Thursday, March 20, 2008

Passionates, Dutifuls, Followers, Uninvolved.

Those are the four groupings of consumer types on a green adoption curve, according to research undertaken by Starcom MediaVest Group and reported in Marketing Week.

"Passionates, comprise 10% of the population and are highly motivated - the only group of people who regularly campaign, blog and boycott." - they also tend be be somewhat uncompromising.

"Dutifuls make up 24% of adults; they are enthusiastic without being political; they aspire to being greener and more ethical, often seeing it as a signifier of social status."

"Followers are the majority of the population at 41%. They tend to be more green than ethical and they feel that they ought to get more involved but are often not sure how to."

"The Uninvolved, 25% of the population, are more apathetic than actively anti-green, but have nevertheless formed a powerful set of barriers to adoption."

With such a wide and diverse set of consumer groups, no wonder it is so difficult to know just how to position any brand communication!

Well worth a browse.

1 comment:

Emma said...

I am playing into the hands of any who have read me critique such semantic games before, but I am a little intrigued by 'more green than ethical'. So I have some empathy with those confused into being less involved than they might be.

Lob in 'sustainable' (is that more or less 'green' than 'ethical'?)and there is an entire consulting career just in one sentence, where folk can obsess about where they actually are on 'a' scale.

And I'm sorry, but I do think there is a real % of actively hostiles which should be allowed for. Making that 25% 'uninvolved' seem wishful thinking. I base this not only on the threads to any CiF blog, but the reaction I get in peer groups where my... very mild... e-advocacy becomes known. And these are usually more affluent types who can afford to fund a 'greener' option.

Of course, in the context of green marketing they are a dead loss anyway, but I still think the 'Antagonistics' should be recognised.

I think a conference to discuss this may be called for. Bali anyone?