Introduction of Green Marketing

Green marketing definitions can be a little confusing, since green marketing can refer to anything from greening product development to the actual advertising campaign itself. Going by alternative names such as sustainable marketing, environmental marketing, green advertising, eco marketing, organic marketing, all of which point to similar concepts though perhaps in a more specific fashion, green marketing is essentially a way to brand your marketing message in order to capture more of the market by appealing to people’s desire to choose products and services that are better for the environment. There are many environmental issues impacted by the production of goods and rendering of services, and therefore there are also many ways a company can market their eco-friendly offerings. Green marketing can appeal to a wide variety of these issues: an item can save water, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut toxic pollution, clean indoor air, and/or be easily recyclable. When put side by side with the competition, the more environmental marketing claims your product or service can make, the more likely it is the consumer will select it, provided the price point isn’t too much higher than the alternative.

What Makes Marketing Green:

But you can’t really market your business or your product as green without managing how your company functions with respect to the environment. Green marketing can take many forms. For instance, you may market eco-friendly aspects such as: Operational sustainability: Service companies and manufacturers can improve operational sustainability by reducing everyday energy and water consumption, minimizing pollution, using greener materials and processes, and properly managing waste. Green products: Companies producing products can do many things to improve the green factor of their offerings, including choosing sustainable materials, designing products to save energy and water, and making products that are less toxic and more natural than competitors’ goods. Greener products will also be packaged in an eco-friendly manner and will be made to be easily recycled or composted. Sustainable marketing: You’ll also want to ensure that the actual marketing systems you use are green, which is really distinct from your operational sustainability which focuses on manufacturing and production. For instance, when printing marketing materials, use 100% post-consumer recycled paper made without chlorine (called “processed chlorine free”) and printed using plant-based dyes (like soy inks). You could also investigate tools like green web hosting, carbon offsets for any marketing emissions you may cause, recycling any unused materials from billboards and signage, ecological packaging, and so on. Environmental causes: Any organization can choose to promote environmental causes. Nonprofits and NGOs will engage in green marketing to get the word out about their activities, but for-profits can also suppose environmental causes by making donations and advertising for these environmental do-gooders as part of a green marketing campaign.

GOLDEN RULES OF GREEN MARKETING:

1. Know you're Customer : Make sure that the consumer is aware of and concerned about the issues that your product attempts to address, (Whirlpool learned the hard way that consumers wouldn't pay a premium for a CFC-free refrigerator because consumers dint know what CFCs were.). 2. Educating your customers: isn't just a matter of letting people know you're doing whatever you're doing to protect the environment, but also a matter of letting them know why it matters. Otherwise, for a significant portion of your target market, it's a case of "So what?" and your green marketing campaign goes nowhere 3. Being Genuine & Transparent: means that a) you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in your green marketing campaign and b) the rest of your business policies are consistent with whatever you are doing that's environmentally friendly. Both these conditions have to be met for your business to establish the kind of environmental credentials that will allow a green marketing campaign to succeed. 4. Reassure the Buyer: Consumers must be made to believe that the product performs the job it's supposed to do-they won't forego product quality in the name of the environment. 5. Consider Your Pricing: If you're charging a premium for your product-and many environmentally preferable products cost more due to economies of scale and use of higher-quality ingredients-make sure those consumers can afford the premium and feel it's worth it. 6. Giving your customers an opportunity to participate: means personalizing the benefits of your environmentally friendly actions, normally through letting the customer take part in positive environmental action. 7. Thus leading brands should recognize that consumer expectations have changed:It is not enough for a company to green its products; consumers expect the products that they purchase pocket friendly and also to help reduce the environmental impact in their own lives too.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY :

