E_IBA3_MSI | Dr. Meike Morren | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Marketing Sustainable Innovations
Lecture 1
Introduction: Consumer Adoption of Sustainable Products and Services
1.1 | Outline of the course
● Dr. Meike Morren: mainly interested in sustainable food choices
● Idea of this course is to integrate everything that we have learned from the previous
courses in how to communicate sustainable innovations to the consumer
● Important for report tot tap into all these different theories (in grey area), some are of
course more applicable than others, but it is important to show why and how we have
developed a certain message > APPLY THEORIES IMPORTANT!
● Also integrate articles in the report!
1.2 | Sustainable marketing strategy
The field of economics
Marketing lies in the field of economics and there is a call for a different approach to
marketing and the economy. We must try to restore the balance between taking resources to
produce products / services and protecting the environment on which we rely for the future.
● Doughnut economy: develop new products or grow only within certain boundaries.
● How to market sustainable innovations that exist within these boundaries?
● Have a look at TedX talk by Kate Raworth
, E_IBA3_MSI | Dr. Meike Morren | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Industrialized economies
● Represent 23% of the world’s population
● Consume more than 77% of its resources
● Use up 72% of all energy
● Generate approximately 80% of overall pollution
Choosing the right sustainable marketing strategy
When consumers are forced to make trade-offs between product attributes or helping the
environment, the environment almost never wins. Most consumers simply will not sacrifice
their needs or desires just to be green. Hopes for green products have also been hurt by the
perception that such products are of lower quality or don’t really deliver on their
environmental promises.
But also:
● A growing number of people are willing to pay a premium for organic foods.
● Some consumers have been willing to pay an up-front premium for energy-efficient,
water-conserving washer and dryer units.
So, there are definitely challenges to make people aware and get them to using sustainable
products, and sacrifice some of their needs/desires, but increasingly we see that people are
willing to do this.
● Survey in US: how many consumers were interested in sustainable products/willing
to buy/politically interested in green parties?
o Green consumer segments:
o Grousers: intention-behaviour gap
o For report: important to state what segment we have in mind!
The green marketing strategy mix (also mentioned in one of the articles)
On the axes:
● How many consumers are willing to pay some premium for green products?
● How much of the product is green?
, E_IBA3_MSI | Dr. Meike Morren | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Sustainability and consumption
Assumption: Consumers’ objective function is to maximize their happiness, which is based
on their standard of living, psychic rewards due to environmental sacrifice, and psychic
rewards from their society’s charitable aid to poorer nations.
Three pillars of sustainability:
● Economic profitability
● Respect for the environment
● Social responsibility
When introducing a product to the market it is important to take into account many different
stakeholders: consumers, business, government, the environment, and economic and
political relations between nations.
Connecting three pillars with each other:
Important to note: the difference between happiness and standard of living
● Standard of living: money people have to spend
● Happiness: standard of living could lead to happiness
● Overall positively related, but not a one-to-one relationship
1.3 | Mindful Consumption
Mindful consumption
, E_IBA3_MSI | Dr. Meike Morren | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Mindful consumption is something that we should aspire. It means that we should be
mindful, which means that we have to consider ourselves, community, and nature. At the
other side we have consumption, here is claimed that we should temper our consumption. At
least the repetitive consumption (products that can be disposed easily) should be avoided.
Also acquisitive (buying for pleasure) consumption should be avoided. Lastly aspirational
consumption (consumption to show off) should be tempered as well.
If we tempered these three types of consumption, we will stay within the boundaries of
mindful consumption.
Back to sustainability strategies
Sustainability connotes three dimensions: economic, environmental and social. As a
business goal, sustainability translates into a ‘triple bottom line’responsibility 🡪
assessment of business results should be based not only on economic performance but
should take into account the environmental and social impact as well.
Customer-centric sustainability (important)
We should focus marketing campaigns more on customers.
Note: not at odds with stakeholder perspective (more in this in lecture 3).
Heightened customer focus is well justified:
● Sustainability actions generally pay much greater attention to other stakeholders
such as regulators, corporate responsibility advocates, investors and the media, than
to customers.
● Oten overlooked but important for sustainability is the fact that the customer
embodies multiple stakeholder identities.
Marketers fail to see the customer as ‘a citizen, a parent, an employee, a community
member, or a member of the global village with a long-term stake in the future of the planet.’:
● The customer is a vital partner stakeholder
Sustainability goals, e.g., those contingent on mindful consumption, cannot be accomplished
without customer involvement:
● Customer focus seriously restricts both the efficiency and the effectiveness of
sustainability efforts.
