Ajeenkya DY Patil University

MAY 2023

A THESIS ON
GROWING WITH GREEN: SUSTAINABLE
GREEN MARKETING STRATEGIES

By
Akash Ck
URN: 2020-B-22102002
School of Management

1
 A THESIS ON
GROWING WITH GREEN: SUSTAINABLE
GREEN MARKETING STRATEGIES

By
Akash Ck
2020-B-22102002
BBA (Aviation) Sem VI

Under the Guidance Of

Dr. Kalyan Swarup

A report submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements of
THE BBA PROGRAM
(Batch 2020-2023)

2
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work contained in this thesis ‘GROWING

WITH GREEN: GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE MARKETING
STRATEGIES’ have been submitted by Akash Ck, URN 2020-B-
22102002. He has completed this project under my guidance and
supervision for the partial fulfilment of the award of degree of
Bachelor of Business Administration (Aviation management) at
School of Management, Ajeenkya D.Y Patil University, Pune. This
thesis report has not been submitted earlier to this university or any
other institution for fulfilment of the requirement of any course of
study.

Dr. Kalyan Swarup Dr. Latha Krishnan

Faculty Guide & Dean, School of Management
Thesis Coordinate

External Examiner

3
 DECLARATION

This is to certify that the Bachelor Thesis titled

GROWING WITH GREEN: SUSTAINABLE
MARKETING STRATEGIES
Submitted during Semester VI of the BBA Program (Batch
2020-2023) embodies original work done by me.

AKASH CK
URN Number: 2020-B-22102002
Date:

4
 Table of Contents

Sr No. Contents Pg No.

Acknowledgement 6
Abstract 7
1 Introduction 8
2 Green Marketing Cases 10
3 Three Keys To Successful Green Marketing 12
4 Why Green Marketing 13
5 Benefits Of Green Marketing 14
6 Marketing Mix Of Green Marketing 15
7 What Makes Green Marketing 19
8 Conclusion 28
Understanding Green Marketing 29
6 Five Simple Rules Of Green Marketing 30
7 Green Business Case Studies 35
8 Green Marketing Idea For A Business 36
9 Social Responsibility And Green Marketing 39
10 Compettive Pressure 42

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I Would like to thank Dr. Latha Krishnan (Dean, School of

Management) for giving me this opportunity to do this project.
I would like to express my special thanks to my mentor Dr. Kalyan
Swarup for his time and efforts he provided throughout the year. His
useful advice and suggestions were really helpful to me during the
project's completion. In this aspect, I am eternally grateful to him.
Also, I would like to extend my gratitude to my faculty Mrs. Shivani
Raval & Mr. Keshava Srivastava without whose guidance it could
not have been done effectively.
I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot
in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.

AKASH CK
Date:

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ABSTRACT

This THESIS Highlights on GREEN MARKETING

and recent development of GREEN MARKETING
in today’s world. Green marketing refers to the
marketing of products or services that are
environmentally friendly or sustainable. The
concept of green marketing emerged in response
to concerns about the impact of human activities
on the environment, and the need for businesses
to take a more responsible approach to their
operations. Green marketing can encompass a
wide range of strategies, including the use of eco-
friendly materials in product design, the adoption
of sustainable manufacturing processes, the
promotion of energy-efficient products, and the
use of renewable energy sources.
Green marketing is not only beneficial for the
environment, but also for businesses themselves.
It can help companies to differentiate themselves
from competitors, improve their brand image, and
appeal to consumers who are increasingly
environmentally conscious. However, there are
also challenges associated with green marketing,
including the need for companies to ensure that
their claims about environmental benefits are
accurate and verifiable.

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Overall, green marketing is an important trend in
contemporary business, reflecting the growing
awareness of environmental issues and the need
for sustainable practices. As consumers continue
to prioritize environmental concerns in their
purchasing decisions, businesses that prioritize
sustainability and adopt green marketing
strategies are likely to be more successful in the
long run.

