A recent OgilvyEarth study found that most green marketing initiatives aren't successfully motivating mainstream consumers to change their behavior. In fact, they might even be hurting the causes they're setting out to help. The study authors state:“Many of the environmental messages are not just failing to close the Green Gap, but are actually cementing it by making green behavior too difficult and costly from a practical, financial, and social standpoint."
And that's where we come in. Bolder is a platform that helps empower businesses to inspire and enable positive action (all kinds - green, red, blue, purple...) rather than just preach it. As a result, our users have a place to feel capable, positive, and like a part of a community that's working together to make a difference (the sweet discounts on green products are a bonus too). Bolder gives businesses and consumers alike a way to build a better future together and see how their actions fit into the big picture. Your positive action isn't just one drop in the bucket anymore; it becomes one of several thousand! Inspiring and enabling this kind of positive, collective action is what marketing - green, red, purple or blue - ought to strive for. And that's exactly what makes Bolder, well, bolder.
We've said our piece. Now we'd like to hear yours. What else can companies do to help consumers feel less guilty and helpless, more empowered and inspired, about making a positive difference?
One of the best aspects of Bolder is the push to do better based upon the social aspect. We're all at the whim of peer pressure to some extent, and when we see that its not just a small 1% of the community doing something, but instead our classmates, neighbors, friends, etc. we are driven to take part.
ReplyDeleteI think a big push in the positive direction is getting the company more involved in the action beyond just offering a discount or a coupon, but instead being "forced" to come back and check progress as well as do something special for people going above and beyond. I feel like I've seen it more and more and as a consumer, whether I'm the one going above and beyond or not, I feel like the company cares.
It would be really cool to see a corporate action of some extent. Say a company sets out an action, then if they get 1000 people to participate, then the company completes a major goal of its own (reduce waste by 5% a year for this year, use less water, incentivize bringing lunch in reusable containers, etc.) to get the company as a whole completing goals for the community. I know that would increase my respect for a company greatly to see that they would be willing to go above and beyond.
Anyone got change for a nickel? Cause that was my .02
I'm glad this discussion is happening! I want to speak to Seanzor's comment about "getting the company more involved in the action." A good step toward this is defining who is "the company." To me, that phrase seems nebulous and diffuses responsibility. Let's think about the employees within the company and realize being green externally begins with being green internally. "The company" is comprised of employees who all have the power to lead positive social and environmental initiatives at their workplace, and who should feel empowered and supported to do so. So Seanzor nailed it when he suggested a company internally promote positive action. But, let's also remember the grassroots power we have! We don't need to be incentivized top down. We can make an impact on our own volition.
ReplyDeleteOrganize a team to perform a waste audit and discover ways your company can divert waste and reduce costs (or even make money off the "waste"); encourage your colleagues to green their commute; speak with your facilities department to set a plan to reduce energy consumption and use those funds toward purchasing green cleaning supplies! There are lots of options and each one will reinforce a positive company culture and draw upper management's attention to how important these collective actions are to their employees.
It's been said before that actions speak louder than words and promoting a positive CSR reputation is a way of marketing without the guilt inducing aspect. We as clients should think not only about the product or service, but about "the company" and about how each of us are behind a company that we can take initiative to impact positively.
If you're currently leading or involved in making a positive social or environmental impact within your workplace, I'd love to hear about it. If not, but you're interested in doing so, let's connect!
@Seanzor. Matt here from Bolder. These are fantastic thoughts. Thank you so much for sharing them. We're going to be rolling out a new type of challenge very soon that does that exact thing. More coming very soon!
ReplyDelete@Katie, Robin from Bolder here. Thanks for such an insightful comment! You're right, it's so easy to think of a company or organization in the abstract and forget that they're actually made up of people. You have some great ideas to help remind us that at the end of the day, we have the power as individuals to make a difference, whether we're part of a company, a government or any community. Rock on!
ReplyDeleteSo when I originally referred to 'the company' I was referring to the sponsors of the challenge. I know its a certain responsibility taken to create a challenge in the first place, but then to take a challenge and complete it is a different story. Especially using the name of the company in the action. I know that some of the people doing actions are employees of companies and represent them to some extent, but its not quite X Company's Pledge to do something big in response to X amount of community members. It has the look of something even bigger. But hey, I'm excited about seeing what it looks like when something like that comes out!
ReplyDeleteI do totally agree with you Katie, each person is a piece to the puzzle and we each do make an impact. We have to have a strong internal drive to work outside of the 'norms' that push us in a negative direction overall. I know I personally need to work on my eating habits at work, and even though I eat breakfast and dinner at home I have a rough time getting into a groove of buying all the stuff for my lunches ahead of time and/or making them. So inevitably I get take out and have to deal with the waste I thereby create. Bummer, but I'm working on it. Day by day I work on it and I'm creating the scaffolding for the plan to work. And that is just ONE of the many things I'm trying to attain. It helps when its an action on Bolder and I get inspired to do something, but sometimes its still hard to turn it into a positive life choice/habit. But alas, I am but one man.
At my work we've spearheaded a few different things to help reduce our overall waste. One thing we do is collect all waste into a single bag at the end of every work day, reducing plastic use. We recycle all paper products through a 3rd party company that collects from our office bins. Sadly we don't have much to offer as a reward for a challenge otherwise I would already be pushing towards coming up with SOMETHING.
Let me just say that I've always been pro grassroots and pro Bolder, I just know that theres also something to be said when the grassroots can change and effect the mainstream. Its a good thing when positive community action and environmental awareness becomes 'cool' as it drives people via social factors.
'It's cool to be BOLD'
@Seanzor -Fantastic thoughts, yet again. I see a bright future in writing and creativity for you. Wait, you already have that going :)
ReplyDeleteWe're excited to see what happens when we release the ability for companies to do something in response to X community members taking action. Also really like your idea of giving the employees of a company a 'tag' to indicate that they're participating. It's time to make that idea a reality.
It's funny that you mention the lunch waste struggles. We were just talking about this as a company the other day. We all really push to bring our own lunches, but sometimes it doesn't happen and we end up feeling bad about it. Let's not beat ourselves up over it too much, rather keep chipping away at building the scaffolding (to borrow from your metaphor).
Your comments are inspiring. Thank you and have a great rest of the weekend!
We are a rather small organisation (web design) and we started bringing in our lunches. It worked. IT's a culture. We do silly things like play poker after eating our lunch packs or an episode of Big Bang Theory before we start working and so far, it's great (because we are a small team, decisions get made so easily).
ReplyDeleteBtw, I would love to bring a similar to Actbolder concept to Malaysia. :)
Ching - Thanks for sharing your thoughts. They are inspiration for us over here at the Bolder offices to keep bringing lunches, taking breaks, and enjoying being small and nimble.
ReplyDeleteAlso we'd love to bring the Bolder concept to Malaysia as well. Let's talk in a few months, there are some product initiatives that we're working on that may make that easier. Talk soon!