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Ecotton: Rebranding a substantiable, sustainable ingredient brand
Journal of Brand Strategy,
12
(3),
243-255
(2023)
Abstract
This case study provides an inside view regarding a highly successful B2B rebranding initiative in the clothing and textiles space. Enova — a B2B brand launched in 2008 as an eco-friendly unused-cotton reclamation process — was rebranded and relaunched in late 2022 as ‘precycled’ ‘ecotton’, with a view to greater solution descriptiveness and brand-essence clarity. Problems addressed in the present ecotton case include the following: (1) overcoming greenwashing scepticism; (2) renaming and repositioning the brand as a premier eco-friendly ingredient brand; (3) developing phase one of a celebrity-endorsement programme for the new brand; (4) identifying, connecting with and pitching consumer-facing clothing brands; and (5) simplifying the articulation of a complex technical solution. Important trends identified include the finding that greenwashing lawsuits by environmental advocacy groups as well as stricter governmental regulations are on the rise across the West, and, thus, brands must be able to authenticate eco-friendly claims, not simply be ‘certified’ as eco-friendly sans a concomitant ability to prove such claims. Notable success factors identified for ecotton — and that may also serve as takeaways for other authentically eco-friendly and social-impact-friendly B2B ingredient brands — include the following: (1) a portfolio of factory-proven interlocking patents allowing would-be waste materials to be transmuted into a high-value authentic (and authenticatable) green commodity; (2) a deep network of trusting connections at highly respected consumer-facing brands; (3) world-class branding and marketing skills; and (4) recognition that the recent emergence of greenwashing-related litigation and pending eco-regulations has created a forcing function and concomitant huge window of opportunity for authentic-and-authenticatable green inputs such as precycled ecotton.
Keywords: ingredient-brand; rebranding; greenwashing; B2B branding; authentication; naming
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Linden Dalecki , PhD, is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Kelce College of Business, Pittsburg State University, USA. His current research interests include branding, content marketing and social entrepreneurship. Prior to his academic career, Linden was a branding and marketing practitioner. His professional experiences include working as a freelance copywriter in Hong Kong (prior to, during and following the 1997 handover), being retained by Interbrand’s New York City office as an outside naming consultant, and working as a full-time online content development consultant with AppNet (Washington, DC) prior to, during and after its merger with Commerce One (Pleasanton, CA) in 2001. In 2010, Linden developed and taught the first programme in Digital Content Marketing to be offered by an AACSB-accredited institution. Linden holds a BA in Radio, TV and Film from the University of Wisconsin — Madison, an MA in Radio, TV and Film from the University of Texas — Austin, and a PhD in Advertising from the University of Texas — Austin. Linden has engaged in a number of pro bono marketing consulting initiatives, including on behalf of the InterTribal Buffalo Council: a consortium of 82 federally recognised tribes from 20 US states, whose mission is to restore buffalo to Indian Country.