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1. INTRODUCTION
Green marketing is the marketing of
products that are presumed to be environmentally
safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad
range of activities, including product modification,
changes to the production process, packaging
changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet
defining green marketing is not a simple task
where several meanings intersect and contradict
each other; an example of this will be the
existence of varying social, environmental and
retail definitions attached to this term. Other
similar terms used are environmental marketing
and Ecological Marketing.

1.1 HISTORY
The term Green Marketing came into
prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s.The
American Marketing Association (AMA) held the
first workshop on "Ecological Marketing" in
1975.The proceedings of this workshop resulted in
one of the first books on green marketing entitled
"Ecological Marketing".
The first wave of Green Marketing occurred in the
1980s. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Reports started with the ice cream seller Ben &
Jerry's where the financial report was
supplemented by a greater view on the
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company's environmental impact. In 1987 a
document prepared by the World Commission on
Environment and Development defined
sustainable development as meeting “the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own need”, this
became known as the Brundtland Report and was
another step towards widespread thinking on
sustainability in everyday activity.

2. Green Marketing Cases

2.1 Philips Light's "Marathon"

Philips Lighting's first shot at marketing a

standalone compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb
was Earth Light, at $15 each versus 75 cents for
incandescent bulbs. The product had difficulty
climbing out of its deep green niche. The
company re-launched the product as "Marathon,"
underscoring its new "super long life" positioning
and promise of saving $26 in energy costs over its
five-year lifetime. Finally, with the U.S. EPA's
Energy Star label to add credibility as well as new
sensitivity to rising utility costs and electricity
shortages, sales climbed 12 percent in an
otherwise flat market.

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2.2 Car sharing services

Car-sharing services address the longer-term

solutions to consumer needs for better fuel
savings and fewer traffic tie-ups and parking
nightmares, to complement the environmental
benefit of more open space and reduction of
greenhouse gases. They may be thought of as a
"time-sharing" system for cars. Consumers who
drive less than 7,500 miles a year and do not need
a car for work can save thousands of dollars
annually by joining one of the many services
springing up, including Zip Car (East Coast), I-GO
Car (Chicago), Flex Car (Washington State),and
Hour Car (Twin Cities).

2.3 Introduction of CNG in Delhi

New Delhi, capital of India, was being polluted at

a very fast pace until Supreme Court of India
forced a change to alternative fuels. In 2002, a
directive was issued to completely adopt CNG in
all public transport systems to curb
pollution.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_marketing - cite_note-20

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3. Three Keys to Successful Green
Marketing

I．Being genuine

a) that you are actually doing what you claim to

be doing in your green marketing campaign
and
b) that 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.

II．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.

III． Giving your customers an opportunity to

participate

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 means personalizing the benefits of your
environmentally friendly actions, normally
through letting the customer take part in
positive environmental action.
Let's put the three essential elements of a
successful green marketing campaign together
by looking at an example.
Suppose that you have decided that your
business will no longer use plastic bags to wrap
customer purchases. You know that the
traditional plastic bag takes about one thousand
years to decompose and want to do your part
to stop the proliferation of plastic bags in
landfills. You feel that this is the kind of
environmental action that will be popular with
potential customers and a good opportunity to
do some green marketing.

4. Why Green Marketing?

As resources are limited and human wants are

unlimited, it is important for the marketers to
utilize the resources efficiently without waste as
well as to achieve the organization's objective. So
green marketing is inevitable.
There is growing interest among the consumers all
over the world regarding protection of
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environment. Worldwide evidence indicates
people are concerned about the environment and
are changing their behavior. As a result of this,
green marketing has emerged which speaks for
growing market for sustainable and socially
responsible products and services.

5. Benefits of Green Marketing

Companies that develop new and improved
products and services with environment inputs in
mind give themselves access to new markets,
increase their profit sustainability, and enjoy a
competitive advantage over the companies which
are not concerned for the environment.

