Selling the sustainable lifestyle: how media can bring about consumer behaviour change

Opinion

There is an intention-action gap when it comes to sustainability, but what can media and brands do to make it easier for consumers to go green?

Sustainability is becoming more important to consumers. According to a 2021 report from Deloitte it remains a key consideration, with 32% of respondents highly engaged with adopting a more sustainable lifestyle.

Global research commissioned by WWF and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), highlights a 71% rise in the popularity of searches for sustainable goods over the past five years, with continuing growth during the pandemic.

And a study from Mastercard suggests that the pandemic has prompted consumers, across the globe, to consider more sustainable behaviours – three in five (58%) respondents stated that they have become more mindful of their impact on the environment since Covid-19.

However, the problem is that when it comes to sustainability, intent does not always mean action.

The fact is that consumers are not adopting sustainable behaviours for higher ticket items such as travel because the perceived barriers and inconveniences still loom too large.

The FMCG industry may be a little different, consumers are willing to make behaviour change as the cost is less inconvenient.

For example, swapping their use of dairy milk for oat milk, knowing it could take a while to get used to the taste and that there is an almost 40p per litre hit are seen as a minor inconvenience.

However, for these high-stake purchases such as cars or holidays, consumers are still unwilling, or less enthused, to make the sacrifice.

According to research from Mintel, 75% of people would like to do more to minimise the impact of travelling on the environment.

However, a Wavemaker commissioned study from YouGov revealed that a mere 9% of people choose to travel by train in order to be more sustainable.

Research from Deloitte also highlights that only 5% of participants reduced air travel and 16% opted for low carbon emission and/or shared modes of transport– citing it was too inconvenient.

This ‘intention-action’ gap makes the solution complex, especially as consumers believe that brands bear as much responsibility as governments for achieving sustainable travel.

However, in a world where we are now increasingly concerned about the climate crisis, there must be a better way to encourage us all to follow through on our greener, and more sustainable, travel choices?

There are examples of brands who specialise, or are adapting their offering, to make it easier or more convenient for consumers to bear responsibility for sustainable travel .

For instance, customers who buy a BMW Electric Vehicle (EV) will get two years of free 30-minute charging in the US.

Supporting the adoption of EVs will have a massive impact on our environment. Just one electric car on the road can save an average of 1.5 million grams of Co2, the equivalent of four return flights from London to Barcelona.

It’s also a vital aspect of the UK government’s aim to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050, with a target to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040.

B-Corp certified Sawday’s has recently introduced its Overtourism Policy. In response to a Think Tank report commissioned by the European Parliament in 2018, the forward-thinking holiday accommodation provider has capped the number of Sawday’s/Canopy & Stars properties it represents in locations where there’s an issue with overtourism and where second homes used as holiday lets are impacting local communities.

Then there’s the growth of sustainable travel companies such as Byway that specialises in bespoke flight-free holidays that use trains, boats and bikes as the method of transport.

It doesn’t end there. Beyond the travel industry itself, a number of companies are looking to reward consumers for more sustainable travel choices.

Several organisations have begun offering employee benefits for those who make the greener choice.

If time is a barrier to taking action on clean travel, initiatives like Climate Perks work with climate-conscious consumers to offer paid ‘journey days’ to staff who travel on holiday by train, coach or boat instead of flying, encouraging them to act on their values.

There could be vast benefits for travel brands, from the train operators themselves, to those online booking and travel agents, looking to follow suit.

For example, our YouGov research found that consumers who buy directly from rail providers do so to save time.

However, they also regularly mentioned the benefits, such as Avanti’s nectar points offering and LNER’s financial rewards and additional perks for account holders.

Reward mechanisms can highly influence consumer actions, yet most major loyalty programmes currently reward high-carbon travel. Think air miles or petrol stations, which reward customers with vouchers to buy more petrol and drive more miles.

But there are pitfalls in this area. Due to the increase in green-washing in recent years, consumers are increasingly tuned into organisations that make ‘performative statements’ or potentially don’t go as far as they should with sustainability.

They are more likely to distrust green ads and be sceptical of the eco claims made. With this in mind, InSites Consulting’s  Conscious Consumptions Study points out that brand trust and authenticity are vital in the sustainable era– only 41% of consumers trust brands that make sustainability claims, and seven out of 10 ask for more transparent and reliable information.

Perceived green-washing of any kind can create negative associations with a brand.

National Rail’s temporary ‘green’ logo refresh at the end of last year received huge backlash as an example of the “greenification” by brands desperately trying to come across as more sustainable. “People aren’t stupid, and they see through it.”

Consumers want to know that brands are genuinely committed to sustainability, not just ticking a box.

If you can get the balance right, this is where media and advertising can build a more positive image and bridge that intention-action gap by instigating consumer behaviour change.

Brands can get the best of both worlds by encouraging people to act on their intention to behave more sustainably by considering the following.

Brands must be transparent and authentic in sustainable storytelling

Ads need to move beyond talking about your brand’s sustainable actions.

Instead, it should demonstrate how your brand can help people change their behaviour and educate them in an accessible way.

For example, to return to BMW, its ‘Moving Minds’ campaign joined forces with creators such as Gemma Styles, Steve Aoki and Luka Sabbat to relay their individual perspectives of their EVs– the result being a more authentic way to learn about progress in sustainability.

The ad models positive behaviour, showing viewers how their actions can be meaningful and how the brand can help people act on their intentions to behave sustainably.

Consider your audience and what will resonate with them

People respond differently to sustainable messaging. Your choices will resonate differently with people with different attitudes, and it’s not always what you might assume either.

Our research found that older respondents were more likely to choose the train for environmental reasons than younger audiences.

This may seem surprising when you consider that stereotypically, it is millennials who increasingly want brands that embrace purpose and sustainability.

You must have robust data that gives a complete understanding of your audience, lest you risk alienating even sustainably active people with the wrong messaging.

Positively empower change with your message

Sustainability is a topic that elicits strong emotions, and marketing campaigns are no exception.

Ads with an uplifting tone will positively engage viewers and prevent them from feeling criticised or dismissing the message.

An example of this is sustainable train company Lumo’s ‘Flight Shame’ ad which poked fun at the guilt we feel for using unsustainable travel methods, but the dose of humour prevented it from being patronising.

Using media to connect consumers with a brand’s purpose, showing benefits over and above conventional options, and making sustainability irresistible are central challenges for businesses in the coming decades.

To get sustainability right in travel, be authentic to your brand.

Make sure you understand your audience and their levels of engagement.

Finally, be constructive to empower consumers to follow through on their intent to be green, and you’re well on your way to being there.

Andy Collins is strategy partner at Wavemaker UK.