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MARKETING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 297

members and not the general public. As the company’s work evolves, communication
shifts to specific targets having to do with direct users of the buildings a real estate
company develops. As that expertise matures, communication shifts to broadening the
message to the wider audiences the company wants to influence.
John Grant, in his compelling book The Green Marketing Manifesto, develops a
three-by-three matrix to provide a comprehensive study of green marketing tech-
niques. Along the top are three broad types of green marketing objectives, ranging
from narrowly defined green criteria to much deeper and far-reaching ones. Along the
side are three levels at which marketing occurs: the personal, the social, and the com-
pany level. Each box in the grid calls for a different marketing strategy having to do
with the level of a company’s commitment to green (setting new standards, sharing
responsibility, pushing innovation) as well as the way in which marketing that com-
mitment gets expressed (communicate the message, collaborate with others, work to
reshape the culture). Grant’s matrix can be seen in Figure 10.1.
Although this matrix was not available when we first began working with Melaver,
Inc., it is particularly useful in allowing us to analyze our work with the company as it
has evolved over time. More specifically, we can identify three key phases occurring
over a seven- to ten-year period, each involving different communications challenges,
opportunities, and strategies. Phase 1, probably best located in box A3 of Grant’s matrix,
involved brainstorming sessions within the company and focused on internal alignment
around a set of core values as well as green practices. The early chapters in this book
(Chapters 1 through 4) speak well to this early phase in the company’s green evolution.
Phase 2, best located in boxes A2 and B3 in Grant’s matrix, involved communications
strategies focused on specific green projects, which in turn involved drawing into the
fold credible partners as well as attracting key users of those projects. The middle sec-

1
Figure 10.1 Grant’s green marketing grid .