Building on our post last year about Marcal’s line of earth-friendly paper products, Kimberly Clark has taken green innovation to the next step with its new Tube-free bath tissue.
Launched exclusively in Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, the new tube-free bath tissues offer consumers a visible way to help reduce the 160 million pounds of trash (usually not recycled) generated by discarded toilet paper tubes.
One downside – the new Tube-free offering does not use recycled paper, like the rest of the Scott Naturals line. However, K-C personnel indicate a move to at least 40% recycled-content paper is in the planning stages, especially if the product is launched into other retail outlets.
Have you tried this new tube-less wonder? What do you think – share your thoughts in Comments.
But, there is also a consumer-driven factor that is likely to impact this new value paradigm and we believe this is an attitude of responsibility.
With this mindset of responsibility playing an important role in the “stuff” consumers acquire, it will be important for marketers to imbue their products and services with attributes that reflect new values. This brings us to the notion of Health & Wellness which we view as another Value for marketers to take notice of.
Let’s take a look at some of the factors that are contributing to the emergence of Health & Wellness – which we term the HealthStyles Value.
The Social Environment
Interest in HealthStyles is driven by several major demographic and social changes.
First, Americans in general are living longer – and people want to live those extra years “better.” As Iconoculture reported last year, several reputable studies have found that lifestyles that combine a healthy (low fat, high in fruits/vegetables) diet and moderate exercise may forestall Alzheimer’s and other mental declines. Consumer interest in learning about the importance of exercise in improving the quality of life was evident in the high “share” rate (the third most shared article of the day on nytimes.com) for John Hanc’s recent column, Staying on Balance, With the Help of Exercises. The article points out the importance of balance for our growing older population, and the share rate demonstrates just how much people are clamoring for this kind of information.
Second, despite the current recession, the overall cost of food continues a 20-year decline as percentage of a family’s incomeand obtaining adequate, nutritious food is now much more accessible to most people. Under the auspices of the Federal WIC Farmers Market Nutrition program, almost every state allows low-income residents to utilize food assistance cards/coupons to purchase locally grown foods at farm stands and farmers’ markets.
And third, with the recent move toward universal healthcare coverage, there is an increasing recognition that developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is more cost-effective over the long term. There are several high profile initiatives centering around the relevance of health consciousness including:
Let’s Move. First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” project to address childhood obesity is an example of utilizing core Health & Wellness in a major policy initiative. The program incorporates nutrition education (with fresh foods in the forefront) and developing a lifelong, physically active lifestyle. By targeting children through engagement in growing and preparing healthy meals and incorporating “movement” into every child’s daily schedule – maintaining a healthy weight and fit body is easier and more natural.
NFL Play 60. Launched in 2007, NFL PLAY 60 is a national youth health and fitness campaign focused on increasing the wellness of young fans by encouraging them to be active for at least 60 minutes a day. Along with national outreach and online programs, NFL PLAY 60 is implemented at the grassroots level through NFL’s in-school, after-school and team-based programs. The program has targeted $200 million to address childhood obesity since its inception.
The Marketing Environment
Several companies are getting out in front of the Health & Wellness trend and are taking a holistic approach to promoting consumer products and services.
Whole Foods’ partnership with “Eat Right America” enables shoppers to create store-wide shopping lists tailored to different eating plans from vegan to allergy-aware to baby/toddler to weight management.
V-8′s “What’s Your Number” TV commercials highlight the fruit/vegetable nutrition count in their products with a focus on the positive effects of these beverages on consumers’ overall health. Weight Watchers just revised their famous points system to give dieters a free pass when consuming fresh fruits or vegetables – by identifying these items as “point-free,” members will be encouraged to increase consumption of more healthful (and lower calorie/fat) foods in their ongoing efforts to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
In April, Rite-Aid, the drugstore retailer launched their new Wellness+ rewards program. The loyalty program allows card holders to redeem points for free glucose and cholesterol screenings at local labs. As consumers search for savvy ways to stay healthy, has Rite-Aid found a unique way to leverage Health & Wellness to create more value in their relationship with their shoppers?
