Green marketing 749
difficult to explain a complex issue on a
package that you are also trying to reduce in
size. Direct mail may seem like an effective way
to target the most environmentally concerned
consumers, but creates the danger of being
perceived as ‘junk mailers’. Sales promotions or
sponsorships linked to social or environmental
causes have been shown to be very effective,
but they need to be selected carefully to ensure
that there is synergy with the product being
promoted. Otherwise, customer evaluations of
the company can actually deteriorate (Mohr et
al., 2001). Personal selling in non-consumer
markets is often important, and requires the
salesforce to be aware of the environmental
implications of the company and its products
and processes (Drumwright, 1994). Public rela-
tions has also been a key communications
channel for companies to put across messages
relating to good eco-performance, both in
relations to brands and to corporate level
communications aimed at building corporate
reputation and identity.
Green issues provide good opportunities
for both informative and emotive marketing
communications. Fort Sterling’s green brand
Nouvelle captured 3 per cent of the £500
million toilet tissue market in its first year with
a modestly funded advertising campaign
which used such hard-hitting copy as ‘It feels a
little uncomfortable using toilet tissue that
wipes out forests’.
Integrated communications is increasingly
viewed as a key ingredient to marketing suc-
cess. It is particularly important when com-
panies are attempting to promote themselves,
or protect themselves, in relation to social and
environmental issues. If one part of a company
is attempting to gain competitive advantage on
the basis of eco-performance, then competitors,
NGOs, the media and regulators will be form-
ing an orderly queue to attack the company if
another part of that company is seen to be
failing to live up to the image. The key is to
understand the concerns of stakeholder audi-
ences and then to communicate effectively and
efficiently.
Green pricing
Pricing is, in many ways, the crux of the green
marketing challenge. If the external social and
environmental costs of production were reflec-
ted in the prices that customers pay, then there
would be considerable incentives for manu-
facturers to reduce those costs and become
more sustainable. Companies seeking to absorb
those costs and pass them onto the consumer
are vulnerable both to accusations of exploiting
customer interest in green pricing and to
undercutting from competitors still effectively
subsidized by the environment. The ‘win–win’
argument for greening proposed by the likes of
Porter and van der Linde (1995) suggests that
consumer demand for green products can
allow for the addition of green price premiums,
as applies to free-range eggs and dolphin-
friendly (rod-and-line caught) tuna.
Greening strategies can affect the cost
structures of a business with a knock-on effect
on prices, particularly if pricing is on a ‘cost
plus’ basis. Developing new sustainable raw
material sources, complying with legislation,
writing off old, ‘dirty’ technology, capital
expenditure on clean technology and the over-
heads associated with greening the organiza-
tion can impose a heavy cost burden. However,
this can be counterbalanced by the savings
made by reducing raw materials and energy
inputs, by reducing packaging, cutting waste
disposal costs and by finding markets for by-
products. If costs are looked at holistically and
managed on a portfolio basis, then wider eco-
efficiency process benefits, when added to
premium demand benefits, can counterbalance
the costs of greening to make a positive
contribution to profitability. Electrolux’s ‘Green
Range’ of white goods, for example, has a lower
environmental impact than the company’s
standard range, and has also achieved a 3.5 per
cent higher gross margin.
Progress towards sustainability may be
aided if the focus on ‘price’ within marketing
could be reduced in favour of focus on ‘cost’.
Low-energy light bulbs, for example, have a