Stage one in progress; three more stages required for sustainability to become an economic value and driver.

Two years ago EcoAlign was born. Since then, we have been working with various large electrical utilities across the US on conservation, renewable energy programs as well as innovative clean tech companies that see this moment as a major business opportunity to grow and establish a new paradigm in the energy space. So where are we today?

We are at a good point with stage one of the transformation. Cognitive awareness is high and people of all backgrounds understand on an intellectual level the importance of becoming more sustainable. This broader awareness though does not translate yet into actions. What else is needed?

First of all, from where we sit, we see plenty of technological solutions that work as advertised for the most part; but we don't think companies have spent a lot of time on product development and customer research – what people actually buy (or not). As we see on a daily basis, even big vendors are throwing darts at a dart board without a lot of consumer research behind their offerings. Viable products are key to fulfill people's desire to act sustainably.

Secondly, for awareness to become actions, marketing needs to make sustainability part of the worldview and belief systems that drive peoples’ behavior. This means abandoning the generic messaging approach prevalently used today to market offerings and build a strategy informed by facts, observations and innovative approaches. More has to be done to better connect with consumers. Companies have to start with the basics – traditional information gathering/ research/ traditional segmentation and profiling - and then add enhanced segmentation approaches that leverage people values and cultural characteristics to align messaging with motivational flows and accelerate the transformation. Enhanced segmentation approaches work to perfection every four years in this country in conjunction with presidential elections and it can work as efficiently for sustainability.

Ultimately though with 65% of US citizens being cost-conscious or value buyers, sustainability will become successful only if it becomes an economic value, which means affordable to consumers and profitable for businesses. This is the last stage, inherently interdisciplinary, time-consuming and difficult. It touches management, operational, engineering, marketing, investor relations and IT dimensions to mention a few across value chains of companies. Marketing again can help greatly in this area too by designing consumer adoption strategies aligned with economic values that create scale and foster demand. Toyota Prius's success is due to smart research, smart marketing, its relative affordability and the company's long term commitment. Profitability is not there for the company yet, but it will be in the near future, especially as prices of oil are expected to increase.