Think green marketing is easier when you promote an eco-friendly product? Think again

By: Samar Farah

Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing started out as a family recipe served at a Santa Barbara dude ranch in the late 1950s. This past May, the brand launched an online advertising campaign for its very first organic line, Hidden Valley Organic Ranch, with the message, “New ingredients, same old yumminess.”

There’s a hidden message in there for marketers, too: “Green is mainstream.” That’s the view of Hidden Valley’s associate marketing manager Sumona Pramanik, who believes the Hidden Valley brand is as accessible and American as white bread. “The fact that we are coming out with organic dressing is indicative of that trend,” says Pramanik.

The truth is, a trip to the grocery store or a visit to a major corporation’s Web site is likely to convince even a diehard skeptic that green products are not just for environmental activists in earth shoes and hybrid cars. Green is everywhere.

But the road to greening your product line is replete with potential potholes. Although the decision to introduce green items to your product mix may not be the head-scratching decision that it was five years ago, how to promote those new green products is not always obvious, even for the most seasoned CMO. Sustainability advocates always ready to scrutinize a company’s green claims are liable to come a’ knocking. Loyal, valuable customers may feel preached to by the move toward green – not to mention their potential resentment of the often attendant higher prices of eco-friendly products.

The multi-stage road trip

There’s also the danger that other compelling aspects of a brand might get overshadowed by the green messaging. According to green marketing experts, it’s important to keep the product’s more traditional selling points in mind. “I think the fundamental challenge, whether it’s transportation or consumer goods, is balancing the conventional benefits of a product with the green benefits,” says Steve French, managing partner of the Natural Marketing Institute, a strategic consultancy and market research firm specializing in sustainability.

That’s the current challenge for the marketers of Prius, the darling of the hybrid car market. When Toyota introduced the now best-selling energy-efficient car in 2000, its first strategy was to target early adopters – not just environmentally aware citizens, but tech-savvy, highly educated influencers – through direct mail campaigns. The company also generated awareness through mass- media magazine spots. By 2003, Prius had garnered enough Hollywood and celebrity endorsement to send awareness through the roof.

“We’ve reached the early adopter,” says Doug Coleman, advanced technology vehicle manager for Toyota. Now, the brand is going after “the next generation of consumers that have heard of hybrids but aren’t familiar with the technology and have a lot of myths about it.” Myths like: Does the battery die on you? Am I buying into some “tree-hugger” lifestyle? Do I have to be part of the celebrity culture that’s embraced this car?

How does a marketer break down those myths? “By addressing basic consumer needs,” says Coleman. “What does the Prius have that car consumers want – the standard categories of performance.” In other words, Prius marketers are now placing less emphasis on the fact that the car is a hybrid and more emphasis on the car’s traditional selling points: cargo room, safety, driving performance. Toyota’s current marketing push is interactive, first-hand experience – test-driving stations set up outside a mall, for example. The campaign is called “Highway to the Future: Mobile Hybrid Experience” and features a high-tech trailer with hands-on exhibits explaining hybrid technology.

Coleman and French aren’t suggesting that companies need to go so far as to downplay product “green-ness.” But marketers should keep in mind that introducing “green” should be just one part of their marketing message. “Simply going out there and saying we have a green car is not an approach that’s going to appeal to 99 percent of the population,” French says.