Chief sustainability officer Jane Abernethy of Humanscale, a manufacturer of office furniture, believed she was onto a hit. A growing number of inquiries concerning a takeback program were being received by the business from clients who wished to know how to properly discard of items that had reached the end of their useful life.
More than 60% of participants in a 2020 McKinsey U.S. consumer mood study stated they would pay more for a product with sustainable packaging. According to a recent NielsenIQ survey, 78% of American consumers value living sustainably. Ask any CPG executive, though, if these numbers correspond to real sales of these goods and services. Few firms are as forthright about their green failings as Humanscale is, but many will privately acknowledge that they are baffled by the discrepancy between people's professed ideals and their behavior. Some businesses are attempting to bridge the gap between people's stated and actual actions toward climate change as a result.
Organizations may integrate sustainability into people's lives in a variety of ways, and some trailblazers are already doing so. Most infamously, Patagonia advised us not to purchase their jacket. It was hilarious, surprising, and incredibly popular.For many marketers, this requires a fundamental rethinking. Marketing's primary goal over the first 100 years of its existence was to increase shareholder profits. It was unwavering in its goal and mercilessly successful in it, crafting ads that would make us laugh, cry, love, fear, and eventually purchase.Even still, it must arouse those feelings in order to achieve something far more important than stock prices and sales. In order to convert people's intentions toward making green purchases, it must now appeal to their emotions.