‘Don’t be a tosser’: Why Covid-19 is a chance for brands to nudge people to be kinder to the planet
Covid-19 has given people a chance to reassess their priorities and build new habits, and marketers now have a crucial role to play in ensuring those positive behaviour changes continue beyond the pandemic.
Brands are in the business of changing behaviour, yet it has proved to be a much harder task to get people to make long-lasting changes for the good of the planet.
Unilever said in its 10 years of sustainable living report that it had underestimated how challenging it is to help consumers change their behaviour. However, the world is a very different place at the moment and this has had a profound impact on people’s behaviours.
The coronavirus has pushed sustainability to the forefront of people’s minds again and we are now at a point where brands have a unique opportunity to encourage people to be kinder to the planet, and where consumers may be more open to marketing and communications that nudges them to do so.
“We’re at an interesting junction where people are starting to think about these things and will give maybe a little bit more benefit of the doubt to companies if they are trying to encourage [better behaviour],” says Helena Rubinstein, a behavioural scientist at Innovia Technology.
“What has happened in the Covid-19 environment is that if governments are not doing the right thing, or if they are behind the curve, corporations have stepped in in certain places to do things, so people might be a little more accepting.”
