Community Based Social Marketing
Mapping the way to behavioural change
Overview of Doug McKenzie-Mohr’s Approach
By Kelly Chapman, Alberta Environment, Red Deer November 3rd, 2005
Beyond Brochures…
Traditional education and awareness has focused on increasing knowledge in the hope that it will change behaviour.
However, knowledge alone is NOT enough to change behaviour.
Knowledge ≠ Behaviour
What We Know:
Styrofoam is bad for the environment because it does not dissolve. It may stay in the land fill for over 400 years. Styrofoam can kill fish and other animals since it breaks down into small pieces which the wind carries to animal habitat.
What We Do:
Americans toss out enough paper & plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. Proportionately, Canadian dinner trash would circle the world 30 times!
Knowledge ≠ Behaviour
What We Know What We Do
Light-duty vehicles account for 12 % of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. Improving fuel efficiency can play a key role in reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.
TORONTO, April 29 /CNW/ While record high oil and gasoline prices are dampening passenger vehicle purchases across North America - especially large gas-guzzling SUVs - sales of heavy-duty trucks continue to surge, according to the latest Canadian Auto Report.
Information-based Campaigns
During energy crisis in 1970’s, intensive workshops offered to reduce home energy use. Only difference between the participants and non-participants was in the installation of low-flow shower heads.
Information-based Campaigns
High school students who received a six-day workshop on environmental issues were found in a two-month follow-up to be no more likely to have engaged in pro-environmental actions.
Information-based Campaigns
Two large Swiss surveys found that environmental information, knowledge and awareness were poorly associated with environmental behaviour. In one study, individuals who hold attitudes that are strongly supportive of energy conservation were found to be no more likely to conserve energy.
Economic Self-interest Approach
Assumption: People will make changes based on economic self-interest. In California, utilities spend $200 million annually on media ads to encourage energy conservation These campaigns have had little effect.
An alternative approach…
So
what is the alternative???
CBSM
CBSM An alternative approach…
Attractive alternative to information intensive campaigns. Very effective at bringing about behavior change. Pragmatic approach involving:
CBSM An alternative approach
1.
2.
Identifying barriers to a sustainable
change tools Piloting the strategy with a small
behavior Designing a strategy that uses behavior
3.
segment of a community 4. Evaluating the impact of the program once it has been implemented across a community
Identifying Barriers
Identifying Barriers
Nature of Barriers to Sustainable Behaviour
knowledge about composting Barriers may be external, e.g. lack of recycling facilities
Barriers may be internal, e.g. lack of
Identifying Barriers
Community-based social marketers use social science to attempt to remove as many of these barriers as possible.
Identifying Barriers
Different constellation of barriers for different activities (e.g., recycling, composting, alternative transportation) Barriers vary between behaviours and individuals (e.g. recycling vs. adding insulation to an attic)
Identifying Barriers
Barriers are activity specific Begin to develop a strategy only after your discover the actual barriers that inhibit individuals from engaging in the activity you wish to promote.
Identifying Barriers
Three Steps to Uncovering Barriers
1. 2. 3.
Literature reviews Focus groups Survey research
Identifying Barriers
Don’t skip the Barrier Identification Stage
Time and staffing constraints, and costs often result in this first step being skipped. Failure to identify barriers and benefits will often result in a program that either has a diminished impact or no impact at all.
Behaviour Change Tools
Behaviour Change Tools
Social science identifies "tools" that are effective in changing behavior. Deal with internal barriers Most effective when used in combination with one another. Carried out at the community level and frequently involve direct personal contact. Personal contact is emphasized: we are most likely to change our behavior in response to direct appeals from others.
Behaviour Change Tools
These tools are:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Commitment Prompts Norms Communication Incentives
Behaviour Change Tools
1.
Commitment People who initially agree to a small request are more likely to agree to a larger request. When people go along with an initial request, it alters the way they perceive themselves We have a strong desire to be seen as consistent by others. Inconsistent people are often viewed negatively.
Behaviour Change Tools
E.g. Imagine being approached and asked to have a large, ugly, obtrusive billboard with the wording "DRIVE CAREFULLY" placed on your front lawn. Most residents declined, but 76% of another group of residents agreed to have the sign placed on their lawn. Why ?
Behaviour Change Tools
The residents who agreed were previously asked if they would display a small, 3 inch sign that said: "BE A SAFE DRIVER."
Virtually everyone agreed to this request. Agreeing to this trivial request greatly increased the likelihood that they would consent to having the billboard on their lawn.
Behaviour Change Tools
Examples of using Commitment to foster sustainable behavior
Ask households to sign a pledge form committing them to watering their lawn on odd or even days Ask homeowners to make a commitment to raise the height of their lawnmower Going door-to-door with water efficiency kits (faucet aerators, low-flow shower heads), ask homeowners to make a public commitment to install it (e.g., have their names advertised in the newspaper).
Behaviour Change Tools
2.
Prompts
Visual or auditory aids which remind us to carry out an activity we might otherwise forget. When targeted to specific behaviors can have a substantial impact. Numerous sustainable behaviors are susceptible to forgetting. Very effective in reminding us to perform these activities.
Behaviour Change Tools
E.g. 79% of pedestrians were found to cut across a lawn rather than taking a slightly longer pathway. When a sign with "Do not cut across the grass," was placed at these four sites, lawn-walking decreased by 46%.
Lawn-walking was reduced further when a second sign was added that said "Cutting across the grass will save 10 seconds." When these two signs were present, lawnwalking was reduced to only 8%.
Behaviour Change Tools
E.g. Compared to baseline, the introduction of more conveniently located recycling containers and tuse of prompts increased the amount of newspaper recycled in three apartment complexes from 50 to 100%.
