Disrupt your Consumers, not your Innovation How behaviour change can accelerate non-innovation led growth BROUGHT TO YOU BY MASH
In today’s world of changing political landscapes, emergent technology, accelerated competition and seismic cultural shifts, growth has never been harder to come by. Deploying behaviour change strategies remains a key tool for global brands to unlock growth without the scale of investment and risks inherent in innovation.
For a decade now theories of behavioural economics have seemed to promise so much to brands that want to discover new routes to growth. Why take on the inherent costs and risks of innovation if a change in consumer behaviour can encourage more people to buy our existing products or services, buy them more frequently and / or spend more on them? Because of the increased profile of behaviour change many of us are now familiar with terms such as choice architecture, nudges, framing and heuristics. But how well have these theoretical principles been translated into tangible opportunities for brand growth? Has the potential for behaviour change to drive been fully realised? We would suggest that the answer is no. Not because the academic principles are wrong, but because they haven’t been translated into a simple yet actionable model for generating ideas that will drive changes in consumer behaviour.
#1
Our behaviour change model STREAM was born out of this frustration. STREAM starts with the simple question “‘What do I actually need to do to change behaviour?”. It’s based on extensive and rigorous research; a combination of academic behavioural economics theory and the great behaviour change case studies from Thaler and Sunstein, Kahneman and Ariely. But most importantly STREAM is a simple and practical tool that can be applied to a range of challenges where a change in behaviour can unlock immediate growth. It focuses on the 5 macro behaviour change drivers. Each of these macro themes has micro drivers that help provide greater granularity into activation with academic and real world case studies to bring each example to life.
SOCIAL
TEMPORAL
REWARD
Spanning micro triggers such as building status (like drinking Botanist Gin with your friends); group approval such as the social contagion associated with obesity, and the herd behaviour behind eating
As broad as the time invested in playing with a Tamagotchi; piggybacking another occasion (such as Febreze and cleaning); or the popularity of the flash sale
Including the prestige of rising through the tiers of a frequent flyer programme; the sensorial feedback of the quality of your ice cream driven by the texture of the packaging; or the disgustavoidance of choosing the right food using the traffic lights system
PEOPLE’S DESIRE TO FIT IN WITH THOSE AROUND THEM
CONNECTING WITH TIME, BE IT TIME INVESTMENT, SHORTNESS OF TIME OR TIME SAVED
GIVING CONSUMERS POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT THAT THEY ARE MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE – MAKING THEM FAR MORE LIKELY TO REPEAT AND EMBED THE BEHAVIOUR
ECONOMIC
AMPLIFICATION
MOTIVATION
From loss aversion – such as charging 5p for a plastic bag; through to scarcity such as paying over £200 on eBay for a £14 Christmas pudding by Heston Blumenthal; through to the decoy effect used by Apple and the Economist of ‘overcharging’ for the more basic package to make consumers up trade to the more expensive product
Spanning setting expectations such as M&S’s food porn advertising or Virgin’s Rock Star service, through to campaigns to bring back childhood brands such as Wispa
This is the strategy you deploy to change behaviour, based on our model
FOCUSED AROUND HOW PEOPLE JUDGE VALUE AND WHAT THEY’RE PREPARED TO PAY
HEIGHTENING THE CONNECTION, USUALLY THROUGH EMOTIONAL CONSTRUCTS
THE ACTION TAKEN BY YOU TO DRIVE THE DESIRED BEHAVIOUR CHANGE
#3
Obviously, this gives just a very brief overview of what is a very rich framework with a range of themes within each Macro Driver. We would be happy to share the model with you in more detail so please do get in touch if you want to know more. The STREAM framework gives you a clear framework for how to change consumer behaviour, but how do you make it relevant to your category and brand? What’s the best way of ensuring you can influence your consumers to change in a way that benefits your brand? Each behaviour change project is unique, but there are some key principles about how we approach them that we have found ensures success…
CONTEXT IS KING
OBSERVATIONAL INSIGHT
IDENTIFYING THE BARRIERS AND REALITY GAP
We believe that context is key, and not only what’s going on for the person in their direct environment, but what’s going on for them culturally. This is about the generation they belong to, their social group, or their national identity and what this means for how they’re likely to prioritise behaviours and make decisions
As well as understanding claimed behaviours and what consumers think and feel, we also need to get under the skin of what they do and the belief systems behind this. This could be delivered through ethnographic research, and in today’s world of tighter budgets there are some great ways of getting behavioural insight through mini communities, diaries and self-recorded video ethnography
As well as understanding the barriers to overcome, we need to map out the reality gap. What is the difference between what they believe and the reality of adopting the behaviour? Only then can we tap into triggers that will drive change
PICKING TRIGGERS THAT OVERCOME THE GAP AND FIT THEIR SOCIAL CONTEXT
CREATE THE CONCEPT ACROSS TOUCHPOINTS
GIVE IT TIME TO EMBED
Using the STREAM model you should pick triggers that fit with the person’s cultural value system as well as the task at hand. For example, to get consumers in Turkey to change products you might want to tap into social triggers around boosting their status, or group approval triggers
Steal with pride from the STREAM case studies to bring your idea to life. The idea must be tangible for consumers to get it, and to drive them to change behaviour. Talking theory won’t work. They need to see it in action as an advert, a digital campaign, a new price tier, a demo or an onpack activation
Repeat exposure to the concept or campaign in the same way you would with an ad campaign. This will help consumers to normalise the new construct. And if you can afford to, leave it running long enough to cover at least 2 purchase cycles
#5
Mash is a Strategy Studio based in the heart of London working with global companies including Unilever, Samsung, PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson and Beam Suntory. We help people inspire change within their business to drive growth for their brands. If you would like to have a chat about how we can help your business or brand then call us on +44 20 3176 2462 or drop us an email. Conrad Persons conradp@mash.uk.com Jonathan Williams jonathanw@mash.uk.com Emma Sant emmas@mash.uk.com Rebecca Wright rebeccaw@mash.uk.com Anna Cooper annac@mash.uk.com Fiona Lovatt fional@mash.uk.com
This article was written by Emma Sant, Director at Mash