Sustainability Marketing: Adapting to the New Consumer Mindset
As climate change makes news every day, consumers are deciding to take action into their own hands. As a result, consumers are more interested in the sustainability of the products they purchase, and it’s affecting their decision process.
It’s important in this new world that companies adjust, and many are. Consequently, new subscription services are banking on sustainability as a marketing point to sway environmentally conscious customers. How can your brand keep up-to-date with sustainable marketing?
Sustainability: The New Consumer Mindest
Consumers are more concerned with how companies are affecting the environment. For example, 90% of consumers believe that companies and brands have a responsibility to take care of the planet and its people. Similarly, 83% of consumers, when deciding between brands, will always pick the one with a better sustainability record. In addition, 70% are willing to pay more for products and services that help protect the environment or don’t infringe on human rights.
Certainly, these results are the sign of a new consumer mindset. Generally, customers are very concerned about how their providers are affecting the world around them. Brands have fallen victim to their own unethical behaviors being brought to light. For instance, Starbucks decided to get rid of plastic straws after a viral video of a turtle choking on plastic in the ocean. Fast fashion clothing brands like Forever21 and Urban Outfitters have also been criticized for their hostility to workers and harmful clothing material. Moreover, companies have to be careful about their practices, because consumers are watching.
Sustainability Marketing
As a result, brands are deciding to double down on sustainable and environmentally sound practices in order to appeal to this new generation of conscious consumers. This has resulted in a few different things; new companies starting with a message of sustainability, and legacy brands making an effort to revamp as sustainable and eco-friendly.
As an example of new brands, startups recently raised record numbers to deal with packaging waste, with hundreds of millions raised across ten different companies. But there is also the clothing brand Rent the Runway, which sells customers on renting dresses so that they can still wear what they want to an event without participating in fast-fashion. There’s Feather, the furniture rental company which rents out furniture on the premise that furniture will not go to waste.
As for legacy brands, Burger King has recently launched Impossible Burgers, using fake meat in order to appeal to vegetarians and carnivores who are worried about the environmental impact of meat production. And there is Patagonia, who has made news for donating millions to combat climate change.
A New Hope
It’s important that your brand keeps up to date with sustainability marketing. In order to stay on top of the climate crisis, as well as sell to customers, this new trend in branding and practices is good for everyone involved. Let’s all hope for more sustainable and ethical practices, for the planet and people’s sake!
Want to read more from Provoke Insights, find some more blog posts linked below:
- Don’t Let Your Marketing Dollars Go to Waste
- 2020 Trends: Advertising & Marketing Industry
- The Power of Census Data
- A New Way to Test Significant Differences
- Fin-Tech: How to reinvigorate your brand in a sea of sameness
- Research Norms: What are they and what they can tell you
Read an excerpt from our blog on the power of census data:
“The census is conducted out every 10 years. It counts all people – citizens and non-citizens. It is mandatory for citizens to respond to the census so that the government will have an accurate count of the population. This serves as the backbone of fair political representation and it plays a role in many other areas of public life.
Census data is some of the most reliable out there. As a result, companies including market research firms find this information essential. The statistics provide information such as gender, age, and household income. Also, it is possible to drill down the data by state, country, city, or even zip code.”
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