The objectives of the study were as follows : 1. To study the concept of green Marketing. 2. To study History of Green Marketing. 3. To study the Myths and Facts of Green Marketing. 4. To study the importance, current and latest examples of green marketing. 5. To study the framework of green marketing.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM : As the concept of ‘Green’ was an introduced in the year 1975 but got more importance and more weightage in the decade of 1980 and 1990. Even till today there are some myths about it. Still many people are most confused regarding the ‘Green’ concept. They are not so much clear for themselves. They always think that the ‘Green’ means the green leaves, tree and their branches only green and green only green….!. Green marketing is a way to use the environmental benefits of a product or service to promote

sales.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY :

The present study focuses on the myths and the facts regarding the ‘Green Marketing’. The detailed study has tried to remove the misconceptions and the misunderstanding about the green marketing among the people. This study helps to realize the history, nature, importance and scope of the term ‘Green Marketing’. With this, the role and the current contribution on the part of the corporate sector and expected role of people are exposed. In addition to this the examples of companies those who are duly engaged in adopting and implementation of ‘Green Marketing’ concept i.e. automobile, constructions industries, pharma companies and the banks have been considered.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE : A Discussion with Mr. Dilip. V. Nerlikar – The retired Senior Branch Manager- Bank of Baroda has tried to focus on the real picture of ‘Green’ Concept. He tried to share his experience with the author. He is of opinion that this is the perfect time to know and as well to understand, to tell the concept and importance of ‘Green’. P. Hawken, A. Lovins and I. H. Lovins (1999) in their article ’Natural Capitalism : Creating the next Industrial revolutions’ has reviewed that the no product has a zero impact on the environment. In business term “Green Product” and “environmental Product “are always use commonly to describe which strives to protect or create an awareness about the natural environment by the conversing the energy and or resources and reducing the impact or eliminating use of toxic agents, pollutions and waste. They also added that the greener more sustainable products need so dramatically increase the productivity of natural resources by following the biological cyclical production models, encourage dematerialization and making reinvest in planet’s natural capital. Jacquelyn Ottman in her article “The 5 Simple Rules of green marketing” shares the rules and responsibilities towards the ‘Green Marketing’. She said a strong commitment to environmental sustainability in product design and manufacture can yield significant opportunities to grow the business, to innovate and to build brand equity is an essential. She also add that for protecting the company from the common pitfalls and start taking advantages of new opportunities by following the rules of ‘Green Marketing’

They are as follows :

1. Know your customer : Try to analyze whether the customer is well informed about the issues related to the ‘Green Marketing’. 2. Empower the consumers. 3. Be Transferent. 4. Reassure the buyer. 5. Consider the pricing. Among all these 5 rules the second one i.e. empowering the consumers is almost important. Due to this empowering the consumers may but the greener products. Dr. Vemuri. Lakshmi Narayana, Mr. S. Dinesh Babu in their article, ‘Green Marketing – New Hopes and Challenges’ (2010) has been studied the meaning, history and the nature of ‘Green Marketing’. They are of opinion that the ‘Green Marketing’ refers holistic marketing concept wherein, the production, marketing, consumption of disposable products that harms less on environment avoids wastage. They also reviewed that the ‘Green Marketing’ is much essential. As the resources are very limited and scare the want and demands are unlimited for the marketers. It is very important to use the resources much efficiently and effectively as well as in proper manner. There is a growing an awareness about the ‘Green Marketing’ among the people. But the speed is very low one. Finally they have been focused on the history of ‘Green Marketing’. Anurag, Singh, Ranjit Singh, ( November 2010 ) in their article ‘Green marketing Developments in the Indian Automobile Sector’ has reviewed the recent trend of green marketing in the automobile sector. They have opined that the ‘Green Marketing’ is encompasses activities designed so as to generate and facilitate the human needs. The article concludes with a call to other sectors as well as to purse eco friendly initiatives to foster long term growth in the economy. They have unfolded some of the green marketing initiatives which are undertaken by the companies in the Indian Automobile sector. Pride and Ferrell (1993) Green marketing, also alternatively known as environmental marketing and sustainable marketing, refers to an organization's efforts at designing, promoting, pricing and distributing products that will not harm the environment. Polonsky (1994) defines green marketing as .all activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the satisfaction of these needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural environment. Elkington (1994: 93) defines green consumer as one who avoids products that are likely to endanger the health of the consumer or others; cause significant damage to the environment during manufacture, use or disposal; consume ad is proportionate amount of energy; cause unnecessary waste; use materials derived from threatened species or environments; involve unnecessary use of, or cruelty to animals; adversely affect other countries.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY : The secondary literature is drawn in house. The secondary data was collected through various research publications, journals – online & printed, magazines, web sites. The literature is cross checked and validated to gives the latest information.

