Sustainable Design and Marketing: Crossing the Chasm

Guest Post by Prof. Dominik Walcher
Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (Austria)

Sustainable design has become recognized as a basic element of good design in higher education over the last couple of years. The Industrial Society of Designers (IDSA) provides an overview of academic programmes, which focus on sustainable design. However, it can be observed that there is still a distinct separation between design education and marketing education. Understanding innovation as “invention + commercialization” it is clear that design education puts an emphasis on invention whereas marketing is perceived as responsible for the “rest”. This fundamental separation of disciplines can be seen as the main driver for developing different mindsets and cultures leading to inefficiencies within businesses. The School of Design and Product Management (DPM) at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences was founded to bridge this chasm. First, students are trained in design as well as in product management and marketing. In addition to that, sustainability marketing is offered as an obligatory course at the advanced level. All DPM design projects and presentations can be divided into four parts:
(1) the customer solution (product, service or hybrid, USP, benefits etc.);
(2) the marketing plan (strategy, market research, targeting, segmenting, positioning, communication, customer cost, etc.)
(3) sustainability plan (materials, system architecture, technology, production, procurement, ecological issues, social issues, end-of-life treatment, convenience, total cost of ownership, communication etc.);
(4) financial plan (design, production, distribution and marketing costs etc.).
There are a number of DPM projects considerings social and environmental aspects:

Lebensdesign is a co-branding of Lebenshilfe, an organization of disabled people in Salzburg, and Porsche Design. The students, in cooperation with Porsche, design several objects, which can be produced in the Lebenshilfe studios and are labeled with “Lebensdesign”. The product architectures are mostly modular and apply biodegradable materials, such as wood or organic fabric, or reused materials. Moreover the students develop the co-branding system as well as the marketing plan to reach a high level of consistency in sustainable design and appearance.

In another project students reuse/upcycle materials to create products (e.g. a bag made out of used motorbike tires) and develop appropriate marketing plans for them. In his final project one student, a trained stonecutter, pointed out the design drawback of tombstones, nearly all of which sold in Germany and Austria originate from Brazil, Africa or China, and are treated in India (under un-controlled working conditions) before being shipped to Europe. After an intensive choice-based conjoint analysis involving over a hundred participants, he has now developed a modular tomb stone system made of local material. As part of a shoe venture start–up, students developed marketing and business plans for a sustainable modular shoe system and for biodegradable shoes made of bio-polymers.

Regularly the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Creation Center Salzburg (a business incubator) are invited to the final presentations. Last year two teams got funding which enable the students to establish their own companies (e.g. In Foro - Möbelmanufaktur). One idea was a technical chair system aiding older or disabled people when standing up and the other was a heatable outdoor lounge seat to replace the energy intensive outdoor umbrella style of heater (40 Watt vs. 2000 Watt).
The aim for the coming years is to intensify and extend the sustainable projects and lectures in sustainability marketing for the existing bachelor’s program and especially in the master’s program which has just started this semester.