the method way

Here's a wonderful article by Erin White, over at Individual.com

"The concept of an Earth-friendly shower gel doesn't have the sexy punch of a gourmet meal prepared from freshly picked local ingredients, but the environmentally conscious consumer has found more to like about lotions and cleansers.

Helping lead that charge is Method, a non-toxic line of attractive, affordable cleansers and personal body products. Launched in San Francisco in 2000, Method has since been propelled by the ever-growing green movement and consumer access thanks to its availability at mass-market retailers such as Target and Costco.

Method also built buzz thanks to the clean, artistic packaging created by designer Karim Rashid (interiors, art, fashion).

Method was founded by Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, who were Michigan high school classmates and re-met on a flight from San Francisco back to their hometown.

The couple rekindled their friendship and lived as roommates after college. Eventually, they combined experience _ Lowry's in chemical engineering and Ryan's in advertising _ to create the line's unique blend of what it likes to call "style and substance." And found success in the union.

"Style serves a purpose beyond aesthetics," says public relations expert Anthony Citrano. "It draws people in to learn about the substance. With Method, the substance is a philosophy that appeals more broadly each day: an environmentally conscious approach at a reasonable price."

It also sets the line apart.

"The world is full of really ugly products," Citrano says.

Because the products look so appealing, closer cousins to high-end lotions than cans of Comet, Method snags customers who couldn't care less about the environment but go wild for the shapely containers and beautiful colors. Unlike other name-brand companies, Method has created not only a name, but a personality.

The company launched its first major advertising campaign last year with the slogan "people against dirty" and a series of saucy ads. A prominent one has the tagline "make floor love, not floor war" positioned next to a photo of naked, entangled legs.

That irreverent attitude _ part of the genius behind Method's madness _ took clean from boring old next-to-godliness to cool. And it has also helped Method become a choice for both hippies and hipsters and generate a kind of adulation generally reserved for rock stars, chefs and fashion designers.

Supporters of the stuff aren't just buyers; They're believers. And believers tell their friends and that builds brands, says George T. Haley, director of the Center for International Industry Competitiveness at the University of New Haven.

"They don't have enough money for advertising," Haley says. "They built their market person by person."

Customers, or "advocates" in Methodspeak, get a free T-shirt for shooting an e-mail singing the praises of a favorite solution, and thousands have created online profiles extolling the virtues of Method. These people are really, really against dirty.

Christine from Plano, Texas, says that the pink grapefruit all-purpose cleaner "rocks my world." (In line with the cheeky attitude of the company, she also shares that "Dancing Queen" by Abba is the music that gets her pumped to annihilate dirt.) Marc in Fort Worth, Texas, says cleaning is now "pure bliss." Comments like this point to a key factor that has helped Method grow: It works, Haley says.

"If the performance of the products wasn't equal or superior, there won't be repeat sales," he says. "People aren't going to go to their friends and say, `This is expensive. Go get it. But it doesn't work.' It has to work."

While product design has contributed heavily to Method's success, part of the reason it has done _ and continues to do _ so well is that it hit the right spot at the right time.

Steve Ashkin is an expert on the green cleaning movement and a former product development expert for Seventh Generation, a Vermont-based company that has been in the green-cleaning business for more than 18 years. Ashkin believes the market for such products has reached something akin to critical mass.

BuzzBack Market Research, a private Internet consumer research firm based in New York, surveyed nearly 1,200 people about their desire to go green, and 53 percent of them said they wanted to use fewer household chemicals.

Ashkin points out that heavy hitter Clorox, which dominates sales in comparison to a small brand like Method, introduced green lines at Wal-Mart.

"Consumers have realized it's pretty easy to make a difference and that it doesn't cost them a lot more," Ashkin says.

The company has won even more love by freely acknowledging the paradox of its success _ more consumption means more pollution _ by encouraging consumers to recycle, use renewable energy sources and plant trees to offset carbon emissions. Method's emphasis on environmental friendliness, Haley says, builds customer loyalty.

"They figure it's more than just cleaning. It's cleaning the environment," he says."