6. Adoption of Green Marketing

 There are basically five reasons for which a
marketer should go for the adoption of green

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 marketing. They are -
1. Opportunities or competitive advantage
 2. Corporate social responsibilities (CSR)
 Government pressure
 Competitive pressure
 Cost or profit issues
 Green Marketing Mix

7. MARKETING MIX OF GREEN

MARKETING
When companies come up with new
innovations like eco friendly products, they can
access new markets, enhance their market shares,
and increase profits. Just as we have 4Ps product
prices, place and promotion in marketing, we
have 4ps in green marketing too, but they are a
bit different. They are buttressed by three
additional Ps, namely people, planet and profits.

7.1 GREEN PRODUCT:

The products have to be
developed depending on the needs of the
customers who prefer environment friendly
products. Products can be made from recycled

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materials or from used goods. Efficient products
not only save water, energy and money, but also
reduce harmful effects on the environment. Green
chemistry forms the growing focus of product
development. The marketer's role in product
management includes providing product
designers with market-driven trends and customer
requests for green product attributes such as
energy saving, organic, green chemicals, local
sourcing, etc., For example, Nike is the first
among the shoe companies to market itself as
green. It is marketing its Air Jordan shoes as
environment-friendly, as it has significantly
reduced the usage of harmful glue adhesives. It
has designed this variety of shoes to emphasize
that it has reduced wastage and used
environment-friendly materials.
7.2 GREEN PRICE
Green pricing takes into consideration the people,
planet and profit in a way that takes care of the
health of employees and communities and
ensures efficient productivity. Value can be added
to it by changing its appearance, functionality and
through customization, etc. Wal Mart unveiled its
first recyclable cloth shopping bag. IKEA started
charging consumers when they opted for plastic
bags and encouraged people to shop using its
"Big Blue Bag"

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7.3 GREEN PLACE
Green place is about managing logistics to cut
down on transportation emissions, thereby in
effect aiming at reducing the carbon footprint. For
example, instead of marketing an imported
mango juice in India it can be licensed for local
production. This avoids shipping of the product
from far away, thus reducing shipping cost and
more importantly, the consequent carbon
emission by the ships and other modes of
transport.

7.4 GREEN PROMOTION

Green promotion involves configuring the tools of
promotion, such as advertising, marketing
materials, signage, white papers, web sites, videos
and presentations by keeping people, planet and
profits in mind. British petroleum (BP) displays gas
station which its sunflower motif and boasts of
putting money into solar power. Indian Tobacco
Company has introduced environmental-friendly
papers and boards, which are free of elemental
chlorine. Toyota is trying to push gas/electric
hybrid technology into much of its product line. It
is also making the single largest R&D investment

17
in the every-elusive hydrogen car and promoting
itself as the first eco-friendly car company.

Green marketing is a way to use the

environmental benefits of a product or service to
promote sales. Many consumers will choose
products that do not damage the environment
over less environmentally friendly products, even
if they cost more. With green marketing,
advertisers focus on environmental benefits to sell
products such as biodegradable diapers, energy-
efficient light bulbs, and environmentally safe
detergents.
People buy billions of dollars worth of goods and
services every year—many which harm the
environment in how they are harvested, made, or
used. Environmentalists support green marketing
to encourage people to use environmentally
preferable alternatives, and to offer incentives to
manufacturers that develop more environmentally
beneficial products.
During the late 1990s, green marketing received a
large boost when President Bill Clinton issued
executive orders directing federal offices to
purchase recycled and environmentally preferable
products. Some industries adopted similar policies.
Examples of environmentally-beneficial products
and services:
 Paper containing post-consumer wastepaper
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  Cereals sold without excess packaging
 Shade-grown coffee beans
 Cleaning supplies that do not harm humans or
environment
 Wood harvested from sustainable forests
 Energy-efficient light bulbs
 Energy-efficient cars
 Energy from renewable sources of energy
such as windmills and solar power

8. What makes green Marketing?

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:
 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
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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
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do gooders as part of a green marketing
campaign.

