• Ad Age, Monday, April 19, 2010 12:30 PM

As the 40th anniversary of Earth Day approaches, Jack Neff writes that a growing number of marketers are focusing more on how consumers treat the planet rather than solely promoting their own sustainability efforts. He cites campaigns by Hanes, Whole Foods Markets, Walmart, Coke and Chevron, among others.

Green marketing "used to be more about the journey [companies] were taking," says Adam Werbach, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi's sustainability practice and former CEO of the Sierra Club. "Now it's more about taking the journey along with the consumer."

One reason for the shift is emerging data that show that as much as companies beef up their sustainability efforts, consumers can have a far more significant impact. It's important to keeping the message positive, according to Ashley Grace, strategic campaign development expert at ComScore's ARSgroup, a copy-testing firm that evaluates green-marketing approaches. "The guilt approach doesn't work at all," he says.

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