Marketing Sustainable Innovations
Lecture 1
Introduction: Consumer Adoption of Sustainable Products and Services
1.1 | Outline of the course
● Dr. Meike Morren: mainly interested in sustainable food choices
● Idea of this course is to integrate everything that we have learned from the previous
courses in how to communicate sustainable innovations to the consumer
● Important for report tot tap into all these different theories (in grey area), some are of
course more applicable than others, but it is important to show why and how we have
developed a certain message > APPLY THEORIES IMPORTANT!
● Also integrate articles in the report!
1.2 | Sustainable marketing strategy
The field of economics
Marketing lies in the field of economics and there is a call for a different approach to
marketing and the economy. We must try to restore the balance between taking resources to
produce products / services and protecting the environment on which we rely for the future.
● Doughnut economy: develop new products or grow only within certain boundaries.
● How to market sustainable innovations that exist within these boundaries?
● Have a look at TedX talk by Kate Raworth
, E_IBA3_MSI | Dr. Meike Morren | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Industrialized economies
● Represent 23% of the world’s population
● Consume more than 77% of its resources
● Use up 72% of all energy
● Generate approximately 80% of overall pollution
Choosing the right sustainable marketing strategy
When consumers are forced to make trade-offs between product attributes or helping the
environment, the environment almost never wins. Most consumers simply will not sacrifice
their needs or desires just to be green. Hopes for green products have also been hurt by the
perception that such products are of lower quality or don’t really deliver on their
environmental promises.
But also:
● A growing number of people are willing to pay a premium for organic foods.
● Some consumers have been willing to pay an up-front premium for energy-efficient,
water-conserving washer and dryer units.
So, there are definitely challenges to make people aware and get them to using sustainable
products, and sacrifice some of their needs/desires, but increasingly we see that people are
willing to do this.
● Survey in US: how many consumers were interested in sustainable products/willing
to buy/politically interested in green parties?
o Green consumer segments:
o Grousers: intention-behaviour gap
o For report: important to state what segment we have in mind!
The green marketing strategy mix (also mentioned in one of the articles)
On the axes:
● How many consumers are willing to pay some premium for green products?
● How much of the product is green?
, E_IBA3_MSI | Dr. Meike Morren | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Sustainability and consumption
Assumption: Consumers’ objective function is to maximize their happiness, which is based
on their standard of living, psychic rewards due to environmental sacrifice, and psychic
rewards from their society’s charitable aid to poorer nations.
Three pillars of sustainability:
● Economic profitability
● Respect for the environment
● Social responsibility
When introducing a product to the market it is important to take into account many different
stakeholders: consumers, business, government, the environment, and economic and
political relations between nations.
Connecting three pillars with each other:
Important to note: the difference between happiness and standard of living
● Standard of living: money people have to spend
● Happiness: standard of living could lead to happiness
● Overall positively related, but not a one-to-one relationship
1.3 | Mindful Consumption
Mindful consumption
, E_IBA3_MSI | Dr. Meike Morren | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Mindful consumption is something that we should aspire. It means that we should be
mindful, which means that we have to consider ourselves, community, and nature. At the
other side we have consumption, here is claimed that we should temper our consumption. At
least the repetitive consumption (products that can be disposed easily) should be avoided.
Also acquisitive (buying for pleasure) consumption should be avoided. Lastly aspirational
consumption (consumption to show off) should be tempered as well.
If we tempered these three types of consumption, we will stay within the boundaries of
mindful consumption.
Back to sustainability strategies
Sustainability connotes three dimensions: economic, environmental and social. As a
business goal, sustainability translates into a ‘triple bottom line’responsibility 🡪
assessment of business results should be based not only on economic performance but
should take into account the environmental and social impact as well.
Customer-centric sustainability (important)
We should focus marketing campaigns more on customers.
Note: not at odds with stakeholder perspective (more in this in lecture 3).
Heightened customer focus is well justified:
● Sustainability actions generally pay much greater attention to other stakeholders
such as regulators, corporate responsibility advocates, investors and the media, than
to customers.
● Oten overlooked but important for sustainability is the fact that the customer
embodies multiple stakeholder identities.
Marketers fail to see the customer as ‘a citizen, a parent, an employee, a community
member, or a member of the global village with a long-term stake in the future of the planet.’:
● The customer is a vital partner stakeholder
Sustainability goals, e.g., those contingent on mindful consumption, cannot be accomplished
without customer involvement:
● Customer focus seriously restricts both the efficiency and the effectiveness of
sustainability efforts.