8.1 Targeting Green Consumers

Knowing your audience is certainly a necessity if
you want to have an effective environmental
marketing campaign. In general, there will be at
least three levels of green consumers in any
industry. Deep green consumers are serious about
their choices and will be looking for hard proof of
the eco-friendliness of your claims. This group
requires verifiable proof that you’re providing
products and services that will truly benefit the
environment. The second group includes people
genuinely interested in helping the planet, but not
as current on the biggest environmental issues.
This group may also be less willing to pay a
premium for your green offerings. The third group
includes people who are either apathetic or
antagonistic toward green marketing efforts.
Regardless of your target market, an eco
marketing campaign should have several
important factors in order to ensure long-term
sustainability in the green space:
 Your green claims should be genuine and
verifiable. Above all, be transparent and

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 explicit about any environmental claims you
make.
 Informed consumers are loyal consumers, so
educate your consumers about the benefits of
your product or service for the environment.
 Make it possible for your customers to give
back to the environment by choosing your
service or product.

8.2 Great Examples of Green

Marketing Campaigns
To give you a sense for some good green
marketing campaigns, here are three exceptional
examples of how eco-friendly messages can draw
customers and profitability to your company:

 Method: With a whole line of cleaning and

personal care products, Method’s
straightforward yet clearly green message has
been hugely successful in gaining ground in
these mainstream markets.
 US Green Building Council: This organization
which invented the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design building program for
energy-efficient construction and renovations
is now the leading standard for green

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 buildings. They’ve effectively cornered the
market as a green standard against which all
buildings are now measured.
 Toyota Prius: Their brilliant marketing
campaign has brought them great acclaim
and a huge boost in sales – they’re currently
the leader in gas-electric hybrid vehicles. That
said, their recent highway florascape ad
campaign to celebrate their 2010 model –
which will require daytime watering during
drought season in California – while creative
and beautiful is perhaps less eco-friendly than
their vehicles.

Regardless of your company’s offerings, there are

ways you can use green marketing to increase
your profitability and enjoy greater business
success if you’re willing to truly address
environmental issues.

9. WHY IS GREEN MARKETING

CHOSEN BY MOST MARKETERS?

Most of the companies are venturing into green

marketing because of the following reasons:

a. Opportunity

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 In India, around 25% of the consumers prefers
environmental-friendly products, and around 28%
may be considered healthy conscious. There fore,
green marketers have diverse and fairly sizeable
segments to cater to. The Surf Excel detergent
which saves water (advertised with the message—
"do bucket paani roz bachana") and the energy-
saving LG consumers durables are examples of
green marketing. We also have green buildings
which are efficient in their use of energy, water
and construction materials, and which reduce the
impact on human health and the environment
through better design, construction, operation,
maintenance and waste disposal. In India, the
green building movement, spearheaded by the
Confederation of Indian industry (CII) - Godrej
Green business Center, has gained tremendous
impetus over the last few years. From 20,000 sq ft
in 2003, India's green building footprint is now
over 25 million sq ft.

b. Social Responsibility

Many companies have started realizing that they

must behave in an environment-friendly fashion.
They believe both in achieving environmental
objectives as well as profit related objectives. The
HSBC became the world's first bank to go carbon-
neutral last year. Other examples include Coca-
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Cola, which has invested in various recycling
activities. Walt Disney World in Florida, US, has an
extensive waste management program and
infrastructure in place.
c. Governmental Pressure

various regulations rare framed by the

government to protect consumers and the society
at large. The Indian government too has
developed a framework of legislations to reduce
the production of harmful goods and by products.
These reduce the industry's production and
consumers' consumption of harmful goods,
including those detrimental to the environment;
for example, the ban of plastic bags in Mumbai,
prohibition of smoking in public areas, etc.
d. Competitive Pressure

Many companies take up green marketing to

maintain their competitive edge. The green
marketing initiatives by niche companies such as
Body Shop and Green & Black have prompted
many mainline competitors to follow suit.

