Who is the new consumer? You may be surprised…

Matt Connolly, strategy director at Bristol-based digital agency Enable Interactive, talks about marketing to the new and green consumer:

“If you’re a marketing professional, you’ll have heard a lot of (loose) talk recently about the ‘new’ or ‘ethical’ consumer. So what are these people like?

“Last year, Britons spent more than £32 billion on services and products that had Sustainable, Ethical, Green, Organic or Responsible attributes. We have called it the SEGOR market, and it’s growing. Fast.

“The trouble is, the people who are spending the money are one of the hardest consumer groups to truly and compellingly reach. Further, if you get your communication wrong with them – or worse still, lie to them – they are unlikely to forget it. Given that they tend to be peer leaders, transmitters and opinion formers, it’s a really good idea to stay on the right side of them.

“There is good news, though – if you get your product right and respect these people in how you talk to them, they are loyal to a fault. They will stick with you with the same vigour as they will dump you if they smell a rat. ‘Ethical’ and ‘green’ they might be – forgiving they are not.

“Not your idea of a tree-hugger, right? Bang-on. These guys are media savvy, highly cynical, largely anti-corporate free-thinkers. Go get ’em marketing department! Not so fast. You can’t talk to the SEGOR consumer in the same way as you talk to ‘others’… or can you?

“As a brand owner, you need an agency that can peel apart your product or service and discover where the true touch-points are. What will resonate when you shout it loud? What could consign your brand to the trash-can if you even think about trying to green-wash it?

“You also need to understand the people who constitute this market – the SEGOR consumer is amongst the broadest buying group out there – a multi-faceted bunch, with a heap of complex emotional drivers and rational prerequisites. Only then can you put a strategy in place that will deliver your product into the hearts of these affluent, discerning, unforgiving, loyal, short-tempered, cognisant and highly sentient consumers.”