Patricia Aburdene cites Maio&Co's work at LOHAS
LOHAS 10 Conference
April 27, 2006, USA
“... thanks to all of the fabulous LOHAS related research, [we know that] there are more than 63 million values driven LOHAS consumers in the US that constitute a $230 billion market.
When you think about it, it makes sense because every quarter we hear this very simple statistic in the business press that says that roughly 70% of US GDP is attributable to consumer spending. Think about what that means in terms of our power as consumers. It’s extraordinary and I don’t think we’ve even begun to explore what that power is. We know that values like “health” are what bring us to Wild Oats, to Whole Foods and their ability to sell fresh, gorgeous conventional produce and as well as hopefully lots of organic produce. That our patronizing these organizations because of their alignment with our values makes us happy as consumers and makes those companies very successful.
Similarly, people who care about social justice as well as sustainability are going to tend buy their coffee from Green Mountain Roasters or Starbucks because they sell fair trade coffee. So the values that we care about, when a company aligns with them, makes the company successful and makes us happy as consumers. And of course in the hybrid car department we have Ford, Toyota , Honda which show their commitment to sustainability through pioneering the hybrid car notion.
If they see this as an opportunity to tell their story with a three part strategy of values, standards, and authenticity.
Number one, work even harder to link the values that you stand for with your product.
In Megatrends 2010 you will meet brand guru Elsie Maio who works with companies, with corporations to show them the connection between corporate brand and thirteen transcendent human values like love, compassion, truth and many, many others. So tighten the link between your product and the values you stand for.
Two, educate the consumer to differentiate between any diluted standards and the higher standards that you voluntarily embrace.
Finally, walk the talk. Values driven consumers want to buy your product but they also want to know that the way you run your business is aligned with the same values that show up in your product.”