Developing, branding and labelling sustainable products and

services
Alternative ways of thinking about and using the market mechanism is
the primary ecocentric ”tool”.

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Aim of lecture

• To provide basic knowledge about different ways to integrate the

concept of sustainability in the product/service development process.

• To provide basic knowledge about how to integrate the concept of

sustainability in market communication (branding, labelling schemes).

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Ottman 1998

• ”Many eco-products available on the market today represent small

enhancements;
• Packaging is reduced, refilled or recycled,
• Cars are equipped with catalytic converters and recyclable material,
• Washing machines save water and energy…

Much needed improvement but not enough to solve sustainability

problems
Anthropocentric paradigm

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Sustainable product development from an ecocentric
perspective (Ottman)

• Go beyond recycling, re-use, repair and recovery – find products and

services that restore the planets stock of resources and /or contribute
to sustainable development.

• Finding products and services that contribute to sustainability

problems require creative minds and innovative cultures.

• Outrageous goals!

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Sustainable products and services - Guiding concepts

• Dematerialisation – manufacturing/ selling services instead of products

will reduce energy and material use.

• Performance sales – functional orientation – solution supplier instead

of product supplier.

• Consumption without ownership - renting, sharing, pooling, leasing,

from eco-efficiency to sufficiency.

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Sustainable product and services = sustainable solutions (Belz
and Peattie, 2009)

• ”When customers seek to satisfy a need the solution might be

provided by material products or immaterial services. Sustainable
products and services offer solutions to customer problems as well as
to socio-ecological problems. We define sustainable products and
services as offerings that satisfy customer needs and significantly
improve the social and environmental performance along the whole life
cycle in comparison to conventional competening offers”

 Dual focus, continous improvement

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Sustainable solutions development

• A broader perspective on products - examining the entire life-cycle of

products.

• Aims at a reduction of materials and energy consumption by extension

of use or intensification of use.

• Long-lived products which leads to less products being produced (vs

planned obsolescence: built-in, technological, psychological)

• Change in ownership structure.

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Holistic systems approach to customer solutions

Cradle-to-cradle, a circular throughput economy instead of a linear one.

No more extraction of raw materials, instead closed-loop approach using
recycled materials.
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/overview/conc
ept

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCRKvDyyHmI
Design for the environment (DSE).
Products that are easy to disassemble at the end of their life cycle, i.e.
design for recycle, repair, remanufacture and reuse.

Design products where materials in harmony with natural cycles and

systems can be used (this option will be more financial favorable as oil
becomes more scarce)
 Bioplastics, timber

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Sustainable product/service development – success factors

• Explicit and clear sustainable product strategy – its role in overall

strategy. Organisation structure, responsibilities, and market areas of
interest.

• Top management support – co-ordinating environmental manager.

• In-company system for environmental performance measurement.

• Partnership with important stakeholders.

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5 strategies for establishing credibility for sustainable branding
and marketing (Ottman,2011)

• Walk you talk;

visible and comitted CEO, empower employees, be proactive
• Be transparent;
report the good and the bad (see Patagonia Footprint Chronicles)
• Do not mislead;
Be specific, do not overstate, provide complete information, tell the
whole story
• Enlist the support of third parties;
Choose labels wisely, educate, be relevant
• Promote responsible consumption;

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How to communicate sustainable claims credibly - options?

• Specific claims are more effective than general claims. For example,
100% biodegradable vs. earth friendly. This holds for both product and
corporate advertising.
• Combined general and specific claims are the most effective. For
example, ozone friendly due to no CFCs. Similarly, combined product
and company advertising reinforce each other.
• Focusing on traditional consumer benefits like quality is more
successful than focusing on CSR issues. For example, fair trade
coffee that often focus on quality rather than workers’ rights.
• Directly link sales to philanthropic donations (e.g., for every product
sold) has been found to be positively evaluated by consumers (in a
U.S. setting). It is in these cases important that the cause that benefits
from the marketing campaign is linked to the company’s core activities.

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The marketing of a sustainable solution?

• What solution?

• How to communicate the sustainable message?

 branding, labelling

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Sustainability branding

• Sustainable products and services (Sps) offer solutions to customer

problems as well as to socio-ecological problems.
• First generation Sps big focus socio-ecological problems, neglecting
satisfaction of consumer needs.
• Second generation Sps
 Identifying and and empasizing the inherent consumer value of socio-
ecological attributes, including efficiency and cost-effectiveness,
health and safety, convenience, symbolism and status

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Sustainablity branding

• Corporate brand or product brand

• The performativity of sustainable branding

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Labelling or not?

• Several studies have shown that consumers respond positively to

labels.
• However, this requires that consumers recognize and trust the label,
and that they attach importance to what the label represents.
• When the same information is communicated via a third party source
and a company source the purchase intentions were higher when the
third party source provided the information.
• Third party positive information about the company’s CSR activities
improve consumers’ attitudes and even purchase intensions.

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Labelling and marketing

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Standardised environmental information
(Emma Rex, 2008)

• ISO Type I – Environmental labelling

Indicates that the product has met the criteria set by a certified third-party
organization
• ISO Type II – Self-declared environmental claims
Indicates that a company volunteers environmental information about its
products
• ISO Type III – Environmental declarations
Indicates that the environmental effects of a product throughout its life cycle
- from raw material procurement through manufacturing, transport, use,
disposal, and recycling - are analyzed using LCA methodology and that the
results of such analyses are published as quantitative data. The accuracy
and reliability of the claimed data must be verified before being made public.

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Type I – Eco- and Fair Trade labelling

• Qualitative
• Voluntary
• Positive
• Multiple criteria based:indicating overall environmental preferability of
a product
• Aggregated information
• Revision of criteria.
• Third party programme licence (fee) authorises the use

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The Fair Trade label

www.fairtrade.org.uk

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Type II – Self-declared environmental claims

• Qualitative
• Statements and symbols made by manufacturers, importers,
distributors, retailers…
• No independent third-party certification.
• Bans the use of vague claims as eco-friendly,
sustainable, green.
• Regulates how specific terms may be used
( e.g.compostable, degradable).

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Type III Environmental declaration (EPD)

• Quantified environmental data for a product (impact categories)

• Based on LCA
• Methodology used is standardised in ”PSR”
(product specific requirements)

• No weighing (aggregation)
• Independent verification
• A declaration, no performance levels

www.environdec.com

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LCA – Life cycle assessment

• A tool for calculating the environmental impact of a product/service

from ”cradle to grave”.
• Used for identifying environmental hot-spots, learn about products and
processes and identify improvment possibilities (influence decision-
making in products development, purchasing, investments)
• Market communication e.g. EPD

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The life cycle model

• Resource input (land, energy, raw material)

• Emissions output (air, water, land)
• In the phases of: raw material aquisition, transport, manufacture, use,
disposal.

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 ”The life cycle procedure”
• Goal and scope definition
• Inventory analysis
• Impact assessment
• Interpretation

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The Life-Cycle Perspective on a consumer solution

• Extraction of natural resources

• Production of materials

• Manufacturing of the product/service

• Use of the product/service

• Re-use and re-cycling

• Landfill

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Life-Cycle thinking in current practice

• Design for environment

• Eco-labelling (environmental differentiation)

• Environmental product policy

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Problematizing Life-cycle concept

• Toxic substances are not included.

• Functional units are subjective.

• Adresses one pillar of the sustainability concept – a green product

may be social costly and a financial disaster.

• Industry initiated concept (knowledge interest).

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