Comments on: Green Marketing Done Right: Burt’s Bees New Campaign

By: Left Brain

Left Brain — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:11:04 +0000

I disagree with the strategy too. They don’t give you any reason to choose Burt’s Bees over some other natural brand. Everyone could take DMDM Hydantoin out of their product if it were really a problem. It’s not a point of differentiation for a brand.
They also open themselves up to attack of the ingredients they use. There are almost no chemicals that are used in cosmetics that can’t be attacked. How would they defend the residual carcinogenic pesticide levels found in their beeswax?

By: marty mcdonald

marty mcdonald — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:17:03 +0000

Sorry, I don’t agree. The message may be right – close – but the execution looks like generic personal care CPG. Might as well be Aveda or Body Shop. Where is the Burt’s personality that essentially differentiates it from the current (and assuredly, future) crowded natural/organic personal care category? This has very little of that Burts feeling. In fact, it feels like Clorox did it, not a small independent company that created the original pack design,
Marty

By: MC Milker

MC Milker — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:40:19 +0000

Shannon- thanks for the link- we discuss these issues quite a bit at ecopreneurist on greenoptions.com!
To Paul,
It was at least Clorox’s money and perhaps their greater access to traditional advertising opportunities. Prior to acquisition, Burt’s Bee’s did not have the money to launch large advertising campaigns and engaged in word of mouth primarily.
As more and more green companies are purchased by mainstream marketers…and a lot of them have been, we see greater distribution into big retailers and more traditional marketing campaigns.
There are positives and negatives to this trend which will unfold as more natural and green companies are acquired.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 01:07:05 +0000

Well, they also recently purchased nearly 4 million kwh of wind power RECs, enough to make all their power needs met by that. And they’re offering to subsidize 50% of the cost of their employees doing it too. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080212/20080212006037.html?.v=1
So I’d say, if they continue to be a successful company, and increasingly do so via these campaigns, Clorox, and other companies, will take notice. My question is, was it perhaps Clorox’s influence to run these ads? Big question indeed…

By: Nick Aster

Nick Aster — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:22:26 +0000

Although I don’t think it matters in the cotext of this post, it’s important to mention that Burt’s Bees was recently aquired by Clorox – not without some controversy in the green business community. So does this campaign mean progress for Clorox too? Big question!