Coordinator
Prof. LEE LAI, Chun Hing Annisa
Associate Professor,
School of Journalism and Communication,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Prof. CHAN, Hon Ying Terri
Assistant Professor,
School of Journalism and Communication,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
As consumers increasingly prioritize and demand corporate sustainability, advertisers are constantly reinventing how they should communicate eco-friendly values and practices through advertising of more sustainable products in order to achieve profitable growth and social responsibilities.
This panel starts with a comprehensive scan of the global landscape of sustainable advertising in the past few decades. The first speaker categorizes green advertising messages into their respective communication effectiveness according to multiple consumer segments, country-of-origin effects, and diverse conditions. The second study investigates the contention of achieving market share and saving the earth by revealing the struggles of smaller brands using sustainability as a strategic differentiator while dominant brands show more limited incentives to invest in sustainable practices within the unregulated consumer packaged goods market.
Speakers
Prof. CHAN, Yee Kwong Ricky
Associate Dean (Education) and Professor,
Division of Business and Hospitality Management,
College of Professional and Continuing Education,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The Communication Effectiveness of Green Advertising Messages: A Global Marketing Perspective
Abstract:This presentation reviews scholarly research on environmental advertising from a marketing perspective over the past few decades. It specifically examines how different environmental or green advertising messages could be categorized and the respective communication effectiveness of various message types under different conditions. In this literature review, particular attention will be given to examining the communication effectiveness of green advertising messages used by foreign firms to market their brands to a host market. This examination aims to illustrate how the intricate interplay among message type, characteristics of the target audience, and the country-of-origin effect would influence the communication effectiveness of green advertising. By unraveling these intricacies, this discussion helps underscore the strategic importance of tailoring green advertising messages to engage with target customers, thus offering advertisers valuable insights into devising effective sustainable communication strategies in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.
Prof. KIM, Yewon
Assistant Professor of Marketing,
Graduate School of Business,
Stanford University
Sustainability and Strategic Differentiation in Unregulated Consumer Goods Markets
Abstract: This paper sheds light on the unique role of sustainability in unregulated consumer packaged goods (CPG) markets: it is neither a pure public good, which firms lack incentive to provide without regulation, nor a significant private benefit to consumers largely produced by dominant market players. Instead, sustainability occupies a middle ground, offering strategic differentiation opportunities across brands. In the health and beauty care categories from 2013 to 2019, we find the growth in sustainable products driven only by fringe — not historically dominant — brands and the limited role of sustainability features in product pricing, both of which suggest firms’ growing but modest incentives to invest in sustainability. Consistent with these patterns, our model estimates indicate that sustainability has a non-zero but marginal impact on consumer purchase decisions: while preference for sustainability is increasing, the average consumer still prioritizes non-sustainable attributes and favors sustainability features that are more easily offered by smaller brands. These preferences rationalize the observed strategic differentiation, where dominant brands face limited incentives to offer sustainable products while smaller brands use sustainable offerings to differentiate. Implications for brands and policymakers are discussed.