E.g. Following the introduction of verbal and visual prompts in a high school cafeteria, littering was reduced by over 350%.
Behaviour Change Tools
Examples of using Prompts to foster sustainable behavior
Encourage lawn watering on odd or even days by placing a tag on hose pipe. Arrange with local retailers to attach decals to lawnmowers that encourage householders to raise the level of the lawnmower. Have homeowners place an empty tuna can in the garden (to measure adequate watering). Attach decals to dishwashers and washing machines in retail stores encouraging full loads.
Behaviour Change Tools
3.
Norms
Norm: expectation of how a person will behave based on established protocols, rules of conduct or accepted social practices. If we observe others acting unsustainably we are more likely to act similarly. If we observe members of our community acting sustainably we are more likely to do the same.
Behaviour Change Tools
E.g. A shower room had a sign encouraging users to turn off showers while soaping up. Only 6% of users were found to comply.
When an accomplice was seen turning off the shower to soap up, the percentage of students who turned off the shower to soap up shot up to 49%.
When two accomplices modeled water conservation, this rose 67%.
Behaviour Change Tools
Examples of using Norms to foster sustainable behaviour
Affix a decal to the recycling container indicating that "We Compost." Using community block leaders to rally residents to set community recycling targets Ask supermarket shoppers to wear button or sticker which shows their support for buying products that are recyclable or recycled. Communicate the percentage of people who comply with municipal requests to restrict summer water use.
Behaviour Change Tools
4.
Vivid Communication
All programs to foster sustainable behavior
include a communication component. Impact of communications upon behavior varies dramatically based on how the communication is developed. Much of human communication involves persuasion. All persuasion begins with capturing attention. Without attention, persuasion is impossible.
Behaviour Change Tools
E.g. Gas and Electric home assessors trained to present psychologically compelling info used the following script:
“If you were to add up all the cracks around and under these doors here, you'd have the a hole the size of a football in your living room wall. That's why I recommend you install weatherstripping...And your attic totally lacks insulation. We professionals call that a naked attic. It's as if your home is facing winter not just without an overcoat, but without any clothing at all.”
Behaviour Change Tools
Examples of using Vivid Communication to foster sustainable behaviour
Portray amount of waste generated by a community using a well-known local landmark (eg. relative to Calgary Tower). Use brightly colored door-hangers rather than flyers or bill inserts. Bring attention to the amount of water used for lawn watering, with a chart comparing water consumed for lawn watering, showering, cooking, etc. Lawn watering will dwarf the other items.
Behaviour Change Tools
5.
Incentives
Shown to have a substantial impact on a variety of sustainable activities including waste reduction, energy efficiency and transportation. Particularly useful when motivation to engage in action is low or people are not doing the activity as effectively as they could.
Behaviour Change Tools
E.g. When Seattle, Washington began to charge residents for waste disposal based upon the number of cans of garbage they put at the curbside, the impact was remarkable. Prior to the introduction of user fees in the early 1980's, Seattle residents averaged 3.5 cans of garbage per household each week. By 1992, however, the average number of cans each household put out per week had been reduced to only one.
Behaviour Change Tools
Examples of using Incentives to foster sustainable behaviour:
Charge for the use of items such as plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam cups. Use user fees to increase motivation to recycle, compost and source reduce. With new meters that can record time of use, charge variable rates based on time of use. Provide loans, grants, or rebates to foster the installation of low-flow toilets.
Removing External Barriers
Behavior change strategies can have a significant influence upon the adoption and maintenance of behavior. But: will be ineffectual if significant external barriers exist to the behavior you wish to promote. It is important to identify these barriers and plan for how you will overcome them.
Removing External Barriers
Removing External Barriers
If the behavior is inconvenient, unpleasant, costly or time-consuming, no matter how well you address internal barriers your CBSM will be unsuccessful Study other communities to see how they have overcome similar obstacles. Assess whether you have resources to overcome external barriers. If not, carefully consider whether you wish to implement a program.
Removing External Barriers
E.g. 30% of homeowners in the Province of Ontario participate in composting, compared with over 80% participating in curbside recycling. It is likely that the inconvenience of obtaining a composter, and the perceived inconvenience of composting, are significant barriers. Communities that provide curbside organic collection eliminate several external barriers to backyard composting.
Removing External Barriers
Examples of external barriers to sustainable behaviour:
Difficult to identify products that are recyclable. Solution: Provide prompts to make ID easier. Inconvenient to take household hazardous waste to a depot. Solution: Provide hazardous waste home pick-up dates. Inconvenient to install toilet dams, low-flow shower heads. Solution: Have home auditors install these devices during home visits. Too expensive to install a low-flow toilet. Solution: Allow cost to be paid from water bill savings.
Linking Barriers & Tools
Linking Barriers & Tools
BARRIER
Lack motivation
TOOL
Commitment, Norms, Incentives Prompts Norms
Forget
Not the ‘right’ thing to do Lack knowledge Inconvenient
Communication
Structural Change
Piloting
Piloting
campaign in a small portion of a community. Allows a program to be refined until it is effective High cost of implementation –essential to know that a strategy will work before it is implemented on a large scale.
Before implementation, pilot your CBSM
Evaluation
Evaluation
The final step: ongoing evaluation of a program once implemented Emphasize direct measurement of behavior change over self reports or increases in awareness. Use evaluation to refine the marketing strategy and get support for further funding
CBSM
CBSM in Action!
Sustainable Okotoks
Limiting growth Water conservation Waste Reduction (recycling, reusing)
Awards
Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Communities Award (2000) Alberta Emerald Award Winners - Government Institutions (1999) and (2002) and Finalists (2004) Top 100 Best Practices - International Dubai Awards (2000) Finalist International Local Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (2000)
www.town.okotoks.ab.ca/sustainable_okotoks.html
Learn More
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