All Lost in the Supermarket, Take 2: What's Green Anyway?

A recurring theme in my consumer-focused story is simple equals better. The less you confuse customers, the more likely they'll single out a product or brand and retain a sense of its importance and utility in their everyday lives. For most items (not luxury or splurges, though), this is the main goal of marketing, branding, and consumer loyalty pitches. But sometimes it seems like confusion is the main goal of marketing: distract your opponent with the most noise and they'll acquiesce, pulling out their credit cards in the process.

According to Chain Leader magazine, a national survey conducted by the Shelton Group suggests that while the majority of Americans are interested in buying more green products, they are confused and lack information about how to choose among the array of possibilities. Indeed, Shelton Group's results have been presented as demonstrating that people would sooner buy natural rather than organic because they're confused about what organic means. Of course, the irony of this finding is that "organic" in the food category now carries a USDA certification and label, whereas "natural" has been so watered down by overuse in a variety of inconsistent ways, those that they surveyed tended to gravitate towards "natural."

Although Shelton Group generally has a sophisticated approach to sustainability (see their blog, for example), in this survey, they were perhaps misguidedly attempting to measure people's knowledge of green products, with organic and natural being presented as components of green. But even certified treehuggers will tell you that green is a variable and difficult concept to grasp in the first place -- and in fact, is already the focus of derision by those who can see the marketing handwriting on the wall, greenwashing their way into consumer's coffee cups, kitchens, and recyclable shopping bags. In an interesting twist, it seems that sometimes a government seal of approval is not enough -- in fact, it turns out possibly to confuse the matter more -- to make consumers step up to the cash register with certainty about what's in their cart. One thing is for sure: companies need to tread through the green fields lightly, accepting the fact that green is not as obvious as you'd think.

Organic Adjustments: Cultivating the Consumer

Everybody adjusts to economic change in different ways. Public advocates from Oprah and Mommy Bloggers to Kraft and your favorite insurance company has suggestions about what you can do to make it through tough times, whether you're just being cautious or facing serious financial cutbacks. One thing that hasn't changed with the economy is the glut of willing advice-givers who'd like to take the place of your local community sage, your grandmother, your priest or rabbi, or your best friend. The diffusions of a global marketplace bring all sorts of goodies to your doorstep (getting tired of pomegranate juice? Get ready for at least a few of the 1,000 varieties of Indian mangoes coming to the American market). At the same time, we're not sure who to trust anymore -- especially when it comes to the food system. Indeed, the growing green and organic movements have always been partly motivated by failures of government and industry safety protocols -- and that certainly hasn't changed. But how to hold onto that steady market and establish your company as a positive force?

According to the Organic Trade Association, "Organic products represent a value to consumers who have shown continued resilience in seeking out these products... This marks another milestone for the organic food market." The spread of organics to private label brands, megastores, and your neighborhood supermarket has meant that consumers can shop around -- and according to new research by JD Power and Associates, they are doing just that. So where are they getting their information? (and, the question that's hard to answer: how are they deciding what's reliable?). Some key possibilities:

• Blog, blog, blog: it seems like a truism that women in particular are drawn to blogs and other social media as sources of information. There's no shortage of advice about organics on these sites and many of them incorporate a message about the true costs of non-organic foods, the budget-saving aspects of cooking with natural foods (despite, of course, the reality that organics are still priced premium), and savvy shopping and cooking techniques (which, in fact, are the best way to "work around" the pricing issue). The Big Green Purse and other mom-friendly websites do eco-friendly product evaluations in a chatty but knowledgeable style.
• Corporate websites that give good basic information along with marketing promotions. Stonyfield Farms Yogurt is my favorite example of this: people go to their site for facts as much as they go for the coupons (I'm not the only one, I discovered!). Other websites are repositories of information, especially if the product is marketed entirely on its organic pedigree. Swanson vitamins sells only through a catalogue and online, but has weekly health research articles, an informational blog, and indexical information about supplements and natural ingredients.
• Your friendly neighborhood university or academic publication. The internet has opened up all sorts of information to the public access. People are as likely to check out first hand sources as they are to repeat what they heard on the news. Institute websites, press releases, public lectures, and even alumni publications are hot to capture the knowledge market. And even better if your audience is women: Vassar's Alumni magazine had a recent feature on avoiding unseen toxins; Smith and Mt Holyoke have featured "food issues" of their quarterly publications.
• In-store media is a successful, but often under (or badly) utilized source of information. Supermarkets are a mixed bag for consumers, often providing a glut of advertisements and enticements without critical distinction, but they do offer the most direct place where consumers make decisions. In-store media -- especially cooking demos and tailored local content -- still stands somewhat apart from endless coupons, circulars, and print media that swallow the shopper.

According to a Packaged Facts market research report from last fall, "one lesson to be learned, that is both obvious and elusive, is that innovation and integrity are both critical to this market. This report shows how successful companies have created a mirror representing the values and demands of natural/organic consumers."

image: Vassar Alumni Quarterly (click here for more info on the toxins numbered)