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06.08

Marketing New Technologies to Green Consumers (and Beyond)

By John R. Platt

Greener light bulbs. Greener cars. Greener clothing. Greener electronics. It seems like every company in the world is trying to make itself or its existing products look greener these days. But marketing slight changes to existing products is easy. What will these same companies do to market their green ideas when something truly new comes along?

Let's take a look at the now-ubiquitous compact fluorescent bulb. Just a few years ago, compact flourescent lamps (CFLs) were something different, new, unusual, and hard to explain. Most people hadn't heard of them, and many who had heard of them were resistant to the idea of replacing their old incandescent light bulbs. But today, CFLs are for sale and being used almost everywhere. The message has gotten through.

So how did this change come about? And how can we learn from it to market the next wave of green ideas?

Diffusion of Innovations

It turns out that "green" or environmentally conscious consumers are just like regular technology consumers. There are certain types of people who will grab on to an environmentally friendly idea early on, while others will follow soon after as the technology becomes more prevalent and less buggy.

The pattern follows a familiar one: Everett Rogers' 1962 theory, Diffusion of Innovations. Rogers' theory charts adopters of any new innovation along a bell curve. Innovators are the first to grab onto new ideas, but represent the smallest part of the eventual market (just 2.5 percent). Early adopters will try a technology next (representing 13.5 percent of the market), then the early majority (34 percent), followed by the late majority (another 34 percent), and finally, the slowest to adopt to new technologies, the laggards (16 percent).

According to Rogers, an individual's placement along that bell curve depends upon many factors, including their interest, their evaluation of a technology, trying things out, and, perhaps most importantly for this discussion, their awareness.

Green Innovators

Like audiophiles constantly on a quest for the latest stereo components, innovator and early-adopter green consumers are always looking for — and ready to try — new, green devices and technologies. They aren't as concerned about cost, either. A green device might be more expensive than a traditional alternative, but innovators will adopt it early, because they are embracing an ideal and making a statement.

Look at early sales of hybrid cars as an example. The earliest hybrids were more expensive and involved less proven technologies. But the environmental movement embraced them as an alternative to cars powered by fossil fuels. While hybrids may not be the ultimate killer app for gas-guzzlers, auto makers could depend upon green innovators and early adopters to start the market and provide feedback, allowing them to work out some kinks in their first wave of vehicles (and probably to broaden the market for fuel-cell vehicles further down the line).

Other companies are following this model. A company called Reluminati recently introduced a 2,000-pound solar generator called the PowerCube 600. Priced at $25,000, this isn't the device for everyone looking to get into solar power. But for people determined to cut their ties to the power grid, the PowerCube is an attractive choice, no matter what the cost.

The Green Majority

Let's go back to the hybrid car. When they were first introduced, hybrids were more expensive than comparably sized vehicles. But as the market became broader and more companies offered a wider variety of hybrids, prices dropped enough that they became more attractive to a wider variety of people, especially in the wake of rising gas prices.
Similarly, not every solar device costs $25,000, like Reluminati's PowerCube. Better Energy Solutions has started marketing the SOLIO, a $100 solar charger that can power cell phones and other hand-held devices. By creating a flexible, portable, less expensive device, BES has broadened the market and reached beyond the innovators into the early majority.

As a technology reaches the majority, or mainstream, its message must go beyond the initial message. It won't be enough to point out that a technology is more environmentally friendly. You'll also need to tout its other benefits: reliability, cost savings, technological superiority, and quality, among other unique selling points.
You may also need to break through some skepticism and eventually lower your prices. Those are the two biggest barriers between the early majority and the late majority, according to Rogers. The late majority holds on to traditions for a very long time — they were the people still playing music cassettes a few years ago — but will eventually come along when the time is right.

The Laggards

Of course, even when a technology hits the majority, some people just won't go near it. CFLs still face major resistance from people who love their incandescent bulbs; some people refuse to go to MP3s for their music needs, and a few die-hards still swear by Beta for all of their video needs. But eventually, if it's good enough, a new technology will supplant the old, and then even the laggards need to come along or be left behind.
Of course, we haven't seen many green products get that far in the market, but there's still time for the next big innovation to do just that.

John Platt is a marketing consultant and journalist living in Maine. He can be found online at www.john-platt.com. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.

Opinions expressed are the author's.