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- The Web Gets Responsive
- Lessons Learned from the Campaign Trail - Part 1
- I’m Sew Money – The Rise of The Craft Industry Online
- Google Goes Social with Google+
- The Outdoor Industry and “Sustainability”
- Facebook for Qualitative Research
- 3 Tips on Managing the Cost of Healthcare
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- Nothing New about Old Spice
- Mobile Surveys: More Trouble Than They’re Worth?
- The Great Healthcare Reset – How You Can Make Change Stick
- Telecom’s forgotten competitive advantage: customer service
- Social Filtering – why some ideas get shared and others fail
The Outdoor Industry and “Sustainability”
- June 30, 2011 by Kasey Terry, GDC Intern
How strategic social activity is helping the outdoor industry sustain profits while also meeting the needs of the environmental movement.
These days, “sustainability” is proving to be more than just a catch phrase used by the environmentally savvy. Today, “sustainability” may flat-out mean the conservation of profit for many business ventures. Driven by the continual profit of products and services deemed eco-friendly, this sprouting market is driving companies to look for ways to be “competitively sustainable.”
Consumer interest in sustainability initiatives has continued to deepen over the past several years with the steady rise of global industrialization. And as consumers continue to vocalize their concern for the environmental and social responsibility initiatives, marketers are taking notice. This renewed interest in conservation has designated new avenues for advertisers and merchandisers to streamline their efforts toward eco-friendly fabrics and cleaning supplies, energy efficient means of transportation, and multiple forms of paperless communication. Through in-depth product research focused on retail innovation, companies are beginning to strategically market sustainability initiatives and fair trade and supply practices in response to consumer apprehensions.
Outdoorindustry.com says that environmental concerns are driving consumers to rely more heavily on online reviews and testimonies that allow them to compare quality, pricing, and effectiveness of sustainable products. They suggest that the most effective means of consumer/product association then, is to market across multiple forms of social media focused on uniquely marketing the latest in product renovation. Outdoor Companies like The North Face and Patagonia now specialize in posting informational videos and photographs on Twitter or YouTube highlighting their newest natural products and materials at work, generating millions of hits everyday. Even Amazon.com and many similar corporations hope to capitalize on consumer use of social media to facilitate interest in new, inventive products that cameo their go green or go home attitude.
So, if you’re looking to widen your fan base, creative implementation of conservation and social media efforts might be your best bet. Otherwise you might find yourself lagging behind competitors whose sustainability endeavors till fertile grounds ripe for growth.
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