10. BENEFITS OF GREEN MARKETING

Today's consumers are becoming more and more
conscious about the environment and are also
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becoming socially responsible. Therefore, more
companies are responsible to consumers'
aspirations for environmentally less damaging or
neutral products. Many companies want to have
an early-mover advantage as they have to
eventually move towards becoming green. Some
of the advantages of green marketing are:
 It ensures sustained long-term growth along
with profitability.
 It saves money in the long run, thought
initially the cost is more.
 It helps companies market their products and
services keeping the environment aspects in
mind. It helps in accessing the new markets
and enjoying competitive advantage.
 Most of the employees also feel proud and
responsible to be working for an
environmentally responsible company.
Marketing Strategies
The marketing strategies for green marketing
include: -
 Marketing Audit (including internal and
external situation analysis)
 Develop a marketing plan outlining strategies
with regard to 4 P's
 Implement marketing strategies
 Plan results evaluation

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PATHS TO GREENNESS
Green marketing involves focusing on
promoting the consumption of green products.
Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the
companies to adopt creativity and insight, and
be committed to the development of
environment-friendly products. This will help the
society in the long run. Companies which
embark on green marketing should adopt the
following principles in their path towards
greenness."

 Adopt new technology/process or modify

existing technology/process so as to reduce
environmental impact.
 Establish a management and control system
that will lead to the adherence of stringent
environmental safety norms.
 Using more environment-friendly raw
materials at the production stage itself.
 Explore possibilities of recycling of the used
products so that it can be used to offer similar
or other benefits with less wastage.

PROBLEMS OF GREEN MARKETING

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 Many organizations want to turn green, as an
increasing number of consumers' ant to associate
themselves with environmental-friendly products.

Alongside, one also witnesses confusion among

the consumers regarding the products. In
particular, one often finds distrust regarding the
credibility of green products. Therefore, to ensure
consumer confidence, marketers of green
products need to be much more transparent, and
refrain from breaching any law or standards
relating to products or business practices.

11.CONCLUSION
A clever marketer is one who not only convinces
the consumer, but also involves the consumer in
marketing his product. Green marketing should
not be considered as just one more approach to
marketing, but has to be pursued with much
greater vigor, as it has an environmental and
social dimension to it. With the threat of global
warming looming large, it is extremely important
that green marketing becomes the norm rather
than an exception or just a fad. Recycling of paper,
metals, plastics, etc., in a safe and environmentally
harmless manner should become much more
systematized and universal. It has to become the

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general norm to use energy-efficient lamps and
other electrical goods.
Marketers also have the responsibility to make the
consumers understand the need for and benefits
of green products as compared to non-green
ones. In green marketing, consumers are willing to
pay more to maintain a cleaner and greener
environment. Finally, consumers, industrial buyers
and suppliers need to pressurize effects on
minimize the negative effects on the environment-
friendly. Green marketing assumes even more
importance and relevance in developing countries
like India.

Understanding Green Marketing

With the continuing rise in environmental

awareness and concern, companies recognize that
it pays to be green. As well as acting in an
environmentally responsible way, it is important

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for companies to communicate their green
credentials.
What You Need to know what is green marketing?
There is a degree of confusion over the term
“green marketing.” Some believe that it refers
solely to the promotion or advertising of products
with environmental characteristics such as
“recyclable,” “organic,” or “environmentally
friendly.” While these terms are widely used by
“green” companies, green marketing is a much
broader concept, one that can be applied to
consumer goods, industrial goods and some
services. Green marketing incorporates a variety
of activities, including modifications to products,
changes to the production and distribution
processes, packaging changes, and modifications
to marketing communications

Five simple rules of green marketing

a. Know your customer:

If you want to sell a greener product to
consumers, you first need to 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
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 refrigerator because consumers didn't know
what CFCs were!).
b.Empower consumers:
Make sure that consumers feel, by themselves or
in concert with all the other users of your product,
that they can make a difference. This is called
"empowerment" and it's the main reason why
consumers buy greener products.

