Following the launch of Ecostore’s first brand campaign last year, we sit down with director of marketing Jemma Whiten to discuss its latest campaign strategies, how it’s tracking in local and offshore markets and how its unique proposition has it positioned in the face of new competition.
Browsing: sustainability
TRA’s Shaun Fitzgibbon takes a look at how corporate sustainability has come a long way in the last decade, with many of the most successful businesses, both large and small, implementing sustainability strategies.
Admittedly, consumers don’t always buy sustainable products. But TRA senior consultant Jon Carapiet warns that this doesn’t mean businesses get to do whatever they want.
A new generation of shoppers is driving demand for brands to make a positive social impact, and speakers at the PwC Herald Talk on Conscious Business say it’s about building value through values.
Auckland-based coffee retailer and café Kokako started from humble beginnings in 2001 when former owners Helen Ollivier and Christian Lamdin slung their steamy brews out of a coffee cart. Now the Kokako brand can be seen in cafes and stores all over the country, while its flagship Grey Lynn store has become a hub for customers who enjoy slick surroundings, organic food and perhaps a glass of cold brew coffee or two. Having just celebrated its 15-year anniversary, it seemed like the perfect time to chat to owner Mike Murphy about the brand and why he thinks it’s been so successful.
After only eight weeks in development Flick Electric Co. released a new app this week, called Choice, that gives Kiwis information about the carbon impact of the electricity they are using in real time.
Meridian Energy has released a new campaign via Barnes, Catmur and Friends with its poster boy Jeremy Wells (clothed this time) about its use of renewable energy and how we can ‘Save the world right from our sofas’. Wells also stars alongside Freddy the goat, who makes a brief albeit important appearance.
Fresh from being appointed as Holden’s lead agency after an extended pitch process, Special Group has also clinked glasses with one of the country’s fastest growing and most innovative wine companies Yealands. And the new pairing have their sights set squarely on pushing the brand in international markets.
Consumers—especially the younger ones—are increasingly checking out whether companies have been naughty or nice. And research shows an average of 55 percent of global online consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact. So, as Kath Dewar writes, it pays to keep it clean.
There’s a growing movement in food around provenance, as seen by US restaurant chain Chipotle’s recent campaigns. And there’s a growing, but still unfortunately fairly niche movement in business around ethics, as evidenced by the creation of organisations like The B Team and the real steps being taken by big companies like Puma. All Good Organics has tapped into both of these trends, first with bananas and recently with its drinks range, and co-founder Simon Coley recently put down the crayons at Powershop and, along with Matt Morrison, headed to the jungles of Sierra Leone to see how the kola nut farmers it works with have benefitted.
How do we instigate change and get others motivated when it comes to sustainability?
Kiwi publishing company Healthy Life Media is aiming to tap into the increasing concern it says Kiwis have for the environment—and give them practical ideas for easy ways to live more sustainably and save money—by launching a new monthly magazine called Green Ideas.
From the start, Ecostore has had social and environmental responsibility at its core. And even though it has undergone a complete marketing transformation over the past three years, its ethical DNA remains firmly in tact.
When iconic ad man Martin Lindstrom starts preaching ethics and green sensibility, you know the writing is on the wall for business as usual in the marketing world. But it’s not really Lindstrom calling the tune here. He’s just the weatherman pointing out the massively changed consumer climate. In New Zealand, 88 percent of us want to buy more sustainable products and services according to Colmar Brunton’s B3W research 2010 & 2011, with spends increasing even in tough times.
Not convinced about the sustainability argument when it comes to the purchasing behaviour of consumers? Think again. The latest Colmar Brunton ‘Better Business Better World’ survey results reveal that sustainability influenced the purchasing decisions of 88 percent of respondents. That bodes well for purchasing potential, but on the flip side the survey also found that 72 percent couldn’t think of any brand leaders in sustainability. And if ever there was concern that the term ‘sustainability’ is still perhaps ambiguous in definition to some people, the survey found 20 percent of respondents didn’t know what it meant.
Per capita, New Zealand has the highest rate of banana consumption in the world. But, because we can’t grow enough of them ourselves, importing them is the only way to satisfy our voracious appetite. For All Good Organics, the problem was the wrong kind of bananas were being consumed, so it established a new socially responsible and sustainable banana brand that was, as the slogan says, good for the land, good for the grower, and good for consumers’ consciences—and they did it with an extremely limited budget and a challenger brand twinkle in the eye.
Every year the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes Review (DJSI World) provides a global analysis of corporate sustainability leadership across 57 sectors, capturing the top 10 percent of the biggest 2500 companies worldwide. Following this year’s assessment, 41 companies will be added to the list while 23 will be deleted. Of note when it comes to the top ranked is PepsiCo, Samsung Electronics and BMW, which is the only company in the automotive industry to be listed in this family of indexes every year since it was established in 1999.
Showing how widespread sustainability initiatives have spread, everything from banking to architecture was honoured at last night’s Northern Sustainable Business Network (SBN) Awards and even new kid on the directories block Localist managed to score some brownie/greenie points with the judges.
At a time when consumers are increasingly gravitating towards environmentally and socially responsible products, brands are increasingly ramping up their efforts to show their green stripes. Some of them are legit and based around a very real desire to create a better world, while many others appear to be indulging in a spot of greenwashing. But whatever the motivation, it’s a reaction to a definite and growing consumer trend and APN has responded with Element, “the country’s largest mass-reach social marketing magazine”.
Online niche retailer Natureshop isn’t particularly well known in New Zealand. But in these modern and increasingly environmentally-conscious economic times, that doesn’t necessarily matter, because through a combination of extensive online marketing, high quality e-commerce websites and a focus on sustainability, it was named New Zealand’s fastest growing exporter, fastest growing retail or consumer products business and second-fastest growing company at the 10th annual Deloitte Fast 50 index.
Given the way all things green swiftly lost prominence during the recession, it’s fair to say many Kiwi consumers could be classified as ‘fair-weather environmentalists’. But the results of a nationwide online ShapeNZ survey of 1811 consumers by the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development show that while price is still easily the biggest single factor when it comes to the purchasing decision, big numbers of New Zealanders are considering how sustainable products are before handing over the cash.
Sustainable business just got whole lot hotter, or cooler, with the launch of Celsias Weekly, a newsletter and daily new service and social media website for green business.
Trust and loyalty are emerging as the biggest threats–and opportunities–for marketers in a post recessionary world.
Statistics from Sustainable Advantage, a research arm of Hayes Knight (now run by Nick Jones, former executive director of Nielsen Media Research), demonstrates this massive shift in consumer attitudes. Some 54 percent of respondents …
Is a one-day professional development workshop being held at the University of Auckland on Friday 16 October. Learn how to avoid greenwash and communicate effectively with ethical consumers. Tutor Kath Dewar has 18 years’ experience creating social and environmental marketing initiatives in the UK and New Zealand. You can read …