Principles & Practice of Marketing, 3/e by David Jobber - Student Centre - New Case Studies

The ‘Green’ House - Download MS Word file

In Denmark environmentally friendly houses are commonplace but in the UK they are the exception. The vision of two builders in northern England, however, led to the building of a rare ‘green’ house. The task of building it was daunting but so too was the challenge of advertising it to potential buyers.

Scientists have shown that conventional houses play a major part in global warming, depleting the ozone layer and destroying tropical rain forests. Consequently, the builders believed that a new type of consumer was emerging: one who is prepared to make choices based on what is best for the planet, but who demands that the product does not cost too much.

The ‘green’ house emits only three tons of carbon dioxide a year, just half that of a traditional house. There is also twice the regulatory amount of loft insulation and the walls and floors are three times better insulated than a standard new home. The cavity walls have 15 cm (rather than the standard 5 cm) filled with rock wool. The loft has 30 cm of non-irritant brown cellulose, made from recycled newsprint. Under the floor there is a 10 cm layer of CFC-free polystyrene. The house also features a high-efficiency gas condensing boiler which extracts more of the heat from the flue gases and uses 15 per cent less gas for the amount of heat generated than the standard boiler, so only half the heating energy should be used. The home is built on a south-facing slope and most of its windows are on the south side to take maximum advantage of the sun. They are all double-glazed with Pilkington ‘K’ glass which has an extra copper film to reflect heat back into the room reducing heat loss by 40-50 per cent.

The efficiency of the house is reflected in the award by the National Home Energy Foundation, which awarded the house almost its maximum rating (9.3 out of 10).

The price of the home is £105000, which is £5000 more expensive than if it did not have all of these extras. But the builders believe that buyers will make big savings on heating and lighting besides playing their part in making the world a healthier place.

Questions
1. Who is the type of buyer likely to be interested in buying a ‘green’ house?
2. Develop an advertising platform to appeal to them.
3. Bearing in mind that funds restrict the advertisement to a maximum of 8 cm 10 cm wide, design an advertisement for the house. Note that space precludes the use of a photograph.

This case was prepared by David Jobber, Professor of Marketing, University of Bradford.