Even fast food companies like Wendy’s are getting in on the act by offering better-for-you french fries made with “Russett potatoes, leaving the skin on and sprinkling sea salt on top.”
While food, fitness and healthcare are a natural fit for the Healthstyles Value, we believe the possibilities go beyond these categories.
The Business Opportunity
Some brands are taking the long view and positioning their brands as offering benefits that contribute to a lifetime of health. Aquafresh toothpaste has gone beyond addressing the obvious attributes of fresh breath and white teeth - their new Aquafresh Iso-Active range is positioned to deliver “Strong, Healthy Teeth for a Lifetime.”
As Americans become more time and cash crunched, personal services such as Spas have suffered as customers cut time-consuming luxuries from their budgets. By repositioning spa services into 30-60 minute “wellness breaks” and focusing of revitalizing treatments versus pampering, day spas may be able to recapture past customers while building a new customer base.
In this rushed world more people are considering time spent away from work, recharging and enjoying recreation with family and friends, to be critical to their overall Health & Wellness. Products and services that enable consumers to utilize their work time most effectively and re-engage with family will be viewed as delivering this new Healthstyle value.
Microsoft’s new Windows 7 phone is leveraging that important value. In its ”Really” campaign, users of competitors’ products are shown as disengaged and missing important milestones because using their smartphones is so time-consuming. In addition to clearly setting up the phone dilemna in this Windows 7 launch ad, an additional execution in the campaign directly reflects the HealthStyles value by showing how the Windows 7 phone supports a fulfilling, “healthy” lifestyle experience.
Which other product or service categories do you think could benefit from integrating the HealthStyles Value into their branding efforts?
In our recent column, The Green Value Opportunity: Local Solutions, we discussed the economic, community and ecological advantages of supporting local growers. Now for a logical, simplified and inspiring view of this solution, check out this 11-year old’s TEDTalk:
The Gap’s flagship New York store is combining two of our favorite trends - Local Solutions and Pop-up Stores.
In the past, this Gap, located at 680 Fifth Avenue offered boutique space in their store for an eclectic choice of partners including Project RED and Parisian concept shop Colette.
This year, Coolhunting.com, the retail trend watcher is operating a pop-up store in this location. The store will feature a wide variety of gifts and products sourced from Local (tri-state) businesses.
If you get a chance to visit the pop-up store, open through January 2, please share your impressions in Comments
Summer 2010 could have been dubbed the “Summer of Snooki”, named for the much discussed breakout “star” of MTV’s hit reality show Jersey Shore. For months, Snooki and her male counterpart The Situation have been getting more than their 15 minutes of fame via constant exposure – tabloid TV and magazines, website chatter and tweets – all anxiously reporting on every drunken stumble, questionable wardrobe selection and salacious hookup. It’s been widely reported that Snooki was paid $30,000 per episode to appear in Season 2 - not bad for a 22 year-old former veterinarian technician student; and Ellemagazine has just selected her as one of Hollywood’s most powerful women, alongside studio heads, network chiefs and Oscar winners such as Angelina Jolie and Sandra Bullock.
But this discussion is not about the supposed shame Jersey Shore’s cast has brought to the Garden State, but rather some thoughts on the impact of extreme personalities in our dynamic media and marketing environment. Some, including The Atlantic’sMark Ambinder posit that the pervasiveness of reality show characters has made wacky, crazy political candidates more acceptable:
But all the reality shows — and the characters who have been mainstreamed and are now a part of our lives, people who we would otherwise encounter when we browsed the tabloids at the supermarket — have conditioned us for “wild and woolly” candidates. Culture bleeds into politics, and the other way around.
