Two years ago, the green cleaning and personal care products company Seventh 
Generation fired its founder. A year later, it fired his replacement. The current CEO thus appears determined to avoid that fate by returning to a marketing approach that embraces the meaning of the brand itself.
The company’s name refers to an Iroquois law that mandated every decision should consider its potential impact on the next seven generations of people. To reinforce this central message and a core brand value, Seventh Generation has launched a new campaign, “Inciteful Insights,” that encompasses a packaging redesign. The related communications refer mainly to the proportion of biologically based, as opposed to petroleum-based, ingredients in its products.
This renewed focus comes after significant upheaval due to the frequent changes in the top management team, which led to experiments with various marketing and operational strategies. After founder Jeffrey Hollender was fired, a former Gatorade executive took over as the CEO but lasted just a little over a year. Hollender had remained on the board but at that point was forced out of even that position. The board hired a new CEO, John Replogle, who had worked for Burt’s Bees and who has undertaken a marketing shift, away from print and television advertising and toward a greater focus on digital and social media outlets.
This move appears to be working; sales recently increased by 15 percent. Part of the bump might be due to Seventh Generation’s movie-tied promotion with Dr. Seuss’s environmental fable, The Lorax. Despite some backlash from consumers who believed the company was “selling out” by sponsoring the movie, the well-aligned promotion seemed to appeal to most buyers, as evidenced by the sales increase.
The new challenge for Seventh Generation is to prove to consumers that its products work well, not just that they are good for the environment. In an effort to expand, the brand is introducing 60 new items, including super-concentrated laundry detergent packaged in recycled cardboard and new baby care products.
Discussion Question:
- How should Seventh Generation go about expanding its product lines?
source: Jack Neff, “Seventh Generation Expands Lineup,” Advertising Age, May 7, 2012.
Grewal Levy Marketing News 
I believe Seventh Generation has made an amazing move to stay true to their mission statement. Their decision to move away from formally traditional methods of marketing and towards digital and social media is a great move as well. In regards to deciding on potential new product lines, I believe they should take this question straight to the consumer through social media. Many companies create social media campaigns in the form of competitions in which fans from their social networks interact with the brand by posting pictures, videos, etc. I believe this would be a great tactic for Seventh Generation to both garner potential product ideas and understanding of consumer desires.
After reading the article about Seventh Generation, I was surprised to see how hectic their past few years have been in regards to the executive team. I believe the new CEO John Replogle has the right idea of gearing the marketing campaign more towards digital and social media, but for this campaign I think Seventh Generation should really work on their brand associations. For a company like them, they should stress the “green” products they offer and the environmentally conscious company mission they have. Spreading that brand association through digital marketing quickly, in conjunction with a new line of products, could stimulate growth for the company. In a culture with growing concerns regarding the environment, Seventh Generation is setting itself up for a great deal of success.
This article was eye opening to me because I had never really known much about Seventh Generation besides the fact that I occasionally use their laundry detergent products. It is very interesting how they have tried so hard to stay true to their mission statement and agree with their original purpose and idea. When thinking about expanding into new product lines I think that Seventh Generation should do two things: they should ask the opinion of their current customers as well as compare themselves to their competition and the competing product lines. By going to their customers they will focus on and potentially make products that the customers want and desire, so Seventh Generation could almost guarantee it would be successful in new product lines. Looking at the competition and comparing themselves to their competition would also help them because they could then see what their competition is doing and how they could do the same.