Author and Green Marketer Jacquie Ottman Speaks in NYC

J. Ottman spoke 2/28/12 for a “Conversation Sparkers” event organized by Greendrinks NYC

When I first met Jacquie Ottman, President of J. Ottman Consulting, she told me she’s been doing green marketing research since before the Exxon Valdez spill 2 decades ago. Her presentation and book, the New Rules of Green Marketing, validated that claim, by showing years of data explaining why consumers buy green products or not, and what obstacles companies must overcome when marketing green. Consumers can be broken into the LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health & Sustainability) group which always considers the eco-friendliness of their purchases, to drifters, who go either way, to non-convincables, with several other categories in-between. Since sometimes consumers may not know the benefits of greener products, she advocates a life cycle approach whereby the company communicates clearly how their product has a lower impact during production, how it can be used efficiently during the use stage, and finally how it can be disposed of properly. Consumers also want to know how it’s better for them, specifically in reduced cost, so she anticipates seeing more product labeling with much more information so that products can be more easily rated and compared.

Beth Fiteni