Green Marketing done by Major Companies

Here are a few examples of organizations taking their own approach to green marketing and encouraging others to follow suit. Keep in mind that green marketing is not unique to just  manufacturing.

1/ Patagonia

Hands down, Patagonia is a textbook example of how to execute green marketing engagement. They’re considered a benchmark organization that other organizations can learn from when constructing their own plans to reduce the impact their business has on climate change. Patagonia has a 50-year history of pioneering green marketing.

A clothing company, an activist organization, and a B Corp (which means they have been accredited as a business that balances profit with purpose), Patagonia is devoted to reaching the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Since its inception, it has been putting purpose before profits and has grown into a billion-dollar business.

More recently, their goal was to reduce all their carbon emissions by 2025. Their approach is four-part.

• First, they measure the impact of their carbon footprint by engaging a third-party validation system. This provides valuable insights into where to dedicate the company’s resources and helps them develop a strategy that provides reason and knowledge behind purpose.
• Second, they minimize the need for energy where possible and increase efficiency where energy could not be reduced. This involved incorporating recycled materials wherever possible and encouraging engagement in circular economies. The focus was turned to the quality and extension of life of the clothing. The longer the products last, the less impact they have on environment.
• Third, focus on conversion to renewable energy sources for everything they do
• Fourth, capture carbon by investing in ways to remove gases from the atmosphere (i.e., carbon sequestration and conservation programs.)

Patagonia’s most recent campaign communicating their long-term positioning is focused on the following messages – Demand Recycled, Demand Fair Trade, Demand Organic, and Buy Less, Demand More.

2/ Lemonade Insurance

Lemonade Insurance is new to the market. It was founded in 2015 as a tech-enabled, online-only insurance company which makes it a disruptor to the insurance market. It started out offering pet and renters’ insurance, but recently expanded its products to homeowners, life, and car insurance.

Because they do business online, they can offer discounted prices and appeal predominantly to a more tech-savvy younger target—Millennials and Gen-Z—who will soon start entering the category. Both target groups greatly care about social responsibility. As part of their green marketing strategy, Lemonade offers “Lemonade Giveback” which means that customers can choose a cause to which a percentage of Lemonade’s profit will be donated.

3/ S’Well

S’Well was founded in 2010 by entrepreneur Sarah Kaussell, to market reusable insulated products that differentiate through their slick design. The company entered the market with water bottles and now has expanded its core line to mugs and tumblers, barware, and eating containers. Its mission from the start was to reduce the use of single-serve bottles while being able to help communities in need, placing purpose before profit.  S’Well is also a B-Corp accredited business that gives them access to a growing third-party community that can provide further guidance in the world of sustainability. They developed their green marketing strategy around building initiatives, and they work with people who are primarily focused on positively influencing the world.

4/PwC (Pricewaterhouse Cooper)

One of the four largest accounting firms, the PwC name is so institutional, it may surprise you that it made the list of green marketing companies. The company’s core focus is to develop trust with all its stakeholders and their green marketing is focused on being innovative, responsible, and progressive. In this way, PwC shows commitment to sustainability by paying attention to the lifecycle of raw materials (such as paper, water, and waste) in its offices. As a leading audit and assurance, consulting, and tax services company, imagine how much paper consumption and waste they could impact with this commitment. In 2017, the organization was able to reduce paper consumption by 64 percent and water by 40 percent (compared to 2007 baseline). For their five-year goal, by 2022, the targets were reset to 80 percent paper and 50 percent water reduction. One of their sustainable initiatives when dealing with office waste management concentrates on the “going circular” strategy, promoting collaboration to identify green solutions through a combination of waste management, employee awareness, and suppliers’ engagement.

Mistakes Can Happen

It is possible organizations will make mistakes in their attempts at green marketing, and that could end in backlash. For example, a company can be suspected or accused of ‘greenwashing’, which means their “talk didn’t match their walk.” This can happen to any company, regardless of what good strategic intentions a brand can have. Good market research can certainly help with some aspects of the green marketing strategy development and with anticipating and preventing possible errors.

TRC has worked with companies on the front lines of the green movement (e.g., energy companies, manufacturers, etc.), but players in the service industry are catching on as well. So far, we’ve been quite successful in our support for clients by providing sound and differentiating market research solutions as they navigate these uncharted waters. We also look forward to providing this support to businesses who are just joining the green marketing movement.

References

Michelle Carvill, Gemma Butler and Geraint Evans, Sustainable Marketing (2021)