Next week’s elections won’t spell the end of the parade of dysfunctional loudmouths – the winners will take their places in Washington DC and state capitols around the country to pontificate for the next 2, 4 or 6 years. And some of the losers will leverage their new-found visibility into talk shows, book contracts and continue to assault our senses for months to come. And every night we’re treated to another batch of reality show contestants – teen parents, addicts, alleged singers and dancers – will marketers’ messages be able break through this cacophony?
As mass media content (both entertainment and news) becomes extreme will marketing tactics need to become even more extreme to capture the attention of consumers? Or will a softer tone get the message across more effectively?
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in Comments.
“… the global tide of conspicuous consumption is turning away from traditional status symbols of the past and moving toward products and brands that support sustainability. Protecting the environment, improving healthcare and reducing poverty are the causes that global consumers care about most.”
Marketers are taking notice of this. As discussed in a previous post, we believe there are new value areas to be mined—areas that people will resonate to more deeply—a higher order level of value. And ‘Green Value’ represents one of those opportunities.
One of the more visible efforts in this direction can be observed with P&G’s Dawn DishwashingLiquid. When the brand came to the rescue in the Gulf Coast what quickly followed was an eco-friendly advertising message featuring Dawn as “the only product that can be used to clean oil-soaked animals” and a promotion where portion of sales would be contributed to Save Wildlife.
Yes, the notion of green (which initially spoke to environmental or macro-level conservation) has trickled down and has become personal. And, as green becomes personal, consumers are finding ways to make more personally and socially responsible decisions about how they spend their money—choices they view as long-term solutions.
Reduce-Reuse-Recycle is a long standing initiative referring to minimization of waste materials, and you don’t have to go very far to see charts instructing us on how to accomplish this.
What we want to explore has to do with the mindset that consumers are bringing to their decision making process. To this end, let’s take a look at three living green solutions!
The growth in the buy local movement speaks to a sustainability strategy with benefits that extend beyond the “feel good” support your community. Not only might it have favorable economic implications for a community or region, it becomes a deeper way for consumers to demonstrate environmental responsibility. In addition to thinking of local in terms of geography, we propose thinking of it as a micro concept so we actively include smaller enterprises in our decision-making set for whatever we consume.
Just as individuals flock to farmers’ markets in cities across the country or seeing ‘buy local’ triggers one’s commitment to support local growers, people are applying this concept to other sectors.
Imagine customers being motivated to switch their financial portfolio from an investment banking leader to Domini Social Investments, an investment firm committed to socially conscious investing. Investors can directly support underserved communities in every state through a special Social Bond Fund.
Then there are restaurants like Red Robin being recognized by the National Restaurant Association in an annual reward designed to “raise awareness about the restaurant industry’s contributions to local communities and to inspire other restaurant operators and owners to do the same.” Or Jimmy’s No. 43, one of the first restaurants in New York City to stop serving bottled water, hosting slow-food events and featuring a slow-food menu as part of its commitment to the Slow-Food movement.
The impact of ‘local/green’ solutions can also be applied to other product and service providers. Let’s spotlight some existing and potential opportunities.
Apparel. Environmentally friendly clothing is no longer limited to niche brands. Now you can count Van Heusen, Levi and Eileen Fisher among the companies with organic entries.
Food/Beverages. Major soft drink and beverage marketers, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi maintain dozens of bottling facilities across the country. Prominent label copy highlighting “bottled in Philadelphia, PA, or Tampa, FL, or Portland, OR” would remind consumers of the reduced carbon footprint and improved product freshness of a product bottled nearby.
Restaurants. Jim Denevan, founder of the traveling restaurant series Outstanding in the Field, has made it his commitment “to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it.” The OITF experience is captured vividly in Deborah Moss’ column, Foodie feasts straight from the farm. Restaurants participating in New Jersey’s Restaurant Week promote special efforts to include locally grown/sourced ingredients in their menu offerings.
Retail. From Whole Foods to supermarket giant Kroger, grocery stores are highlighting locally grown produce and specialty products.