c. Be transparent:
Consumers must believe in the legitimacy of your
product and the specific claims you are making.
Caution: There's a lot of skepticism out there that
is fueled by the raft of spurious claims made in the
"go-go" era of green marketing that occurred
during the late 80s-early90s

d. Reassure the buyer:

Consumers need to believe that your product
performs the job it's supposed to do - they won't
forego product quality in the name of the
environment. (Besides, products that don't work
will likely wind up in the trash bin, and that's not
very kind to the environment.)

e. Consider your pricing:

If you're charging a premium for your product -
and many environmentally preferable products
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cost more due to economies of scale and use of
higher-quality ingredients - make sure that
consumers can afford the premium and feel it's
worth it. Many consumers, of course, cannot
afford premiums for any type of product these
days, much less greener ones, so keep this in
mind as you develop your target audience and
product specifications."

How To Take Advantage Of “Green”

Marketing
Capitalizing on the “Green” advertising revolution
is currently a popular trend. By properly using
buzz-words like “eco,” “Green,” “drinkable
water,” and “the sun,” it’s possible to get
environmentally-concerned people excited about
a variety of products.
I’ve been observing “Green” advertising for a
while, and I put together some tips for that
company unsure about taking advantage of this
highly profitable type of marketing.
Use Those Quotation Marks

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Did you notice how I put “Green” in quotation
marks up there? This is the most important rule for
a new “Green” ad campaign to follow. Putting
“Green” in quotes has a couple benefits. The first
benefit is that it shows people that “Green” is a
reference to the environmental movement and
not the last name of some football player.
Secondly, quotation marks make the word
“Green” look like it’s sweating from the pure heat
of the sun. And things that spend more time in the
sun are automatically better than something that
spends all his time indoors hunched over a
keyboard listening to Our Lady Peace while his
lifeguard neighbor has a car, slender calves, and a
401k.
Work In the Color Green
This might be hard for companies selling products
that aren’t already colored green, but studies have
shown that a green-colored product combined
with environmental slang can skyrocket sales. For
example, if your company sells lettuce, slapping
“Green” on a lettuce ad might sell consumers
who initially planned to just find a field full of grass.
Let’s try a visual example using a popular
American product — Coke
Here’s how effective a Coke ad is with just the
colour Green added

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Flaunt the Use of Natural Ingredients
Environmentalists love products that use natural
ingredients. Unfortunately, not many companies
stress this in their advertising.
If you can answer “yes” to the following question,
the product you produce already contains a
natural ingredient.
At any time during the manufacturing of your
product does your product come in contact with
the air?
If you answered “yes,” you’re ready to go. Boom.
Done Slap a “this product contains natural
ingredient(s)” sticker on your ad so people think
you save polar bears or use honeysuckle fronds or
something.
Some people might think that listing air as a
natural ingredient is cheating. Look, if you feel this
way, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s hard to
make stuff from natural ingredients. Ever try
making a microwave out of bear-claws? First I
tried real bear-claws, but the few that broke off in
my torso after repeated harvesting attempts were
no where near enough to construct a microwave.
And do you know what a microwave made out of
bear-claw pastries is? It’s a pile of pastries with the

34
bowl of soup I tried to heat up wedged in the
middle.
Don’t Forget Recycled Materials
Another great tip for successful “Green”
advertising is to use recycled materials in your
product or product’s packaging. “Green”
conscious consumers love using recycled objects.
There are some places in the country where you
can drop a used Q-tip and someone will snatch it
up before it even touches the ground. Please
don’t try this with Q-Tip the rapper, as the results
are completely different.

Green Business Case Studies

Companies known for proactive environmental
policies can garner favor from customers,
employees, regulators, the media, and others.
Because of their reputation, they are able to reap
benefits such as reduced pressure from activist
groups and the media, increased ability to attract
and retain high quality employees, improved
community relations, enhanced brand image,
stronger customer loyalty, and increased appeal
to socially responsible investors and portfolio
managers.

