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Sustainable Decisions = Culture + Lifestyle

If you examine the vast amount of research on sustainability and the environment, you may see the same five conclusions we have:

1. between 80 and 90% of consumers say they care about the environment, with 50%+ expressing they are seriously concerned

2. consumers will not spend extra money for green products

3. they need positive reinforcement through messaging to purchase these products

4. consumers require personal psychological benefits to act, not just environmental benefits

5. they demand transparency and accountability for green products and messages

These conclusions provide general rules of thumb that most companies know by now. However, this work was completed with the assumption that understanding benefits will drive consumer action. Well, it hasn't. After 20+ years of research in the benefit area, we need to take a step back and change our perspective. The problem is not about individual products. . . the problem is immersed in our culture, one that has been defined by our individual behaviors and desires for "stuff," items that have become cultural symbols we use to define how we want others to perceive us.

Until we change the way we try to understand sustainable decisions, and how to turn consumer attitudes into action, we will never make the positive impact we all hope to have on our planet.

Eco-innovation: Innovation for society.

Making a positive impact on the environment is one of the most important movements of our generation. There is no doubt that significant changes need to happen to the behaviors of manufacturers and of consumers. The continuous corporate announcements demonstrate that manufacturers are starting to evolve their practices, but consumers have been slow or reluctant to alter their everyday routines.

We need to bridge the gap between culture and behavior with positive reinforcement to see consumers make a major environmental impact. Fundamentally, behavior cannot change with a deep understanding of culture; and culture will not change without a deep understand of motivations. Meaningful connections between culture and behavior need to be developed in order to evolve behavior in a way that helps the wellness of our lives and our planet.

Realsight is committed to help marketers understand the real motivations and ways to drive positioning, package and product eco-innovations that can help evolve behavior; from immediate small steps to a roadmap that will lead to even greater changes. These eco-innovations will vary greatly by industry, category and brand, but we all need to start with the 40,000 foot view as behavior does not take place in a vacuum.

Instead of using familiar survey and ethnography methods, Realsight will soon be piloting work using our patent-pending approach, quantitative anthropology. Our goal is to help business and people through a more complete consumer view of decisions and a deeper understanding of motivations. We hope to shrink the seemingly large gap between business and people as we all work toward one common goal: creating a positive impact on society.

When it comes to the environment, it's what people do that matters.

Going Green: It's what people do that matters.

An article appeared in the latest Brandweek concluding consumers are confused about what "green" means based on a national survey conducted by an advertising agency.

According to the article, the green market is not mature, despite the significant spending by companies to meet demand. Heavy investments are being made in assets, products, and messages but this spending seems inefficient given the low conversion to green products by consumers.

How do corporations make their dollars work harder? Understand the real consumer demand for green products by examining everyday routines and true motivations behind "going green."

Demand calculations today rely on what consumers think they would do, not what they actually do. Since most behavior is either not recognized, misinterpreted, or just forgotten, people have a hard time visualizing how new products would fit into their everyday lives. This is especially true for any product that requires behavior modification, a topic covered in a previous blog entry (Show vs. Tell).

Since most green products and messages focus on behavior modification, companies need to think twice about using self-reported data to predict sales. Given the number of green products entering the marketplace, the impact of an inaccurate demand estimate will be quite substantial and likely to result in common corporate behavior: the practice of doing anything to fill the gap during Q3 and Q4 of each fiscal year, including budget cuts, relying on "me-too" line extensions, and in the extreme case... layoffs.

Now is the time to understand the true demand for green products and the trade-offs that people are really willing to make by studying their everyday behavior. This will lead to better investment decisions and ultimately more revenue in the long-run.

Remember: talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words.

Good or Bad 2: Does it matter?

As a follow-up to an earlier post:

Remember the carb vs. fat debate? I lived it while working at Kraft.

Here's the latest study from Harvard:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1822118,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-full-healthsci

The punch line: what matters is the quality of the overall diet.

Surprised? We're not.

Good or Bad: Does it matter?

So many studies, so much confusion.

For years the food and beverage industry has been under scrutiny for various ingredients in products. There isn't a week that goes by when we don't see another research study with another finding that seems to contradict the last study.

The latest research study posted in the GMA Smartbrief concludes that sugar can help children stay focused. This comes at a time when food and beverage companies are actively reducing sugar levels or developing new products with low calorie sweeteners. If you walk down the juice aisle in your local grocery store you'll notice almost every brand has a reduced sugar version of the original products.

Consumers now have a variety of healthy options across many categories, but are these choices really changing behavior? They may be consuming "better for you" products; however, their overall health and wellness routines are likely not changing much. For example, Diet Coke, salad, and water are healthier than the alternatives...

"Woke up at 8, started laundry. The little boy I babysit brought donuts. So oops there goes my diet. I had 2 glazed. Ate them while watching tv with the kids. Than had to rush to get ready for church. After church I had a diet coke on our way to register my son for the ice hockey team he made. Than we rushed to meet some friends at my sons roller hockey. After roller we went with some friends to Sizzler. It was a late lunch. About 3. I had a salad bar. Which means to much food. I had a really good salad, lettuce, red onions, kidney beans, garbonzo beans, hard boil eggs, diced ham, cheese, and to much blue cheese dressing. And thennnnnnnnnnnnnn I had 2 pcs of chicken wings, little corn nuggets, and a taco. YIKES Im still full and its 11 at night. I drank water. And I had a small ice cream cone on the way out."

The little changes people make to be healthy do add up; however, a clearer understanding of everyday routines will allow companies to see the trade-offs people make as they manage their daily lives. This will allow organizations to allocate internal resources to health and wellness efforts in situations that make a real difference.

