More and more companies are investing in ecologically sustainable products, services, and innovations.
Many of them do not sell. Not because consumers fundamentally reject sustainability, but because sustainable offerings often lose out to stronger forces: price, habits, convenience, social norms, or simply the stress of everyday life.
Companies develop sustainable solutions with great effort, but fail to truly integrate them into the everyday lives of the broad majority.
This is exactly where the 60% Club comes in.
The Club emerged from the 60% Symposium at the University of St. Gallen and is based on the central idea of the book «The 60% Potential: Inspiring Green Consumption Through Marketing» by Prof. Dr. Johanna Gollnhofer and Jan Pechmann, which builds on Johanna’s many years of research on sustainability. For example, she has examined why people collect and consume food from the trash as part of dumpster diving (Dumpster Diving Article), or how consumers live minimalism and carry out their decluttering projects (Decluttering Article).
The central idea of the «60% Potential»
The future of sustainable consumption will not be decided by the perfect 10 percent. Rather, it will be decided by the 60 percent of people who would, in principle, be open to more sustainable decisions if these were easier, more attractive, and more suitable for everyday life.
This means: Sustainable consumption does not scale through morality or sacrifice alone, but by designing sustainable decisions in such a way that they fit into real everyday lives.
What the 60% Club is about
The 60% Club is not a classic conference series and not a loose network. It is a curated circle of practitioners who openly exchange ideas about the challenges of sustainable brand management, make green marketing effective, and want to sell more ecologically sustainable products.
At the center are questions such as:
- How do we make sustainable decisions easier and more attractive?
- How do we communicate sustainability without losing consumers?
- How do brands create behavioral change in everyday life?
- What role do price, routines, and convenience play?
- How do we avoid greenwashing without falling into communication standstill?
- How do we bring marketing, sustainability, and business goals together?
The focus is always on concrete cases, honest exchange, and collaborative learning.
The format
The 60% Club meets twice a year in exclusive live formats:
- a Spring Circle in southern Germany
- an Autumn Circle as part of the BAM! Bock auf Morgen Festival in Berlin
We deliberately believe in personal encounters rather than arbitrary online formats. The experience from the first symposium showed that the most exciting conversations happen where people can speak openly about real challenges.
Membership is free of charge, but curated. What matters is not reach or title, but the willingness to actively think along and share experiences.
Initiated by
The 60% Club is jointly initiated and curated by Prof. Dr. Johanna Gollnhofer from the Institute for Marketing and Customer Insight at the University of St. Gallen, and Jan Pechmann from BAM! Bock auf Morgen.
Interested in the 60% Club?
The Club is growing deliberately slowly and in a curated way. If you believe that your perspective could enrich the discussion, we would be happy to exchange ideas.
Interested in the book?
«The 60% Potential» is available in German (Das 60%-Potenzial) and English (The 60% Potential). The German edition was nominated for the GetAbstract International Book Award 2025.