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SUSTAINABLE MARKETING

Alex Brewers

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WHAT IS IT? The adoption of sustainable practices that create

better businesses, better relationships, and ultimately a better world.

Why be sustainable? So we do not compromise the ability of future generations. Human-induced climate change is changing the Earth.

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IS THE MARKET THERE?

A recent poll of Europeans found that 83% of consumers said the impact of a product on the environment played an important roll in their purchasing decision.

World population increase “In my experience very few consumers come out and say ‘I

want products that help the environment’. But if we listen hard, we might hear them say, ‘I want to do more with less. I want my life to be more simple. I don’t want to waste.’ Those words have strong eco-efficiency undertones – and give us the incentive to keep delivering more valuewith less resource.”- Joe Mallof, SC Johnson, USA, Walking the Talk

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…Solved from a philosophical standpoint…

Anthropocentrism - Basing human need upon desire. To accomplish sustainability from this viewpoint, we must eliminate Western civilizations’ addiction to material consumption.

Life Centered Ethics - To accomplish sustainability from this viewpoint, the question becomes whose and what values are we to follow? Justification for moral judgment is the base of sustainable development, which in turn creates a need for sustainable marketing.

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CHALLENGES IN SUSTAINABLE MARKETING

Overcoming three challenges in sustainable development is key:

1) Competitive advantage through brand innovation2) Building trust with customers, consumers, and society3) Developing market opportunities centered around the environment

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IMPLEMENTING PHILOSOPHIES AND OVERCOMING CHALLENGES FROM A BUSINESS THEORY

PERSPECTIVE…

THE COMPETITIVE RESOURCE ADVANTAGE THEORY

(R-A THEORY) more life-centered ethics approach

THE CAPABILITY THEORY more anthropocentrism approach

- Advantage is promotion of horizontal flows in marketing product designs, engineering processes and pollution control functions

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2013 SUSTAINABLE MARKETING INITIATIVES TO WATCH FOR

1. Community awareness for climate resilience

2. Marketing sustainability for key urban problems

3. Linking smart growth with the green agenda

- See the coming population growth as a challenge AND opportunity to get things right

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RESOURCES

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/climate20111214.html

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/analysis/1802101/how-develop-sustainable-marketing-campaign/page/2

http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/c13.pdf http://www.academia.edu/308706/

Sustainable_Marketing_Philosophies_Economies_and_Strategies_for_a_New_Consumer_Metabolism

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/seeing_cities_as_the_environme.html