The New Rules of Green Marketing

Green products have been around since the 1970s, but it’s only in recent years that they’ve become ubiquitous. It’s not because consumers suddenly prize sustainability above all. It’s because savvy green marketers are no longer trying to “sell the earth”—instead they’re promoting the value their products provide: better health, superior performance, good taste, cost-effectiveness, or simply convenience. This central emphasis on primary benefits—the new rules—is critical to winning over the mainstream consumer.

The New Rules of Green Marketing helps readers understand why value-based sustainability marketing has become a critical organizational capacity and how they themselves can adopt this approach. Drawing on the latest data from leading researchers and reflecting on learnings from her corporate clients and other pioneers—including GE, Nike, Method, Starbucks, Timberland, HP, NatureWorks, Procter & Gamble, Stonyfield Farm, and Wal-Mart—Ottman provides practical strategies, tools, and inspiration for building every aspect of a credible value-based green marketing strategy. She covers using a proactive approach to sustainability to spur innovation, developing products that are green throughout their life cycle, communicating credibly to avoid accusations of “greenwashing,” teaming up with stakeholders to maximize outreach to consumers, taking advantage of social media, and much more.

This book takes the best of Ottman’s previous groundbreaking work it into the 21st century. Her new rules relegate traditional “green guilt” approaches to the recycling bin of history, break green products out of their niche and, ultimately do a far better job of advancing the triple bottom line of people, profits, and planet.