Data Analysis:

The findings are discussed in three sections. Section I provides an overview of how the web pages distributed across industry categories, both in total and by specific claim type. Section II highlights specific terms and phrases that appeared frequently within each claim category. Finally, Section III details the extent to which general environmental claims co-occurred with other environmental claims.

A Web Pages by Industry As mentioned above, staff categorized each of the 1,000 web pages into specific industry groupings. The distribution of the pages among industries may help determine how best to target consumer and business education. More specifically, understanding which industries are particularly laden with certain environmental claims allows the FTC to tailor the Green Guides to include realistic examples of claims made in specific industries. Also, to the extent more green marketing in an industry correlates with more deceptive green marketing in that industry, these

1. All 1,000 Web Pages by Industry Across the total data set of 1,000 web pages, the greatest proportion of pages occurred in the

Building, Home Improvement & Appliances industry (22.1%), the Utilities & Energy industry

(11.6%), and the Food & Beverage industry (8.9%). The industries with the smallest proportion

of these web pages were the Finance & Credit industry (0.9%), the Cleaning industry (2.5%),

and the Lawn & Garden industry (2.6%).

findings may help highlight the areas most worthy of law enforcement resources. This section

describes the distribution of industries across the whole data set as well as the distribution of

industries for each type of claim.

2. Web Pages with Carbon Claims by Industry Looking at the 332 web pages containing carbon claims, the greatest ercentages occurred in the

Building, Home Improvement & Appliances industry (19.9%), followed by the Utilities &

Energy industry (12.3%), results that are consistent with

the wider data set. The third greatest percentage of carbon claims, however, occurred in the

Computers & Electronics industry (9.0%), which placed only ninth in the wider data set.

The industries with the smallest proportion of these web pages were the Finance & Credit

industry (1.5%), the Cleaning industry (1.5%), and the Lawn & Garden industry (1.8%) — the

same three industries at the bottom of the wider data set.

3. Web Pages with Renewability Claims by Industry

Looking at the 387 web pages containing renewability claims, their distribution across industries

corresponds generally to the wider data set. As with the total pool of 1,000 web pages, the

greatest percentages of renewability claims occurred in the Building, Home Improvement &

Appliances industry (but in an even larger percentage) (24.3%) and the Utilities & Energy

industry (23.8%). The third greatest percentage of renewability claims occurred in the Furniture,

Housewares & Decor industry (9.8%), which ranked fourth in the larger pool

The industries with the smallest proportion of these web pages were the Finance & Credit

industry (1.3%) and the Lawn & Garden industry (1.3%). In the larger data pool, these

industries ranked at the bottom and third from the bottom, respectively. The third lowest

percentage of renewability claims occurred in the Automotive & Transportation industry (1.6%),

which ranked fourth from the bottom in the larger pool.

4. Web Pages with Sustainability Claims by Industry

Looking at the 518 web pages containing sustainability claims, their distribution across

industries once again reveals the greatest percentage of claims in the Building, Home

Improvement & Appliances industry (23.0%). But, unlike the wider data set, the Food &

Beverage industry (13.1%), and the Textiles, Clothing & Accessories industry (8.3%) ranked

second and third, respectively. In the wider data set, the Food & Beverage industry ranked third and the Textiles, Clothing & Accessories industry ranked fifth.

