Green Marketing

The idea for this blog came from this article posted on Prof. Johnson’s M-Blog.

            As the newest craze in consumer demands, environmentally friendly aspects are becoming more and more crucial to the success of a product.  The article explains that in order for green marketing to be effective, companies must do three things: be genuine, educate customers, and give customers an opportunity to participate.  In my opinion, I feel that most customers already are somewhat educated on environmental aspects and know they have an opportunity to help participate.  To me, the most important part of green marketing is to truly be genuine.

            The article explains that being genuine in terms of green marketing means two things: “that you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in your green marketing campaign” and “that the rest of your business policies are consistent with whatever you are doing that is environmentally friendly.”  I am currently taking another Management class here at Keene State called “Sustainable Management Practices” and we talk a lot of this idea called “greenwashing”.  Greenwashing is basically when a company says they are focused on being environmentally friendly, but does nothing to support their claim.  This is starting to become a problem as more and more companies are just saying they are “green” solely to help sell more products.

            I feel that this is becoming a major problem today.  Customers who buy certain products because they want to be environmentally conscious may not even really know what they are buying or whom they are supporting.  Now that it has become such a phenomenon, companies should have to be government certified in some way to call their company “green”.  No longer should “green marketing” allowed to be used unless companies truly back up their claim.  How do you feel about this idea of “greenwashing”?  Do you agree that there should be laws in place that companies must be monitored and certified in order to call themselves “green”?

In Response to Dan Sweeney's Post on 4/7

           I have noticed this recently as well.  Almost every fast food chain has been advertising the healthier options they are offering.  The thing that really bothers me about this is that, while they may be healthier options than the Big Mac, they are still extremely unhealthy foods.  And as you had pointed out, often times the “healthier” options aren’t even better and can often be worse!  This really reminds me of the recent issue with “light” cigarettes.  Since everyone became aware of the harm their product caused, tobacco companies began to market “light” cigarettes as a better and healthier alternative to regular cigarettes.  But the fact of the matter was that “light” or not, cigarettes are bad for you and will eventually kill you.  Today, cigarette companies are no longer aloud to promote their products as “light” cigarettes due to a court order.  I feel that the same should be done with fast food chains such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s and so on.  There is no truly healthy option that you can purchase at a fast food chain, that’s just the way it is.  And the fact they can advertise and promote these products as if they are healthy is just plain wrong.

In Response To Abby's Post on 3/28

            I think that this was a brilliant idea for Green Mountain Coffee, owners of the Keurig, to start selling Starbucks coffee as options for their product.  At this point in time, I would have to think that sales of Keurigs make up a huge percentile of Green Mountain’s revenue.  By selling Starbucks coffee, they are only going to increase such sales.  While coffee sales are undoubtedly a successful operation of Green Mountain, I’m sure they don’t mind sacrificing a decline in their coffee sales for a major increase in their Keurig sales.  After all, I’m sure the profit ratio for Keurig sales is much higher than for their coffee.

            If anyone is to be hurt in this deal, I feel as though it would be Starbucks.  Keurigs are becoming more and more popular in households as pricings are steadily decreasing.  Before you know it, coffee pots will be a thing of the past and Keurigs will be the new standard.  By selling Starbucks coffee in Keurig packages, Starbucks risks the amount of customers they will receive in stores.  That being said, Starbucks has sold their coffee grounds for some time now and it hasn’t seemed to hurt their business at all.  I think that this has become a great partnership for both companies and I see it being very successful.

Subway and the "$5 Footlong"

My idea for this article came from Prof. Johnson’s M-Blog.  Here is the link to the article she posted.

            Who hasn’t seen this commercial 100 times?  Who doesn’t think of it when going into Subway to purchase a sandwich?  Perhaps one of the catchiest slogans in the market today, the promotion has caused a instant boom in Subway sandwich sales all across the US.

