Famous4 Blog

2007 Issue 3 - The Green Consumer - The Latest & Greatest On How It Is Affecting Marketing

Everyone from the Prime Minister to Tesco have jumped on the environmental bandwagon but how important is the environment in terms of influence, buying power and overall in our marketing? New research supports the argument that the environment influences all consumer groups according to the Henley Centre Headlight Vision which sampled 2,247 UK adults. 62% stated that they have become more environmentally aware over the last 12 months with climate change being the biggest global challenge while sustainability is growing in importance.

Henley Centre Headlight Vision has come up with five key consumer segments where the environment influences. Here is the top of the pops in terms of the influence that the environment plays in these segments in terms of lifestyle and buying decisions:

  1. Conventionally Conscious - make up 35% of the sample with an even split of men and women. They are concerned enough about the environment and believe environmentally-irresponsible brands should be penalised i.e. they will buy or not buy because of the environment.
  2. Positive Choosers - represent 31% of those surveyed with significantly more women than men. They are very aware of the environment, feel guilty about their lifestyle. Result: live ethically and therefore will buy regularly from 'good' companies where a reputation associated with a positive environmental record is key. Conversely, they will not buy from 'bad' ones.
  3. Onlookers - 26% of the total with more men than women. They are not that concerned with the environment and are unlikely to change their lifestyle in relation to the environment.
  4. Principled Pioneers - more men than women where the environment is paramount such as installing alternative energy sources, however they only make up 4% of the sample.
  5. Vocal Activists - again more men than women and only make up 4% of the sample. However, as they vocalise their discontent with what they deem to be unethical brands - they can pose a serious threat to reputation and ultimately, could cause huge damage.

Analysis: 'Conventionally Conscious' and Positive Choosers combined make up 67% of those interviewed. They are concerned by the environment and will change their lifestyle as a result - all of which makes a big difference in buying decisions. In the next 12 months, 69% will buy Fairtrade products (an increase of 12% from the previous year) while 51% intend to buy environmentally-friendly products (up 17%). This highlights the fact that brands have an opportunity to educate on the environment and gain influence such as Waitrose leading with only buying from local suppliers or Ariel's 'Turn to 30' campaigns.

Whatever your view, the environment is no longer a peripheral influencer with no impact on purchasing power. It is here to stay and should be ignored at your peril.

For more information on green marketing see:

Online users have become more sophisticated and are actively filtering out requests to 'click here' on banners and skyscraper ads. As a result, clickthroughs have become more sophisticated. For example, clicking doesn't automatically throw users to another site; instead the message or interaction is done within the ad space on the home site. Many more traditional brands are moving online with the realisation that you can have an ad with a branding message in it that the user isn't actually invited to click on. The net result is that the message will hopefully be lasting and build a better perception of the brand ready for when they are in buying mode.

In the future, there is great scope to develop branding online further with behavioural targeting techniques ie the ability to track individual interests according to what sites are visited. With this information, brands will have the weaponry to target better and be more relevant.

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