Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
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
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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
2011. , p. 48
Sony Ericsson, GreenHeart™, Green Marketing, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG Digital Marketing, mobile phones