Relationship marketing is the most commonly used marketing practice in American advertising. This concept of relationship marketing was developed for the changes being implemented in American consumer spending. This concept was not so much derived in some late night meeting, as the consumer population demanded it. With diversity and choice in the marketplace, American consumers have the ability to reach for many brands of similar product value. The brands that had always had that "top of mind awareness," were not always the products being reached for on the shelves of stores everywhere. The decline in this consumption was due to those ideological changes in the mind of the consumer. The consumer wanted changes in the environment and personal convenience, built by personal relationships. These changes were fueled by the consumer, and spread by technology.
The environment has been a pressing issue in the late twentieth century. People have become more concerned with the depletion of natural resources, recycling, and with creating more environmentally sound products. Overall people have taken up a general concern with our planet's well being, as evidenced by the enactment of our country's new environmental laws. With these environmental issues at the forefront, marketers had to develop new products for environmentally conscious people. One of the innovators of environmentally safe products was Tom's of Maine. They specialize in natural products for home consumption. They have developed all-natural toothpaste, an environmentally safe line of soap products, as well as many other useful all natural products. Their product innovation helped them become formidable competitors with the larger companies. With this new market share taking place, marketers for larger companies had to find ways to market a similar product, for direct competition with Tom's. This led to the development of more natural products by the larger corporations, to quench the needs of our population.
