For all you businessmen and entrepreneurs who wonder if the “green consumer” is someone you should start marketing to, Steve Bishop has a very good article in the Harvard Business Review.  Please read it, if you have any interest in marketing as a means of changing consumer behavior to toward more earth friendly products.

Though absolutely correct, Bishop’s analysis is incomplete.  You see, the message of green products is only truly developed when their green-ness enhances their primary benefit.  Starting with the assumption that a product really does have a substantial positive impact on the environment (its not just greenwashing), a product’s primary benefit can and should be augmented by what makes it green.  I hope the following three examples will illustrate; the first two are examples of what not to do, and the third is a recent change that does this well.

If I am buying bug killer, I want to kill bugs; if I am buying paint stripper, I want to melt the paint off something; and I want to do these as quickly and powerfully as possible.  So, if you go to Wal-Mart today looking for products that do this, the last ones you would pick up are those that have pictures of puppies, children, leaves, and soft hands.  But, that is what you find when you see the environmentally friendly products in these categories.  On the surface, they tout “eco,” “earth friendly,” and “natural,” and of course, amidst their super acid, death to all bug counterparts, they just don’t look like they are going to work.

The crazy thing is that both of these environmentally friendly products work better than their counterparts because of their earth friendly ingredients.  How much more powerful would it be if the package touted the power of citrus to strip even tough paint away, or the effectiveness of natural oils that adhere to the bugs to make sure they’ll die?  Now, no matter what kind of consumer I am, green or otherwise, I’ll buy that.

And, one example that I think will do it right…Sunchips.  They have purchased enough solar power to produce all their Sunchips, and now, Sunchips are imbued with the power of the sun.  That’s right, the brand of snack that appeals to women looking for healthier alternatives, the brand that already has a fresh and positive halo, becomes even more persuasive when they are truly the chip made by the sun.

So, what products are out there doing it right or wrong?  Let me know, I’d love to learn what you think.