This is a great article. Lots of fun topics to discuss, but I want to start at the top of the article with the idea of large companies buying smaller green companies. We see this type of 'partnership' when it comes to environmental sanctions and innovation. Most major manufacturers are given a certain number of credits each year of lbs of pollutants they are allowed to dump into our ecosystem without receiving fines. The problem comes when that company knows it will over pollute and simply purchases excess credits from better performing companies that will never pollute that much. Or in this case a company buys an eco company to improve their green score.
In fact they have done nothing to try and reduce their pollutant outputs or invest in green technology, or even suffer economic sanctions for polluting. Instead they are left to pollute as long as they have enough funds to buy their way out.
While large scale development and distribution of green products such as Tom's is great, it does not counter balance the effects of the rest of their portfolio of products.
This sounds a lot more pessimistic than I intended, but the point is the same.
Do Personal Care Products Need a Green Makeover?
Categories: News, Rumors, Gossip, & Trends Innovation Discussion Sustainability New Products, Services, and Business Models Innovation Community Ideas
In January, we released a study that tracked the actual vs perceived sustainability of more than 90 leading US corporations. It was a bit of an eye opener, to say the least.
There were entire sectors (like electronics) that consistently led, and others (like airlines) that consistently lagged. But the big surprise was the number of corporations engaged in sustainability without receiving consumer reward for it.
Personal care products fell into this category. Avon, for example, scored 51 on actual and 34 on perceived. And L’Oreal scored 67 on actual, and only 37 on perceived!
This is interesting because companies with lines in personal care, as well as household (P&G, or Colgate-Palmolive) scored significantly higher in perception – despite having virtually the same ‘actual’ scores as the personal care product companies.
Green that consumers can understand, appreciate and reward.
Creating a green consumer brand entails implementing green that consumers can understand, appreciate and reward.Does acquiring a green brand help? Colgate-Palmolive’s acquisition of Tom’s of Maine may have created an aura of green that the master brand could bask in. The same could be said for Clorox’s purchase of Burt’s Bees or Kellogg’s purchase of Kashi.
What about creating a green brand from the ground up? Clorox created Greenworks two years ago, and today has over 40% of the natural cleaner market. Aveda was founded on environmental and health principles, and enjoys an incredible consumer perception as a forward-thinking green company.
The key to Aveda’s success, however, is in positioning. There are hundreds of green personal care brands in the market. Aveda stands apart because of its decidedly forward-looking, innovative stance. New ideas for packaging and formulation are wedded with sleek windmills and cool, clean European imagery. The brand stands for performance and innovation first, and green second. Learnings from the hotel industry
This brings us to an interesting parallel with another industry. The hotel category, like personal care, is struggling with green. Although most major hotels are engaged in green activities, they are not reaping the rewards from consumers. Could this be because consumers believe green in hotels equates with frugality? It’s well-documented that consumers use approximately twice as much energy at a hotel as they do at home. This points to their need to pamper themselves and take a break from their environmental concerns.The same could be said for the personal care industry. Consumers are loathe to abandon shampoos with thick suds, because they equate suds with efficacy and luxury – not SLS agents.
Could the innovation here be in repositioning green not as a sacrifice, but as a step forward? Could eco-conscious celebrities be used to tout green personal care, as they have eco-tourist destinations?
Innovation opportunities
Companies like Clorox are living proof that there is tremendous room for profitable innovation. But where’s the lowest-hanging fruit?- Education – Personal care is chemistry. Helping consumers understand which ingredients are good, and which are bad (parabens and SLS, for example) is just beginning. Which personal care company will revolutionize this process? And who will create simple eduction on packaging, energy and resource use? If personal care companies don’t do it, Wal-Mart’s consumer sustainability index will!
- Feedback – the hottest trend in personal care and household cleaning is DIY forumulation. That is, blending ingredients yourself, and using essential oils for fragrance. Could personal care companies provide open feedback forums for consumers to find a territory between store-bought and home blended? Could a whole new semi-home-crafted industry spring up?
- Drugstore – Like eco-tourism, green personal care is still relatively elitist. There is a huge opportunity for the company that produces green personal care products at a drugstore price.
- Look beyond formulation – Aveda has scored huge points for innovative, sustainability-focussed packaging – reusable lipstick tubes, 100% pcw packs, waste wood chip resin plastics. Which personal care product company will take this to the next level, introducing new ways of refilling, recycling and reusing?
A clarion call
Consumers have indicated that they will buy green, if the product is comparable in price and quality to non-green products. It’s a simple equation, with tremendous upside for profitable innovation. It’s time to bring the chemists together with the marketers, and create products that deliver on both personal and planet care.
Marc Stoiber is VP Green Innovation at Maddock Douglas. He helps clients apply a green lens to their innovation projects. Maddock Douglas is a leading innovation agency, delivering new products, services and business models from mind to market.
Tags
:
actual sustainabilitygreen brandinghotel industryperceived sustainabilitypersonal care productsprofitable innovationsustainable business
- member since: 02/18/2010
- rank: 80 of 8126
- 5 forum threads started
- 30 comments
- member since: 01/30/2010
- rank: 7 of 8126
- 4 articles authored
- 48 blog entries posted
- 20 forum threads started
- 107 comments
I think you're bang on, Adam. But I do believe we're on a corporate evolutionary path. Corporations are trying to figure out the best way forward THAT STILL MAKES THEM MONEY. As consumers get smarter and shift their buying to reflect their eco-thinking, corporations will follow-up with greener products.
