Everyone agreed from the beginning that something felt wrong about
the idea of rebranding Bon Ami as a typical “green” product. Much of
the brand’s strength comes from its constancy and willingness to let
the “chemical revolution” pass by. It was important not to squander
that authenticity in the face of the “sustainability revolution.” Also,
while more people are buying green cleaners, it is also true that the
category is crowded and cluttered with brands trying to out-green each
other. Finally, Bon Ami is less expensive than most other green brands,
so it was important not to inadvertently lump the brand in with more
expensive competitors and lose that important advantage.
Celery designed 100 percent post-consumer recycled PET containers for the liquid products and spiral-wound paper canisters with 65 percent post-consumer fiber. The low-tech spiral-winding manufacturing process became the inspiration for the diagonal banner the labels. Ultimately, the team determined that Bon Ami’s greatest brand
appeal is its simplicity and timelessness. It is trustworthy because it
is easy to understand. The ingredients are simple and harmless. It
helps us clean the way our great grandmothers might have cleaned,
before the world got so complicated and the cabinet under the kitchen
sink became a toxic waste dump. The theme of the new Bon Ami brand is “simple tools for timeless tasks.” The design taps into the vernacular
of the original 1880s package and the peculiarities of the way that the
spiral-wound paper canister for the powder cleanser is manufactured.
The package is not plastered with green leaves or messages like “earth
friendly.” Instead, the emphasis is on the simple ingredients and the
long heritage of the brand.
LIFE IN A NEW LIGHT
Don
Peifer and Mark Walsh are well-regarded lighting designers. Before
founding Lunera, they worked for top photographers such as Annie
Leibovitz and big commercial clients. They were interested in the
creative possibilities of led lighting, but all of the LED products
designed for commercial lighting were terrible from an aesthetic point
of view. Don and Mark experimented for several years with novel ways of
using led technology and ultimately developed an approach that gives
the effect of lush, voluminous daylight. Surprisingly, in their quest
for quality of light, they hit upon a solution that is even more
energy-efficient than the other products on the market.
Celery
was recruited to craft the Lunera brand strategy by Gary Dillabough, a
clean tech venture capitalist who signed on to help Don and Mark
shake-up the commercial lighting marketplace. Practitioners in the
field were already buzzing with talk of green building and
sustainability, and Lunera’s brand offered an enviable set of
environmental selling points: low energy use, completely free from
toxic mercury, designed for disassembly, manufactured in the U.S., and
more. As with the cleaning products category, though, the lighting
industry is awash with products being marketed as “eco” and “green.”
There are few reliable standards for measurement of product claims, so
lighting experts tend to be very skeptical of the marketing claims. As
a result, it is difficult for a new company to avoid being drowned out
by all the noise.
More importantly, Lunera’s story extends well
beyond the eco attributes: the highest quality light around, a sleek
ultra-thin form factor and virtually no price premium. So despite the
significant environmental advantages, the team decided to focus on “quality” as the lead message, with messages about ecology, high
performance and good value feeding into and supporting the lead
message. In lieu of conventional “green” branding, the team decided to
build a multi-dimensional brand strategy that includes environment as a
core component-but not the sole focus.
THE NEW NORMAL
Bon
Ami has generated great early buzz since the brand relaunch, and
Lunera’s sales have been doubling every quarter for the past five
quarters. More generally, though, these two brands represent a new
phase in the development of green marketing. In many categories, it is
no longer effective to craft a one-dimensional brand around a green
message. There are too many competitors making similar claims
(sometimes honestly, other times with dubious merit). Rather than
trying to out-green the competition, these brands treat their
environmental excellence as part of a broader set of values. The
environmental story is not discounted but, rather, placed in the
context of a higher-level brand story. According to this strategy,
strong environmental performance is often treated as the essential cost
of entry for a “quality” product—it is the beginning of product
innovation, not the end. The result is a brand with multiple points of
interest for potential customers and, as a result, a greater chance for
success. CA