Situation: Made from discarded glass from New Mexico landfills, Growstone is a breakthrough horticultural product. Their story couldn’t be better. They take waste and repurpose it into high-performance growing mediums. They use no water in the production of their product. They prevent destructive strip-mining, unlike their competition. Even their kiln is fired using methane gas from the landfills.

Our Approach: One of the biggest blunders in sustainable communications is leading with the environmental message first without really knowing who your target audience is. This costly mistake has been made over and over, even (and especially) on Madison Avenue. Since we have been entrenched in this market for over a decade, we know that most consumers do not buy products and services to save the planet. They buy them to serve their own needs first.

So to learn more about what growers really wanted in a growing medium and what they thought about Growstones, we interviewed “high performance” hydroponic retail storeowners and asked them. It was no surprise that performance was #1 – but right behind that was the fact that Growstones were made from recycled glass. That combination made the product a winner.

Impact: From this effort, Mind Over Markets created a B2B “testimonial” campaign using the exact words of retailers and delivered it across multiple mediums – trade magazines, trade shows, e-blasts, direct mail, social media and more. In one year, Growstones sales increased over 425% and today they are a growing player in the growing hydroponic and gardening market. Our consumer effort focuses on Amazon and Facebook. Through continual engagement, relevant content and strategic planning, today Growstone Facebook page has over 40,000 fans.