At The Frause Group, our goal is to always get to the core of an issue in order to understand and address it as effectively as possible.

With this in mind, the first step in making sustainability cool is to do the research. While research doesn’t sound cool, we communications freaks often think it’s better than making assumptions about the goods and services we’re publicizing and/or the audiences we are targeting.  

When it comes to products, for example, research will help us really get to the core of what “cool” is; for The Frause Group it translates into sales for our clients or behavior change.

Through research, we would ask many questions: What are the buying habits of different consumer segments? What barriers are we facing? What’s the viability of selling sustainability to different populations? What is the market potential of the products that will make a difference? How present is the sustainability topic in people’s minds? What is going to be the tipping point? Conducting in-depth research and reviewing existing research will be essential in our quest. Let’s build on the research already available, and get even smarter.

Next comes responding to the market intelligence and understanding our targets and the messages that resonate. Let’s get to know them really well. We do this in our work already and it makes a difference. When we are talking about environmentally friendly practices and we focus on women with kids (our moms), we only talk about health. Let’s do that with our audiences and ask them about their attitudes. 

Let’s figure out how to resonate with kids and popular culture. For kids, focus on bringing out the cool and fun factors of sustainable products. Depending on their age, kids want products that are fun and hip. Let’s find unique ways to market the products we’ve decided fit best. Let’s look at Podcasting, blogs and digital media. Let’s create celebrity endorsements (more celebrities driving a Prius or biking; Bono selling organic cotton clothing). Let’s look for appropriate product placement opportunities: organic milk in a desperate housewive’s kitchen; Fair Trade coffee on the set of Will & Grace; P. Diddy dressed in sustainable clothing.