35
Ben & Jerry's sustainable business practices have
always been a key part of it's corporate image and
its economic success.
Whole Foods Market, which was founded in 1980
as one small store in Austin, Texas, became the
world's leading retailer of natural and organic
foods by remaining true to its original
commitment to stringent quality standards and
sustainable agriculture.
Patagonia, whose mission statement includes
using business to inspire and implement solutions
to environmental problems, has parlayed this
commitment into a successful brand of outdoor
clothing for customers who care about the
environment.
GE Ecomagination. It's no mistake that even
though only a limited number of customers can
purchase the seventeen products featured in its
Ecomagination initiative, such as jet engines and
locomotives, GE's advertising campaign is aimed
at the general public. Why? To build trust in GE's
brands.
McDonald's successfully changed it's packaging
to limit environmental impact and went on to
receive well-publicized recognition for its efforts
from organizations such as the Audubon Society,
Conservation International, Keep America

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Beautiful, the National Recycling Coalition, and
the EPA.
Green Marketing Ideas for Your Business
There’s plenty of skepticism, but there’s also proof
that ‘Thinking Green’ in business is not only good
for the environment, but for business as well. Here
are some easy to implement green marketing
ideas your business can embrace:
 Work from home allows staff to work from
home more often. This will help provide added
perks and could improve productivity.
 Teamwork boost Company moral by setting a
company wide goal of everyone working
together to lower the businesses carbon
footprint.
 C02 friendly servers yes, today, you can
reverse the impact of your websites by
switching to C02 friendly servers. There are two
providers that we know of in this field: one can
be found, another.
 Sustainable Packaging replacing your existing
packaging with “green” packaging materials
such as biodegradable. Or simply get creative
by re-using old magazine pages. Yes it’s
possible. There’s a shop in Lisbon, Portugal that
is doing this – the wrong shop!
 Transportation if your business relies on
transportation looks at transitioning to
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 environmental friendly vehicles. This bold move
will most likely get the attention of your local or
national newspapers.
 Green Seal – assess the ‘Greenness’ of your
products and apply for a green seal. In the US
and Canada there are several NGO’s
supporting green seal projects. We’re excited
to share, a similar effort is starting here in
Portugal, and Chama is currently working with a
partner to launch the initiative in the Algarve.
 Get Your Brand out there – help your local
community and customers reduce dependency
on grocery store plastics. Invest in
environmental friendly grocery bags with your
brand, and give them away to customers for
free…it’s free advertising!
 Give Local Love. Receive Local Love – if you’re
in the food business, look at ways to source
local products even if they’re at slightly higher
cost. In return, promote your goal of supporting
local farmers and reducing your carbon
footprint. You can start the transition slowly by
having select products that feature seasonal
and locally sourced produce.

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This Is An Image Of Green Recycling

Green marketing pie is divided into three parts i.e.

 1) Public company and markets.

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 2) Personal products and habits.
 3) Social brands and belonging.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & GREEN

MARKETING
Many firms are beginning to realize that
they are members of the wider community and
therefore must behave in an environmentally
responsible fashion. This translates into firms that
believe they must achieve environmental
objectives as well as profit related objectives. This
results in environmental issues being integrated
into the firm's corporate culture. Firms in this
situation can take two perspectives; (1) they can
use the fact that they are environmentally
responsible as a marketing tool; or (2) they can
become responsible without promoting this fact.
There are examples of firms adopting both
strategies. Organizations like the Body Shop
heavily promote the fact that they are
environmentally responsible. While this behavior is
a competitive advantage, the firm was established
specifically to offer consumers environmentally
responsible alternatives to conventional cosmetic
products. This philosophy is directly tied to the
overall corporate culture, rather than simply being
a competitive tool. An example of a firm that does
not promote its environmental initiatives is Coca-
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Cola. They have invested large sums of money in
various recycling activities, as well as having
modified their packaging to minimize its
environmental impact. While being concerned
about the environment, Coke has not used this
concern as a marketing tool. Thus many
consumers may not realize that Coke is a very
environmentally committed organization. Another
firm who is very environmentally responsible but
does not promote this fact, at least outside the
organization, is Walt Disney World (WDW). WDW
has an extensive waste management program and
infrastructure in place, yet these facilities are not
highlighted in their general tourist promotional
activities.

