This article is a good introduction to marketing. Even I do not have any background in this area before, I still enjoy reading “Green Marketing Myopia”. It has many case studies which are mainly about misconceptions when performing green marketing. To sell a product successfully, a company has to consider not only environmental effects of a product but also customer satisfaction. In the article, it mentions Philips’ CFL light bulbs which are considered to be “green product” and the company tried to use it as a selling point. The result was totally different from expectation. Consumers did not like clumsy shape and it was not compatible with other lamps. Later, Philips introduced “Marathon”, more refined CFL light bulbs, and it met customer’s needs. The product had a better feedback comparing previous version and an annual sales growth increased by 12 percent. To avoid green marketing myopia, the author offers “The Three Cs” principles: Consumer value positioning, Calibration of consumer knowledge, and Credibility of product claims. There are five factors that marketers have to take into account when dealing with green products. Main functions of products should reach those five benefits before selling “green” effect of the product, otherwise consumers might not feel that they “need” to buy the product. A lot of good case studies reflect how companies fulfill customer’s need. For example, Toyota Prius caught Symbolism aspect to underline how “green chic” the car is.
After reading this article, I realize that some thoughts can be applied to design process, especially user-centric design. To begin with user’s need is the most important step in design and marketing. I’m thinking of design courses at d.school which have a multi-disciplinary group members such as engineering students and MBA people. This article would link those two groups together.