It's still early days in the evolution. And from my perspective, things are moving quickly. It doesn't seem like brands are doing enough, but from the daily news I get, there's a LOT happening behind the scenes. I believe we'll start to see much, much greater number of green product debuts in the coming year / 2 years.
We'll get there! We just need to keep pushing the agenda.
Thanks for contributing
Marc Stoiber
How large is the green sector of the personal care products market here in the US?
The majority of personal care items that are on offer you do not need at all.
So leave them on the shelves, that is green.
I believe the premise that "...consumers (...) will buy green, if the product is comparable in price and quality to non-green products..." might not be
fully applicable to some personal care products such as make up or anti-wrinkle creams. When choosing an eco cleaning product a customer is faced with two
COMPLEMENTARY product aspects:
PSYCHOLOGICAL one: 'I care for Earth etc'
and FUNCTIONAL one 'it will clean well spills, stains etc.'
Since the action of purchasing an eco lipstick offers a consumer two PSYCHOLOGICAL benefits:
an ability to signal to the world and self the supporting attitude towards green causes
AND the impression of appearing younger and more attractive to opposite sex
it results in two competing messages. The history of beauty products shows us that the users are first and foremost concerned with the EFFECTIVENESS of the product (at times at an expense of health and common sense)
I won't thus worry at this point form any eco cosmetics infringing on Lancome turf.
- member since: 01/30/2010
- rank: 7 of 8126
- 4 articles authored
- 48 blog entries posted
- 20 forum threads started
- 107 comments
Agree that there are multiple drivers of consumer choices in both household care and personal care / beauty products.
Just writing an article on the evolution of green cleaners that will be posted within 10 days! In it, I explore the psychological differences between different continents (Europe vs US) on why folks clean, and why they choose green cleaners. As most things psychological, it's not at all cut and dried.
On the personal care front, we've actually found there are about 5 different consumer archetypes who purchase green for (often very different) reasons. These folks range from green believers, who would sacrifice efficacy for ethics, all the way to style statement makers, who buy green to make an (often shortlived) statement. Again, very complex. Add to that mix the multiple personality types who purchase non-green personal care products, and you have fodder for several essays!!
Thanks for your thoughts, and stay tuned for more on the subject!
Cheers
Marc Stoiber
- member since: 01/30/2010
- rank: 7 of 8126
- 4 articles authored
- 48 blog entries posted
- 20 forum threads started
- 107 comments
Joan Majoor said: The majority of personal care items that are on offer you do not need at all. So leave them on the shelves, that is green.
Thanks for your thoughts, Joan. I believe that if it simply came down to need, we'd live in a much simpler, more sustainable world. Unfortunately, humans don't act simply on need. There are multiple, often complex and intertwined reasons for purchase. Given that, we have to steer folks to a choice that satisfies both their desires, their needs, and the needs of our planet. It's an exciting, often unpredictable place to be. But it's a good challenge to have.
Thanks again for your thoughts. Keep the comments coming.
Cheers, Marc
Awareness may be a key word for the future.
Now "need" is often dictated by advertising campaigns where people more or less are dictated by the message of the campaign to buy the goods, a biased awareness.
There should be guidelines on advertising which direct advertisers to tell the real truth and also how the product affects our resources.
This could increase awareness on both sides, producer and consumer.
Take a bicycle to buy your cigarettes around the corner, not your Hummer
and not smoking my entire life saved me a lot of money and also the need to camouflage the more rapid aging of my skin.
and at 3 meals a day and no snacks or candy bars in between I hardly need work-outs or slimming diets, I have been 72 Kg for the best part of my life ( started at about 3.5kg)
And about your cleaning article, like to read it.
Even within Europe there is a marked difference, Us Dutchmen are known for our
cleanliness but if you look around something happened for the worse, people throw out all their garbage and government campaigns on cleanliness do not help.
empty Mc Donald bags and cups are littering traffic light areas
- member since: 01/30/2010
- rank: 7 of 8126
- 4 articles authored
- 48 blog entries posted
- 20 forum threads started
- 107 comments
Rachel said: How large is the green sector of the personal care products market here in the US?
Rachel, sorry for the late reply. Had to check my sources. The US green (naturals, organics) personal care market is between $10 - $11 billion (retail), growing just under 10%. That's slower than the previous decad, but stronger than the cosmetics category overall. Hope that helps.
Marc Stoiber
- member since: 01/30/2010
- rank: 7 of 8126
- 4 articles authored
- 48 blog entries posted
- 20 forum threads started
- 107 comments
Joan Majoor said: Awareness may be a key word for the future. Now "need" is often dictated by advertising campaigns where people more or less are dictated by the message of the campaign to buy the goods, a biased awareness. There should be guidelines on advertising which direct advertisers to tell the real truth and also how the product affects our resources. This could increase awareness on both sides, producer and consumer. Take a bicycle to buy your cigarettes around the corner, not your Hummer and not smoking my entire life saved me a lot of money and also the need to camouflage the more rapid aging of my skin. and at 3 meals a day and no snacks or candy bars in between I hardly need work-outs or slimming diets, I have been 72 Kg for the best part of my life ( started at about 3.5kg) And about your cleaning article, like to read it. Even within Europe there is a marked difference, Us Dutchmen are known for our cleanliness but if you look around something happened for the worse, people throw out all their garbage and government campaigns on cleanliness do not help. empty Mc Donald bags and cups are littering traffic light areas
Thanks for your great comments.
Marc Stoiber
View unverified member's comment - posted by maile
RSS