Cocatalyst has realsight

It's an honor to have been profiled in Cocatalyst's blog:

http://www.cocatalyst.com/blog/index.php/2008/07/13/realsight-quantitative-anthropology-provides-a-new-way-to-get-inside-your-consumers-behaviour/

John Cooke is a technology innovation expert. We appreciate and support all the work he does to help companies innovate through technology.

Enjoy!

Companies should be life coaches

Life coaches help people better manage their lives to achieve personal and professional goals. The demand for coaches continues to rise as our lives become more hectic with every major decision we make, whether moving to a new job, starting a family or retiring.

Unfortunately, most companies don't think of themselves as life coaches. They treat their services and features as expenses, ultimately having a negative impact on brand loyalty with customers. Below are two examples from my life, each experience has driven me to find alternative solutions.

Healthcare: I have a wonderful allergy doctor that has treated me for the last 6 years with positive results. Just when I have finally made it through my first spring season without a sinus infection my insurance cuts the coverage a medication I need to maintain good health. It took me years develop an efficient maintenance routine and now my insurance wants to disrupt this routine and force me to find a new option. This will increase medical costs for both my insurance company and myself.

Financial Management: I do not keep receipts, rarely have cash, and rely on memory and my bank to keep records. It’s a routine to managing finances that is error prone with significant financial risk to me and my bank. To help alleviate this risk, I decided to sign up for automatic statement downloads into my financial software and have the program automatically categorize the transactions. This was going to help me save time, get on top of bills, and help the bank in the long run. The plan was crushed when I found out my bank wanted to charge me $10/month for this service. If the bank just gave me that service for free, it would be a tremendous help to me and reduce risk for the bank.

If companies thought of themselves as life coaches, the tangible benefits and deep emotional connections with new and existing customers would far outweigh the small gains from treating services and features as expenses. By delivering services and features that meet the needs of the routines we all use to manage our lives, companies will increase switching costs and strengthen brand loyalty.

Show vs. Tell: Know the real potential of an idea

The Challenge: Discussing ideas with consumers may yield the wrong path.

Traditional methods of concept validation, a written positioning and picture of the product, requires consumers to be aware of the unmet needs products are trying to solve. If another product has already educated consumers about the need, or the idea is a line extension of an existing product, the traditional concept board is acceptable. The challenge arises when companies are solving for an unarticulated need or a new to the world product.

Consumers will never believe they need a new product if they do not recognize the need. Since most of everyday behavior is not recognized, misinterpreted, or just forgotten, the best way to test new ideas is through visualization of unknown behavioral patterns that represent the needs the new product is solving. By showing consumers a video reel of behavioral patterns as stimuli for the problem, they have a framework to think about patterns of their own behavior and can better judge whether they would adopt the product into their everyday routines.

By using video based concepts demonstrating unmet needs, companies will have a better understanding of the real potential of new ideas.

The Golden Rule of Behavior Modification

It's difficult to change behavior. We all are comfortable with our daily routines and the way we live our lives. Our behavior becomes so efficient that we're hesitant to change any part of it in fear of disrupting what we perceive as perfect. To get us to change our habits, we need to be reassured it will help us in a positive way.

If you want to alter behavior and strengthen the connection with your brands, show people the positive rewards that will come from a change. These rewards can be personal, social or environmental. Sadly, not all companies provide positive rewards. There are many that think they are helping, but in fact are punishing people for behavior that may not be all that "€œbad."€

Here are two recent examples:

1. Airline fees: With the higher fuel prices airlines are looking to make up costs by charging for everything that was included in the price of a ticket. Case in point, the luggage charge that has not changed passenger behavior the way it was intended. Instead of charging people for bringing extra "€œstuff"€ when they travel, why not reward people for not bringing unnecessary items. Whether coupons for free drinks or food, movies, personal DVD players not being used, or a free shuttle to your car in long term parking, there are many ways to reward people for bringing fewer items that will help corporate economics as well as weary travelers.

2. Adopting a green lifestyle: The goal of the TV show Wa$ted is to help people help the environment. As described online: "This eye-opening half-hour reality series makes shrinking your ecological footprint appealing and virtually effortless. What's an ecological footprint? It's a way of describing the scope of the damage that each household does to the planet.€" Great idea, but executed with negative reinforcement, not positive reinforcement. The last sentence in the description tells it all. Not only do they point out all the "damage" people are making, they try to force people to live a truly "green lifestyle"€ which disrupts their routines. If people choose not to make a change (such as the girls not wanting to change their make-up in an episode I viewed) the show still compares what their carbon footprint could be vs. what they chose it to be. Shouldn't the producers be happy they made any change at all?

A professor of mine at Stern gave us a simple rule to live by: If you may end up with negative publicity on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, don't do it. Similarly for marketers: Test your communications and programs with your loved ones in mind. If you'€™d never want them to be treated that way, don't do it.

Say vs. Do: What marketers are really missing.

All consumer knowledge is based on interviews. Whether you talk to people through ethnography or a survey, marketers still ask questions and consumers answer with what they know. But these tools do not paint a complete picture since we can only recall a fraction of what we do on a daily basis.

This video is one of many we’ll be sharing to help marketers see what they are missing: forgotten items, consumer category definitions and usage based on everyday behavior. By adapting to the consumer view, marketers will strengthen their brand relevance.

http://realsight.net/makeup_movie.mp4

OR

http://www.realsight.net/makeup_movie.mov
(please turn your sound on and be patient while it loads!)

Enjoy!