Travel. The Staycation (or vacationing close to home) phenomenon, triggered by the economic downturn, has become a feature of hotels from luxury brands like The Breakers Palm Beach or major chains like Marriott or Hilton. Even state tourist boards are seeing the value of strategies to encourage travelers to spend their recreation dollars in their state or neighboring states. In addition to the cost savings, travelers also get the benefit of lightening their carbon footprint.
Can you think of other ways to bring local solutions to your marketing and brand strategies?
In this time of near double-digit unemployment, rampant underemployment, sky-rocketing home foreclosures and other adverse economic factors, the emergence of the tightfisted consumer was totally predictable. What was spawned from necessity does not appear to be a short-term strategy. Rather, it is becoming a way of life for a majority of Americans.
Harris Interactive reports that American consumers continue to hold the line on spending, with 63% purchasing more generic (private label) branded products. This behavior is consistent across generations.
A recent study from Decitica, “Marketing to the Post-Recession Consumers” posits that consumer spending patterns have been profoundly altered by the current recession and we are now entering a period of “new normal.” Decitica has identified four distinct consumer segments – Steadfast Frugalists, Involuntary Penny-Pinchers, Pragmatic Spenders, and Apathetic Materialists.
While consumers’ commitment and focus on finding the lowest prices vary, it’s clear that price-related value is no longer a competitive advantage. Rather, it has become an expected attribute for many purchasers.
The traditional retail “fix” of offering discounts is no longer (or is fast becoming) like email SPAM. In other words, buyers are applying their own mental filters to these offers, going for the lowest price point across many product categories. But, this approach has resulted in store brands in some categories becoming category leaders – suggesting that lower pricing as a strategy is a form of value that brand marketers cannot sustain.
Given these conditions, it is clear that the days of price discounts as the sole expression of value are over.
As consumers navigate the new economic world order, more than ever, they want to feel they are getting the best value for their money. Marketers will need to be more inventive in their offers and create products as well as marketing messaging that imbue brands with discernible value. So the question is this:
In what ways might marketers re-create brand value in today’s environment?
It begins with looking at value through an entirely new lens.
A New View of Value
In recent years, companies have begun to enhance brand value with what might be described as product-driven, functional value strategies.
Some brands, many in the Procter & Gamble stable, are combining well-recognized attributes of premium brands such as Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay Beauty, Mr. Clean with Febreze Freshness, Tide with a Touch of Downy to offer consumers an assurance of product performance and desirable attributes. This brand-combining strategy has enabled P&G to maintain its premium priced edge.
In the current new campaign for 1800 Tequila, the commercial’s protagonist points to the functionality of the cap as a point-of-difference with Patron.
Clearly, if there are product elements that can be leveraged as these examples demonstrate, marketers should naturally capitalize on these product advantages. But, there is also a consumer-driven factor that is likely to strengthen this trend towards a new value paradigm and we believe this is an attitude of responsibility. Specifically, people are becoming more responsible when it comes to the ‘stuff’ they acquire.
When you layer on facts like declining disposable income or postponing retirement out of financial necessity, it is inevitable that the purchase decision process will be more conscious, even introspective as buyers weigh their choices. And, the factors weighed are likely to reflect factors that might not have considered in the past. With these shifting attitudes, we believe there are new value areas to be mined—areas that people will resonate to more deeply—a higher order level of value.
As we look to redefine value in this new era, it is important to look at areas that are likely to have an enduring impact on consumers’ purchase decision process. We believe these reflect what used to be incidental benefits but now are more at the forefront that ever before. By tapping into these avenues of opportunity, brand perceptions will be enhanced and companies will have a chance to make a new impression in the marketplace.
In subsequent posts, we will feature the New Value opportunities. Stay tuned to our first discussion – the Green Value opportunity.
As far as I knew, going green used to be linked solely to the environment and energy conservation. An Inconvenient Truth did much to universalize awareness of this issue and personally, I do my best to be mindful, though I was recently reminded that I could do better.