GOVERNMENTALPRESSURE
As with all marketing related activities,
governments want to "protect" consumers and
society; this protection has significant green
marketing implications. Governmental regulations
relating to environmental marketing are designed
to protect consumers in several ways, 1) reduce
production of harmful goods or by-products; 2)
modify consumer and industry's use and/or
consumption of harmful goods; or 3) ensure that
all types of consumers have the ability to evaluate
the environmental composition of goods.
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Governments establish regulations designed to
control the amount of hazardous wastes produced
by firms. Many by-products of production are
controlled through the issuing of various
environmental licenses, thus modifying
organizational behavior. In some cases
governments try to "induce" final consumers to
become more responsible. For example, some
governments have introduced voluntary curb-side
recycling programs, making it easier for
consumers to act responsibly. In other cases
governments tax individuals who act in an
irresponsible fashion. For example in Australia
there is a higher gas tax associated with leaded
petrol
COMPETITIVE PRESSURE
Another major force in the environmental
marketing area has been firms' desire to maintain
their competitive position. In many cases firms
observe competitors promoting their
environmental behaviors and attempt to emulate
this behavior. In some instances this competitive
pressure has caused an entire industry to modify
and thus reduce its detrimental environmental
behavior. For example, it could be argued that
Xerox's "Revive 100% Recycled paper" was
introduced a few years ago in an attempt to
address the introduction of recycled photocopier
paper by other manufacturers.
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Understanding the "Green" Movement in Your
Marketing Efforts
Companies, cities and individuals are getting
involved in the green movement. They are doing
there part to keep the environment healthier by
reducing humans' impact on the land, using
recycled metals and nontoxic substances, organic
gardening, adding more green space, building
using environmentally friendly materials and more.

An increasing number of businesses are beginning

to see it as a market advantage, especially when
you consider organic foods is one of the fastest
growing markets.

Here are some reasons that organizations and

businesses have moved in that direction:

 Due to pressure from environmental groups,

now the top 30 banks have stopped funding
environmentally and socially irresponsible
corporations and have become more "green."

 Competition from other environmental

activities pressures companies to change their
marketing initiatives.

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 Levi's is introducing its 100% organic jeans this
fall.

 Nike is making organic sportswear and talking

about becoming a responsible citizen.
 A growing number of retailers are
experimenting with more environmentally
sensitive and energy efficient stores.

 McDonald's started serving Fair Trade

Certified(tm) coffee in 658 of its restaurants in New
England and Albany, NY. These locations
switched 100 percent of their coffee products over
to Fair Trade Certified(tm) organic coffee from
Newman's Own Organics, roasted by Green
Mountain Coffee Roasters. They started this as a
regional launch and with a goal of expanding it
across the country.

Even more so, companies are starting to

recognize that they need to be concerned with
the triple bottom line-how they make decisions
based upon the economic, environmental and
social impact.

Unfortunately, the majority of people believe that

green marketing refers solely to the promotion or
advertising of products with environmental
characteristics. This is only part of the equation.
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Green marketing incorporates a broad range of
activities, including product modification, changes
to the production process, packaging changes, as
well as modifying advertising.
Here are some of the things you can do to
incorporate the green movement into your
marketing efforts:

 When manufacturing your products - consider

using recycled materials for packaging and
incorporating organic fibers or other materials.
Once you have changed the way you manufacture,
and then make sure to make people aware that
your product packaging or materials are made
using natural materials that do not harm the
environment.

 When renovating or building new - consider

choosing alternative, environmentally sound
building materials and using more insulation to
minimize energy use. Make people aware that
you're a company who practices socially
responsibility.

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