Here is new evidence supplied by the Center for American Progress: 66% of Hispanics, over 26 million people, live in a community that does not meet Federal air quality standards. “The average Latino population in the 10 worst-polluted U.S. cities is 33 percent.”

The health ramifications are not surprising. “Latinos are three times as likely as whites to die from asthma. Latino children are also 60% more at risk than white children to have asthma attacks.”

These emerging facts document the motivation and intensity of the Hispanic Green Consumer. Their focus upon wellness aligns with that of The Millennial Generation who view protection of the environment as their future and their Concerned Caregiver moms so focused upon the wellness of their families. Together these three market segments account for approximately $10 Trillion of annual buying power!

For a U.S. business this is a mega-trend sized opportunity. Old brands and technologies are now being questioned in terms of their values by these green consumers.

AND Hispanics have a much higher market penetration as smartphone owners. The smartphone and smartphone apps are emerging as a powerful new tool for green consumers that will enable  procurement choices based upon how a potential product aligns with their pursuit of wellness for themselves and their families.

The Hispanic market segment is a tremendous opportunity for selling green products and growing a green businesses.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 that focuses upon the emerging smart, healthy and green economy. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses making money going green.

I specifically pick these retailers because they are beloved locations for dads looking to buy consumables and gadgets while watching a big screen TV expertly installed on the wall with a really cool power tool! The thrust of this article is that a growing number of dads, representing $1.7 trillion of annual buying power, are now “going green” and that this is a mega-trend opportunity for businesses to stimulate dads to start buying again.

EcoFocus Worldwide is a marketing research company. They recently completed pioneering research on a consumer market segment they categorize as the EcoAware Dad. Here’s some defining numbers they generated from their research:

65% - The percentage of ALL dads who agree with this statement, “when my kids are grown I want them to remember me as teaching them to be environmentally responsible”

84% - The percentage of EcoAware Dads buying food and groceries for their household, in addition 80% think about their home’s energy efficiency and 74% think about nutritional value

50% – The result is that HALF OF ALL DADS are looking for greener, more sustainable, healthier options for their current purchases of household paper, garden products, vehicles, cleaning products, food and appliances.

Though it comes as a no-brainer, the key criteria for winning sales from EcoAware Dads is COST.

Market research continues to document that consumers do not want to pay more for going green. 69% of EcoAware Dads strongly agree or agree with “I wish I could buy environmentally friendly products more often, but they are often not affordable.” Overall, 85% of consumers say they will buy the more sustainable product vs. the less sustainable product if their prices are equal. The EcoAware Dad is no exception, they will open their wallets and buy green if offered a competitive price.

Here are two telling quotes that capture the essence of the EcoAware Dad as an analytical consumer looking past just the sticker price to assess value on this issue of price and going green. They are from an EcoFocus Worldwide Chicago focus group:

“…The true cost of choices… Americans are so used to living cheaply they don’t realize the actual cost of being healthy and eco-conscious.”

“We have been living off the cheap stuff and we need to pay back, we need to conserve resources.”

The emergence of the EcoAware Dad affords both a business and public policy opportunity. The obvious business growth opportunity is to offer competitively priced sustainable/wellness products to EcoAware Dads with $1.7 trillion in annual buying power. The public policy opportunity is to meet the expectation of EcoAware Dads for a “true” price at the pump, cash register and meter that reflects the environmental and health cost impacts of their procurement options. The combined potential for America’s economy is a re-sparking of consumer demand generated by offering competitively priced sustainable goods and services and pricing clarity at the pump, meter and cash register reflecting the total costs created by consuming less sustainable products.

And here’s a last insight from EcoFocus Worldwide that suggests EcoAware Dads will take a leadership role in the emerging Green Economic Revolution that affords our economy a path for sparking business revenues and restoring jobs:

90% of Eco-Dads “strongly agree/agree that trying to live a greener or more eco-friendly lifestyle creates teachable moments for me with my children.”

If you are a business selling to dads can you find a more emotionally charged and motivating path for engaging this customer with $1.7 trillion of annual buying power?

However, companies are struggling with how to evolve their operations and product offerings to meet this growing consumer expectation. A common call to action among speakers at the recent Sustainable Brands 2010 conference (SB10) was the need for innovation in strategy, product design and messaging.

To capture this theme I conducted video interviews with SB10 speakers and attendees that I thought had unique insights on customer expectations and how to deal with issues of greenwashing, product certification and consumer engagement. This interview with with Lee Ann Head, VP of Market Research with Shelton Group profiles what consumers want, what they don’t want and how they relate to green brand messaging.

About 90 seconds into her video interview is an insightful discussion on the Sunchips video ad focused upon their “completely compostable” chip bag. Focus groups ranks this as the best ad among those targeting the green consumer. Yet behind this success lurks growing consumer awareness that “compostable” packaging does not decompose in today’s waste management system. Is this type of advertising an example of vision or greenwashing? What are the dangers of a future backlash from consumers self-educating themselves on sustainable practices who could potentially call it a “greenwash?”

The good news is that no one is expected to turn green overnight, but brands are expected to be truthful about their progress. “Restaurants should be honest about the extent to which they’re green. It’s OK to say you’re taking steps and not where you want to be,” Roth says.

Roth’s “secret green sauce” recipe to help avert the skeptical activist is to “prove it conclusively.” He cites the Green Restaurant Association, which is a third-party endorser of legitimate green practices by restaurants that has been around for 15 years but only recently gotten the industry’s attention. “I’m enthusiastic about their methodology because it’s about progress: It’s easy to enter, but to maintain affiliation you have to get progressively better every year,” he says.