The green movement has become all-inclusive, spreading to all areas of life such as: our homes, our food, our clothes, how we clean, and so on. In fact, if marketers ever wondered whether consumers would embrace green marketing, research suggests a resounding yes!
Recently I noticed the term going green being applied to a aspect of food marketing I have a lot of heart for—removing questionable ingredients from every day foods. The ingredients I am referring to are two of the most ubiquitous—high fructose corn sugar and hydrogenated oils.
Making the connection between going green and wellness is something I am totally in favor of as it will no doubt improve our quality of life exponentially. Any efforts to get rid of these culprits in the pursuit of health & wellness will make a huge difference in the quality of life. According to Phil Lempert, The Supermarket Guru®, some of the products that are going this kind of green include ketchup, soda, snacks.
Good riddance I say!
This news got me thinking about a time not so long ago, the time of free, when diet foods—fat free, sugar free, lite, low—were all the rage. We welcomed the chance to have more of the foods we loved more often and feel we were doing something good for our bodies in the process. Then came some controversial facts about free. Here’s how Wikipedia talks about this dispute:
In many low-fat and fat-free foods the fat is replaced with sugar, flour, or other full-calorie ingredients, and the reduction in caloric value is small, if any.[4]Furthermore, excess, digestible sugar, as well as an excess of any macronutrient, can be stored as fat.
As a consumer advocate, it is my wish that companies go green responsibly—not simply to make a buck, but to reflect a new value to consumers—where the health & wellness of consumers is at the heart of the decision to bring green products to market. Only time will tell!
It looks like we’re not the only ones thinking that marketers are missing the boat by not considering New Singles in their marketing strategies.
A recent story on NPR’s Marketplace highlighted the general lack of advertising and marketing targeted to single women. A few exceptions got our attention – Lowe’s current TV spot focuses on a single woman (no kids or man in sight) with a home improvement project list. Given that a large part of the growth in home ownership in the past decade has been driven by single women, Lowe’s appears to be on the right track.
More Magazine – targeted to the vital 40+ woman, ran a cover story in their April 2010 issue entitled ”Loving La Vida Solo“. The title alone serves to reinforce the thinking behind the New Singles segment:
“…coming to discover that happiness – a full life, a full heart – can be theirs with or without a partner.”
We’ve had fun bringing our twist to those trends that got our juices flowing in 2009. And now we cast our attention to 2010. There are so many happenings that are showing up and we think they will be changing the way we all look at the world.
In addition to updating past posts when it makes sense, here are a few themes we are following:
The New Value, it’s not just about price. It’s experiential, it involves conscious decision-making – so marketers might have new chances to make a first impression. For established brands, could this development be a boon?
Transparency. The 2008 election highlighted how critical it was to voters to be authentic. Now we see marketers like Domino’s Pizza jumping on board, taking “truth in advertising” to a whole new level. What else is next?
Has outreach to Ethnic & Urban consumers become yesterday’s news? The economics of advertising and promotion is giving companies pause and there have to be casualties. How will this dollars and cents issue affect marketing decision-making?
The End of Civility. If 2009 told us anything, political correctness seems to have taken a back seat. You remember Kanye West’s public dissing of Taylor Swift at the MTV Awards and Representative Joe Wilson calling President Obama a liar during the live broadcast of his health care speech to Congress and the American people. How far is this going?
Career Path, meet Career Streams. Distrust of corporations has been growing for some time. Mergers and acquisitions, unemployment, job attrition, to name a few factors, are forcing us to think of new sources of earning potential. Could single payer income sources be a thing of the past?
A New Twist on the “Water Cooler.” With more people moving to flexible work schedules and with work teams comprising people from different locations and time zones, the pop culture discussion around the “water cooler” has practically disappeared. What will drive the mass culture word-of-mouth when mass culture seems to have fragmented completely?
We look forward to bringing our take on these ideas and more so keep an eye out for some new views from New-Take in 2010!
Restaurants. Jim Denevan, founder of the traveling restaurant series 