Started by Miami franchise owner, Stuart Frankel, the Subway “$5 Footlongs” has boosted sales enormously all across the country.  And with new commercials coming out seemingly every other month, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.  The idea was really quite genius.  The regular price of a foot-long sandwich at Subway is around $6, give or take depending on the sandwich.  By lowering the price by about a dollar, Subway has not only seemed there product to be more of a deal, but have made the “$5 Footlong” into one of the catchiest slogans in recent memory.  I like how Stu Frankel said that he didn’t want to make it the “$4.99 Footlong” because that just didn’t sound right to him.  By rounding up one cent to $5, he has created a brilliant marketing strategy that has proven to be extremely successful. 

As with everything, however, this success will only last so long before people start to become accustom to the new pricing and forget it’s even a deal.  So to answer your question of “What's next for Subway's market plan?”  I think that they should cut the campaign while they are ahead and then bring it back at another date.  If they wait too long, people will not go anymore as they feel they are getting a raw deal.  But if they act now, when it comes back again the craze will start all over.  If not that, then they must think of some other new marketing strategy as this is destined to get old as with everything else.
          Do you agree that Subway should end the "$5 Footlong" campaign before consumers become too accustom to the deal?  What other ideas might you have?

In Response to Brittany M's Post on 3/25

            I would also agree that right now Gatorade is probably the more popular choice of sports drinks.  I feel that this has to do primarily with the advertising approach they take.  I see commercials for the new Gatorade Prime all the time with star athletes like Kevin Durant promoting the product.  Meanwhile, I rarely ever see Powerade commercials.  In today’s world it truly is all about getting the tiniest advantage over your competitors.  If a young athlete is looking in the cooler at the convenience store and has to choose either Gatorade or Powerade, he will most likely choose Gatorade because of the star athletes who promote it.

            That being said, I personally think Powerade is much better than Gatorade.  You explained how Gatorade has high levels of sodium in their product and I honestly feel that I can taste it.  For me, it’s no longer about the advertisement, but the taste.  Growing up, however, I would always choose the product that I saw advertised and promoted most.  It is no wonder why some many young people choose Gatorade.  

Do the Dew

            We talked in class this past week about Sprite and how they directly targeted the hip-hop scene.  Sprite tried to associate their brand with hip-hop culture in an effort to reach their target market.  This sparked a thought for me about Mountain Dew and how they tried to associate their brand with “extreme” sports, such as skateboarding, snowboarding, skydiving and rock climbing.  This marketing mix helped make the general consumer view the soda as something cool and extreme.  This concentrated targeting strategy has worked well for them as Mountain Dew sales made up 6.7% of the soft drink market and 80% of the citrus soft drink market. (Wikipedia)

            As we all know from the video we watched in class, the teenage and pre-teen market is perhaps the most crucial in terms of many companies’ sales, especially when your product is an extremely sweet, highly-caffeinated soft drink.  And that is exactly who Mountain Dew knew they had to target.  With the rising popularity of the X-Games, extreme sports started to see a huge surge in demand from young teens all across the country.  Mountain Dew saw the market opportunity and jumped on it.  From that point on they became a large sponsor of the X-Games as well as holding their own extreme sports competition called the Dew Tour. Because of this many people now associate Mountain Dew with extreme sports and therefore, many teens associate the soda with being the “cool” choice to drink.  Here is a Mountain Dew commercial from the late 90s that I thought showed a good example of their marketing strategy and the image they wanted to receive.

            Any other thoughts on the targeting strategy of Mountain Dew?  Do you see any opportunities for Mountain Dew to explore other markets using a differentiated targeting strategy?  If so, where else could you see an opportunity in the market for soft drink buyers?  

In Response to Doug's Post on 3/9

On the topic of paid vacation trips as job incentives, I can see both positive and negative aspects of this idea.  As you had said, most people respond more to a cash incentive and a vacation may not be as motivating as you may not want to go where they are sending you.  You had also mentioned a good point that they may even claim the vacation worth more than it really is.  However, I do see positive aspects to this motivation strategy.  For one thing, a paid vacation may seem like a more personal gift rather than just a bonus.  I know for me personally, I think it would be awesome to receive a vacation as it may be something I would not do even if I received cash bonus from an incentive.  And after returning from vacation, I would probably be thankful to the company and have a more positive outlook of the workplace.  This is why I think this may in fact be a good incentive.  Another idea I have heard that I think would be affective would be to use premium sports tickets as incentives.