As with the wider data set, the industry with the smallest proportion of web pages with

sustainability claims was the Finance & Credit industry (1.0%). This was followed by the

Cleaning industry (1.4%) and the Automotive & Transportation industry (1.4%), which, in the

wider data set, ranked second and fourth from the bottom, respectively.

B. Common Terms & Phrases Used to Convey Each Type of Claim

Marketers often employed several specific terms and phrases to convey three of the four types of claims — carbon, renewability, and general environmental.9 The widespread use of specific

terms and phrases to communicate a claim is noteworthy for two reasons. First, it may indicate a

need for further study of how consumers interpret these specific terms and phrases. Second, it

may also suggest a need for business education on the meaning and proper use of these claims.

This section therefore sets forth the commonly used terms and phrases within each category of

claims.

As distinguished from these three categories, sustainability claims appeared in myriad contexts,

and FTC staff did not observe phrases or specific claims common to the group.

The findings in this section rely only upon the observations of FTC staff. FTC staff did not

empirically study the relative incidence of the terms and phrases discussed here as measured

against other terms and phrases that might be employed to convey the same or similar types of

claims.

CONCLUSION:

Although the surf did not capture a scientifically random sampling of green marketing claims on

the Internet, it produced some interesting and useful findings about the state of green marketing

online. The surf revealed, for example, that the highest proportion of web pages with the claims

addressed here — carbon, renewability, sustainability, and general environmental — occurred in

the Building,

Home Improvement & Appliances industry. Additionally, the surf identified some common

terms and phrases marketers use to convey these claims, including “carbon footprint,” “carbon

neutrality,” “renewable energy,” “renewable resource,” “green,” and eco-/earth-/environmentally

“friendly.” Finally, the surf uncovered the extent to which the general environmental claims co-

occurred on web pages that also make other, more specific environmental marketing claims.

These findings will aid not only the Commission’s Green Guides review, but may also inform

education and

enforcement efforts going forward.

B I B L I O G R A P H I C

Authors: Carr, A.M. and Higham, J.E.S.

Publication date: 2001

Title: Ecotourism: a research bibliography

Place of Publication: Dunedin, New Zealand

Publisher: Department of Tourism, University of Otego

Carr, A.M. and Higham, J.E.S.; (2001) Ecotourism: a research bibliography. Department of

Tourism,

University of Otego, Dunedin. New Zealand.

K E Y J O U R N A L S C O N S U LT E D I N C L U D E D :

Ambio

Annals of Tourism Research

Australian Geographical Studies

Australian Journal of Hospitality Management

Biodiversity and Conservation

Biological Conservation

Conservation Biology

Current Issues in Tourism

Environment and Behaviour

Environmental Conservation

Environmental Management Environmental Perspectives

International Journal of Hospitality Management

International Journal of Tourism Research

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Journal of Biogeography

Journal of Environmental Education

Journal of Interpretation Researc

R E F E R E N C E B I B L I O G R A P H Y:

1. Acott, T.G., Trobe, H.L. and Howard, S. (1998) An evaluation of deep ecotourism and

shallow

ecotourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 6(3): 238-253.

2. Agardy, M.T. (1993) Accommodating ecotourism in multiple use planning of coastal and

marine

protected areas. Ocean and Coastal Management 20(3): 219-239.

3.Aiello, R.(1998) Interpretation and the marine tourism industry, who needs it? A case study of

Great

4.Adventures, Australia. Journal of Tourism Studies 9(1): 51-61.

5. Airey, S. (1995) Ecotourism: a mechanism for selling the conservation and sustainable use of

biodiversity. Thesis for MSc in Resource Management, Lincoln University.

Suggestions:

some of the issue raised through the research on green marketing

suggest that the following research areas may provied:

� is the creation of green culture to be determined by consumer demand, or does the responsibilities lie with that of retailers within the sa market?

� . whether global green marketing standards could assists sa retailers?

� . how could credibility be associated with a green logo?

� . should a green product tax be introduced in sa?

� . what are the possible risks/returns of pursuing a frist-mover green-

marketing strategy for a retailer within sa?