By: Jon Evans, Chief Customer Officer, System1
Despite the escalating environmental crisis, many brands have remained silent or superficial in their response. Less than three percent of ads contain environmental-led messaging while nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that corporations have a duty to tackle climate change. It’s clear that environmental concerns are at the forefront of public consciousness and this presents a glaring opportunity for advertisers to leverage their platforms not only to raise awareness but also to inspire meaningful action.
Using insights from behavioral science and creative effectiveness, marketers and advertisers can create engaging and impactful environment-led advertising that resonates with consumers on a deeper level while also supporting commercial goals.
Here are six best practice themes to guide advertisers in crafting more effective sustainable campaigns:
- Hope Over Fear: Hope and surprise are the most effective emotions for building brands and driving change. Leveraging fear and anger in communications can lead to what behavioral science calls the ostrich effect: if you make people feel guilty, they put their heads in the sand.
- Stories Over Stats: Individual stories are much more powerful and memorable than abstract or statistical information. One useful tactic is to employ Fluent Devices in narratives – brand characters which recur across ads and build familiarity and positive emotion.
- Be Action-Oriented: Encouraging behavior changes among consumers starts by demonstrating the desired behaviors in advertising. Focusing on real people and real results achieved through action is inspiring and adds another level of authenticity to ads promoting sustainability.
- Meet Them 90% of the Way: Providing consumers with alternative solutions that are convenient, cost-effective, and still better for the environment lets sustainability feel more accessible. It taps into one of the most important and effective tenets of behavior change: make the change as easy as possible.
- Use the Right Messenger: Messages land more effectively depending on who they come from, and different kinds of messengers will have different impacts. It’s especially important that messengers of sustainability information come across as authentic and relevant.
- Entertain, Entertain, Entertain: Entertainment can help inspire change by making brands’ messages easier to recall. Right-brained features like characters with agency, cultural references, narratives with clear storylines and melodic music are useful for entertaining and educating.
While the above certainly speaks to strategies for inspiring positive change, behavioral science consultant Richard Shotton recommends the EAST Framework created by the Behavioural Insights Team, when attempting to apply behavioral science to sustainability messaging. There are four key principles:
- Easy: People repeatedly underestimate the importance of friction. To achieve positive change, start by identifying and removing barriers to sustainability.
- Attractive: Instead of focusing on the ethics of sustainability, turn to making sustainable options more appealing. A vegan dish may be better for the environment but should be marketed as tasty or better for one’s health.
- Social: The long-standing idea of social proof suggests that people are deeply influenced by what they think others are doing. If you make people believe many others are doing something sustainably, it’s much more likely that others will join in.
- Timely: The likelihood of individuals adopting new behaviors is higher at fresh-start moments such as a new year, a birthday or a major life event. Communicating during these times is key.
The following are excellent examples of right-brained advertising that elicits a positive emotional response and therefore more likely to encourage sustainable behaviors:
- LG’s “Better Choices Make a Better World”: The series features three characters, each embodying sustainability in their unique way. The ad emphasizes action-oriented and hopeful storytelling, with a catchy soundtrack enhancing its appeal.
- Hellmann’s “Mayo Cat”: A humorous approach is taken in this Super Bowl ad, featuring familiar celebrity faces delivering a message about reducing food waste with Hellmann’s mayo. It effectively meets viewers halfway by showing simple solutions to a common problem and is one of only a few ads that leverages the big game’s stage to talk about sustainability.
- Levi’s “Buy Better, Wear Longer”: This ad stands out by acknowledging overconsumption in the clothing industry and promoting smart purchasing decisions. Its storytelling and focus on durability make it both entertaining and aligned with Levi’s brand.
- Kia’s “Robo Dog”: This Super Bowl ad tugs on the heartstrings by highlighting the connection between a man and dog. But in this scenario, the dog is a robot in an electronics store window who has his heart set on being adopted by the man outside charging his Kia EV.
As expectations for corporate responsibility continue to rise, brands have a unique opportunity to lead the charge in addressing environmental issues. By embracing both creative effectiveness and behavioral science best practices, brands can enhance their reputation to drive profits and market share growth while also driving meaningful societal change.
