[The Vector] Clean Energy News: New Approaches Needed to Mainstream Sustainable Living — Continued

… Continued from earlier post …

The authors reviewed the various barriers and issues, not all addressed here, but went further. They proposed 12 ideas to start closing the barrier gap on renewable choices for the masses today:

1) Make it normal

Make people feel that everybody is doing it or everybody is using the product. Use psychology and don’t make it elitist or seemingly for hippies. Use the example, says the report, of Montana when they wanted to bring down drunk driving. When they used the ad “Most of us don’t drink and drive,” drunk driving dropped 14%. Not driving drunk was perceived as normal. An example from China was that the government gave away a free solar water heater to anyone in Yunnan province that installed a proper toilet. Rooftop heaters became normal and even a status symbol, while sanitation improved and greener energy was implemented. Using solar became “normal”.

2) Make it personal

Messages cannot be abstract and remote; they have to be directly personal and relevant. Companies that link their products to personal benefits can succeed. The study says that organic food started changing its message and grew 8% in 2010 while the rest of the food industry only grew 1%. Consumers understand putting something better in their bodies gives them a direct personal benefit.

3)    Create better defaults

Making green choices can be hard when green is abnormal, and it can be exhausting. Companies should help create defaults. An example is retailer IKEA which started charging for plastic bags in 2006, banned them by 2008 at the same time China did the same. It became “normal” at IKEA and in China to bring your own reusable bags when shopping. When I lived in Paris between 1980 and 1996, those practices were already in place, too. Most people had carts on wheels or reusable cloth bags for groceries that they brought with them. Many stores didn’t even have plastic bags.

4)    Eliminate the sustainability tax

Governments use taxes to change behavior, says the report. They wanted fewer to smoke so put hefty taxes on cigarettes, for example. Own your own home, get a tax break on the mortgage interest. It is the exact opposite in the green world. Here, people are being taxed for virtuous behavior. Since money is the number one barrier revealed in the survey, wouldn’t it stand to reason that if prices shrank, the gap would shrink too? Eliminating the price barrier also eliminates the notion in #1, that the product is normal and for all, not just for elitists.

5)    Bribe shamelessly!

Give rewards for recycling, give bonuses for saving energy, give financing and credits. Remember S&H Green Stamps back in the Depression? says the report; they kept customers loyal and rewarded them. The report says maybe it is time for new Green Stamps programs to reward customers.

6)    Punish wisely

Shame people who practice bad behaviors. Guilt them out.

7)    Don’t stop innovating and make stuff better

Consumers won’t sacrifice price nor performance for green. Companies must overcome performance levels, real or perceived. An example is Unilever’s Persil Small & Mighty concentrated laundry detergent, which saves 35 million liters of water per year in Europe.  Keep improving and be creative. Let it be known and advertise it for one and all as a “normal” product.

8)    Lose the granola crunch imageDitch the hippy image and make it modern and normal. Think of the Chevy Volt campaign which positions the car as high performing and functioning which also happens to be green. The tagline is “It’s more car than electric.”

9)    Turn eco-friendly to male ego-friendly

Marlboro did it when it moved from the “Mild May” to the Marlboro Man. Sustainability needs a Marlboro Man moment, says the report.  Appeal to the male, target testosterone. It can be done – companies need to be aware.

10)  Make it tangible

If the carbon footprint is hard to calculate even for scientists, what do you expect from the masses? Make the issues tangible and personal.  The Prius did it when they gave drivers real-time dashboard visibility of their savings with bar charts and tangible data on savings, as an example.  The Brookings Institute says that if car insurance were tied to how much you drive a gas-guzzler that generates carbon, national driving would likely decrease by 8%. One insurance company in NY is already experimenting with this.

11) Make it easy

Avoid eco-suspicion and confusion, promote in a transparent simple way. Educate but don’t preach. Labels on many green products are just confusing. Some products are unclear as to the benefits.

12)  Tap into hedonism over altruism

Finally, changing behavior doesn’t have to be so complicated. People respond to basic motivators including pleasure and fun. Competition and entertainment are part of this. Companies should harness this spirit.

Here’s the report: OgilvyEarth Report on Mainstreaming Green