In a recent article by Scotland on Sunday, consumer choices and sustainability was discussed in terms of scientific and environmental concerns regarding the depletion of global food resources.  According to shopper Ian Garner, he would not be bothered if supermarkets cut back on the range of available products. “I’d rather eat seasonally and locally anyway,” he said. “I don’t agree with food being flown around the world.“   This trend in local consumption has led green marketing and advertising to focus on locally-grown products and their green labels and “eco-credentials.”

So, what exactly are consumers saying about Sustainable foods and beverages? According to Natural Products Marketplace, considering the current intersection of sustainability awareness and financial downturn, “the market is ripe for food and beverage products that allow consumers to shop more sustainably, but also spend less money.”

Furthermore, from street vendors in New York to sustainability conferences in South Africa, issues of eco-branding and green labels on food products are demanding media attention.   The movement of urban farming has also supported consumer’s demand for locally-grown food.

Finally,  as reflected in the diversity of articles mentioned in this blog post, this global trend and its force has food and beverage brands rethinking agricultural resources and their locality.

Walmart’s recent campaign to promote life cycle transparency and sustainability certainly supports this argument.

What do you think?

It seems that Fiat has done it – it has brought together a “green” vehicle and added some awesome creativity.

Fiat impacts with one of the most “memorable [clever advertising] efforts from an automaker. “   In an effort to highlight the safety of its small 500 model to both to its occupants and the wild animals we share our planet with Fiat has released a new series of images depicting the retro hatchback in fictitious crash test scenarios.

The interesting part is that test dummies are replaced with animals including a panda bear, a walrus and a couple of penguins. The attached tagline is smart too, “Engineered for a lower impact on the environment,” after which the ad reminds the viewer that Fiat – with 133.7 grams of C02 per kilometer on average – is the brand with the lowest carbon emissions in all of Europe.

Check the out the rest of the ads here: Fiat Green Ads

What do you think?

::Laura I. Gómez, Director of Client Services and Ad operations

It seems this year we have been plagued with study after study about the “conscious consumer.”  But what exactly is the conscious consumer?

Some studies have split and grouped Americans on their position about climate change, such as the case of Global Warming’s Six Americas 2009.  They have fragmented the American population into a hierarchy of six categories based upon how they feel about the change climate:

• Alarmed – 18%
• Concerned – 33%
• Cautious – 19%
• Disengaged – 12%
• Doubtful – 11%
• Dismissive  -7%

These six audiences were identified using a large nationally representative survey of American adults conducted in the fall of 2008, according to the report.

But how do these views/concerns translate to the choices of the American consumer?

With the closing of Sustainable Brands 2009 last week and string of marketing/consumer studies, such as BBMG, a marketing company that promotes “conscious consumerism,” states in its report “Redefining Value in a New Economy” that the majority of respondents will still express “interest in green…despite economy.”   However, they have “no way of knowing” if a product is green or actually does what it claims.

What does this mean for the advertisers?  Consumers are increasingly tying their views, opinions and values affect with their consumer choices.  But in order for the gap to close between the “ideology” of the consumer and their checkout purchases, one must be increasingly transparent – as well as validated by third-party certifications.

Hello, we are very excited to start the SustainLane Green Ad Network blog – a place where you will find information about the green consumer market.

A little bit about us: SustainLane was one of the first media voices of the “green” movement with its sustainable research focused on a nationwide city rankings survey. The SustainLane US City Rankings emerged as a proprietary, peer reviewed, special feature of SustainLane Media. This leading national survey ranked the largest 50 US cities in terms of their sustainability practices and was given wide press coverage by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, CNN and NPR.

From there, we expanded into the digital marketing industry to form the SustainLane Green Ad Network to bring advertisers closer to conscious consumers and to help green publishers monetize their websites. Think of our publishers as ‘mainstream’ green or ‘light’ green. The Green Ad Network blog will address topics such as: state of the market in general, the value of paid campaigns in a network setting and the precision of targeting and pricing models in the industry. We will spend a significant amount of time debating these issues and with this blog, we also want to present these ongoing dialogues to you. Transparency is our adage – and we want you, whether you are an advertiser or publisher to benefit from it.

We will have contributions from the entire SustainLane Green Ad Network team on issues that face the industry as well as industry news and feedback from those closest to the green market. Also, there will be announcements on new releases, product development, and related company news.

We invite you to interact with us, and me in particular. Who am I? I am a professional with extensive background in advertising and deeper interests in sustainable living and social media. Please feel free to write me an email at laura [at] sustainlane [dot] com This will always remain an open dialogue and we look forward to any feedback you have about our ad network practices.

Thank you,

Laura I. Gomez
Manager, Ad Operations and Marketing

SustainLane Green Ad Network.