In terms of getting the word out, social-media vehicles seem to be the method of choice among the experts I spoke with. Menken says that since it is only the activists and business people who have been getting the word out about green practices, “quick serves need to reinvigorate their messaging by going directly to the consumer. In the consumer space and the restaurant industry, these companies need to directly engage customers through blogs, online, and Twitter. Skip the influencer and go peer to peer.”

Roth agrees. “It’s a new paradigm,” he says. “With the development of social media, companies who are effectively communicating green practices are engaging their customers through this medium. Engage your own consumer as if you, the entrepreneur, are involved. It’s a communal premise—it’s not advertising.”

Benchmarks and Basics
That premise is exactly what seems to have helped Amanda West launch her restaurant, Amanda’s, in Berkeley, California, in 2008 that serves “quick-service foods that are better for both customers and the environment.” West’s background as a blogger on healthy and enviro-friendly living gave her the perfect forum, and credibility, for attracting dozens of local media, including television, restaurant guides, eco-publications, and other grassroots endorsements to create buzz about her store and attract patrons.

“I started out doing monthly e-mail newsletters to anyone I met,” West says, including to a local news reporter she met at a city council meeting who became Amanda’s first TV interview. “Networking is really effective. I met a woman at a Chamber of Commerce meeting who does East Bay green tours. We’re the first stop of the tour.”

West says she also donates a lot to community organizations involved with health and the environment, including the local public radio station. “A lot of people say they heard about us from that,” she says.

In some ways, small-scale operators like West may have an advantage in the green marketing trend. For example, a large company can promote its groundbreaking sustainability program on a national level, but still miss the local piece that consumers experience.

No matter the size of the quick serve, West’s advice is that “it is important to be authentic when you’re marketing. People appreciate our Google spreadsheet we embedded in our Web site that says what we’re doing well and what could do better. That’s really transparent. If you say you’re doing something well, why not say what you’d like to do better?”

There is also growing evidence on the influence their moms, Concerned Caregivers, are having upon Millennial Generation buying behavior. A recently released survey by The NPD Group market research company found the following:

“Younger people indicate that they’ve come to enjoy the benefits of staying at home and cooking and eating with their families. In addition to the family time, they cite benefits such as portion control and generally feeling that cooked-at-home meals are healthier and more nutritious.”

Wellness is how Concerned Caregivers define their dominate influence driver. The merger of wellness into the Millennial Generation’s “Their Future” perspective is both natural and of significance to companies seeking to grow revenues. If the Millennial Generation adopts their mom’s focus upon labels, indoor/outdoor air quality and greenwashing then this will further accelerate the competitive advantage of companies that can align value with values.

Why is this important? In terms of buying power, this 18-to-31 group will grow to reach 63 million in population by 2019 making them the second-largest consumer group by age. For that reason their focus upon “Their Future” must also be part of the marketing and branding of a company and their products.

She goes on to say, Roth “…attacks the questions he gets most often- Can you make money going green, how do you make money going green and how DO you grow green revenues. He gives details on the economics of green and repeatedly goes over the concept of “costs less and means more”. I understand why, it’s because as a business owner, that may sound like some cute catch words. In the green world, they signify a lot and you cannot afford to ignore them. He shares how to properly price things. 75% of people buying a hybrid do so for economic reasons, not ecology reasons. This book is a California 9!”

Experian Simmons Research On Gas Prices:

Gas prices rose during most of 2008 until ultimately the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States hit $4.01 on June 16, 2008. According to the Energy Information Administration, the average price of gas nationwide stayed above $4.00 for a full six weeks, yet Experian Simmons DataStream shows that Americans were slow to change their driving habits in response.

As gas prices slowly rose, the percent of American adults who drove 100 miles or more each week remained relatively steady between 48% and 50%. Even when gas prices were above $4.00 approximately 49% of the population was driving at least 100 miles a week. It wasn’t until September of 2008 when driving habits really began to change. Between September 15, 2008 and January 19, 2009 the share of Americans who put 100 miles or more on their vehicle weekly dropped from 49.6% to 42.5%, a relative decline of over 14%.

The gasoline industry was quicker to respond to changes in consumer behavior than consumers were to react to rising fuel prices. The cost of an average gallon of gas began its decline on September 15th, the exact same week as the drop in driving distance was recorded. Between mid-September and December 29th the average price of a gallon of regular gas fell from $3.87 to $1.59—the lowest price recorded during the 104 week-period ending October 12, 2009.

Interestingly, as gasoline prices begin edging their way upward again, consumers are actually driving more, not less. Already by March 16th of this year, 48% of adults were back to driving 100 miles a week or more and by September 14th, a full half of Americans were driving that far. Gas prices are certain to continue their rise, but for the time being Americans seem to have all but forgotten about a time when they were spending almost twice as much on gas, at least as far as their driving distance goes.

The study found that Americans consume almost 12 hours of information per day! It breaks down like this:
• Television: 4.91 hours per day
• Computer: 1.93 hours per day
• Radio: 2.22 hours per day
• Computer games: 0.93 hours per day
• Phone: 0.73 hours per day
• Print: 0.60 hours per day
• Recorded music: 0.45 hours per day
• Movies: 0.03 hours per day

Another amazing conclusion from this study is that the United States consumes approximately 34 gigabytes per day or 3.6 zettabytes in all of 2008. (a zettabyte is 1,000 exabytes. A single exabyte is 1 million gigabytes)