Shades of Green
With public sentiment going environmental, retailers are wondering, where are the green consumers they’ve been hearing so much about – and what do they want?
Renee Labbe has been facing these questions for years. A consultant with French trend-forecasting authority Promostyl Trend Office Ltd., she founded Vancouver-based marketing consultancy Creative Research Unit five years ago. She advises clients, mostly in the clothing trade, about the next big colours, styles and designs. Year after year, she has been frustrated that clients don’t seem to consider “going green” relevant to their business.
“It was either, ‘I don’t know if it’s our customer,’ and they’d kind of just shrug it off, or, ‘If it changes my garment by 10 cents it’s going to get vetoed,’” Labbe says.
Clients shy away from green consumers because no one knows who they are, Labbe says. So she broke down her consumer research into a list of wittily named green archetypes.
Take the “pampering Paulas.” Will organic food, clothing and cosmetics keep you healthy and beautiful? If so, there’s a market for it, one that doesn’t give a whit about the environment.
Or meet the “celebritant”: designer designs, celebrity wears, media fawn, celebritant buys. Remember when Keira Knightley toted that “I’m not a plastic bag” bag?
Perhaps your customer is “design intelligent,” always seeking the latest pop culture trend, Labbe says – and the latest thing today is often green.
Only the “buyer aware” crowd predominantly cares about the fate of the world. They want green no matter what; they just need more products.
Labbe acknowledges that trend forecasting is more art than science, but some big companies are paying attention. Labbe says she’s presented to Nordstrom Inc., Rona Inc., Pittsburgh Paints and Campus Stores Canada. She is quick to admit that she has green ideals herself and hopes to influence her clients.
“I don’t care if I have to appeal to your pocketbook,” she says. “I will do that.”
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