By Marc Stoiber

August 4, 2010 - There's something funny happening in the world of sustainable brands.

It isn't the fact more and more brands are embracing green. Leaders like Wal-Mart and GE have made the business case for sustainability, and opened the floodgates to other brands looking for a competitive advantage.

It isn't the fact consumers are choosing green, either. As the twin stigmas of poor performance and high price fade away, shoppers feel safer buying eco-friendly brands. According to the 2010 ImagePower Green Brands study, 75% of US consumers say it's "somewhat or very important to them" that the brands they buy come from green companies. That's translated into a 500% jump in green product launches between 2007 and 2009.

What is strange is an emerging pattern of how brands are marketing their green innovation. Or rather, not marketing it.

It better be green

Sustainability is a significant brand differentiator. It can be a driver of competitive advantage. So if you've got it, why not flaunt it?

I got my answer in a conversation about ingredient innovation with Steve Shriver, Founder and Chairman of Eco-Lips lip balm.

When asked about how the palm oil debate was impacting his brand, Shriver responded that Eco-Lips hadn't used the ingredient in years. But nowhere in the product packaging or advertising was there a mention of '100% palm oil-free'.

The reason? Shriver explained that consumers simply expected forward thinking from his brand. In their eyes, Eco-Lips had better use only the most ethically sourced ingredients. They wouldn't reward compliance - but they certainly would punish transgression.

Funnily enough, the only time 'no palm oil' was mentioned in Eco-Lips marketing was in messages to private label buyers. Although traditionally ruled by lowest price, these buyers were surprisingly swayed by a product with green benefits. But as Shriver pointed out, this message certainly didn't cross over to his mainstream communication.

The non-marketing of green isn't solely the domain of 'natural' brands like Eco-Lips. Mainstream giants like Nike are also engaged in quiet green innovation.

Nike has made a conscious effort to drive green through the entire organization - from corporate strategy to the design of athletic gear. All without waving a green banner at consumers.

Testament to this is the Air Jordan XX3. Even though the shoe was made with earth-friendly materials, and ingeniously stitched to lessen the need for chemical glues, there's nary a mention of the shoe's green cred.

As Reena Jana writes in BusinessWeek, Nike is marketing the shoe on "…its performance and brand connotations, rather than the green factor." Jana postulates the reason Nike downplays its green innovation might be "...from concerns of tampering with a proven branded success or fears of a backlash from consumers tired of 'greenwashing'…".

But there is, quite possibly, another factor at play. The fact that consumers expect innovative brands to be green. As such, playing up green credentials might be seen as overstating the obvious.

Seeing business through a green lens

Under progressive corporate sustainability programs like B Corp, certified companies need to amend governance documents to reflect green thinking at all levels of decision-making.

We call this the green lens. A way of seeing every aspect of your business through the eyes of a sustainability champion.

There are many advantages to incorporating the green lens in your business practices. Eco-efficiency, higher internal morale, and alignment with increasing regulation are just a few.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of the green lens, though, is rapidly accelerated innovation thinking. Applying sustainability to all facets of your organization will put sustainability on every team member's agenda. In effect, it will give everyone the license to practice green innovation, and think of new ways to address old problems.

The result will be products that capture the attention, and the trust of consumers. Precisely the sort of action that speaks louder than words.

This article appears in Fast Company  and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the author.  Marc Stoiber, VP Green Innovation, Maddock Douglas. The Agency of Innovation®