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Green Digital Marketing in the Mobile Phone Industry: Recommendations for Sony Ericsson's GreenHeart™
University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies.
2011 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Aim: This study is part of a digital activation plan that was done for Sony

Ericsson’s GreenHeart™ team in the fall of 2009. The investigation presents and

discusses what Sony Ericsson and its 4 main competitors (Nokia, LG, Samsung

and Motorola) have done within green digital marketing and how the subject was

communicated on their webpages. The aim of this study is to:

• To present and analyze consumer insights on ecologically-driven technology

• To present and analyze the eco-marketing digital practices and strategies used

by 4 competitive mobile phone brands

• To propose a digital green marketing strategy for GreenHeart™

Method: This study consists of interviews with Sony Ericsson personnel,

literature and web analysis that focus on the green initiatives of mobile phone

manufacturers in the digital channel.

Result & Conclusions: A main issue with green products is that consumers tend

to find them not as good as non-green products. Consumer insight studies suggest

that that the best way to communicate and promote green products is to focus on

their direct benefits to consumers in comparison to non-green products, and

communicate the green benefits only as a secondary message. This was also

supported by theories such as Levit’s concept of “marketing myopia”, which

describes a marketer’s tendency to focus on product features rather than consumer

benefits.

When analyzing the webpages of Sony Ericsson’s top 4 competitors, it was

3

evident that all 4 mobile phone manufacturers employed green digital marketing

in quite a homogenous way. One striking similarity was that all brands have

separated their green initiatives from the core of the website. It is a possibility that

marketers have done this intentionally since consumers tend to associate green

with lesser quality.

In order for Sony Ericsson GreenHeart™ to stand out from the competitors, it was

therefore suggested that green information should be integrated into the website

and to communicate GreenHeart™ as a value-added product feature rather than a

product in itself.

Suggestions for future research: It is recommended to continue this research

and to compare the findings from the mobile phone industry with other industries,

such as the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), where Green and Organic

branding at a glance seem to have been developed strongly. It would be

interesting to gain a perspective on the similarities and differences in the green

marketing practices of different industries, but also to gain knowledge and

inspiration on how green consumer electronics could be marketed in a more

effective and integrated fashion. In this perspective, analyzing any variations

between on- and off-line marketing initiatives would be interesting to see if the

green message changes in a typical marketing mix. Moreover, it would be good to

counter analyze the psychological mechanisms why, for certain industries such as

food, green products are regarded as high quality whilst in another industry like

electronics, green products are regarded as having lesser quality and business

value.

Contribution of the thesis: The most important finding of this study is that all

the analyzed mobile phone manufacturers have many green initiatives. However,

they are communicated separately from all other marketing and communication

initiatives in the main digital channel. They tend to be set aside that consumers

need to search for them, thus the messages are not delivered seamlessly. This

makes it appear that green initiatives are being regarded as something obligatory

rather than something that has true business value. Using Theoretical arguments

on communication strategy from Levit and ClearWorks show how this, in reality,

can be changed and be integrated with product marketing where it can generate a

more significant business value

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2011. , p. 48
Keywords [en]
Sony Ericsson, GreenHeart™, Green Marketing, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG Digital Marketing, mobile phones
National Category
Social Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-11692Archive number: E3BA:DiVA 28/2012OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-11692DiVA, id: diva2:514431
Subject / course
Business administration
Educational program
Business administration
Uppsok
Social and Behavioural Science, Law
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2012-04-23 Created: 2012-04-09 Last updated: 2012-04-23Bibliographically approved

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