With Green Attitudes Softening It’s Time For a Change in Strategy.

1/26/11

According to a recent online Harris Poll, Americans are less likely now to be thinking and acting green than they were in 2009.

Considering that most of that was just talk to begin with (only 13% purchased either more fuel-efficient/hybrid cars in 2009), it seems like a good time to start considering alternative approaches to reengage the population. (Loechner, 2010)

Luckily, based on recent research studies, we know what the secret is – peer pressure!

Remember those cards that you’ve seen on hotel visits urging you to reuse your towels to help the environment? The ones that were most successful were the ones that were the most specific. When the cards noted that 75% of hotel guests were participating in the program, towel reuse increased by 25%. But, when the messaging was specific to the room (i.e. 75% of guests who stayed in room 331 reused their towels) results were even higher. (Simon, 2010)

So now that we know how, we need to start implementing programs now. With only 36% of people surveyed agreeing that they are concerned about the planet they were leaving behind for future generations, there’s no time to waste.

Loechner, J. (2011, January 24). How Green Is My Attitude. mediapost.com, Retrieved January 25, 2011, from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=143455

Simon, S. (2010, October 18). The Secret To Turning Consumers Green. Wall Street Journal, p. R1 & R7.

Powerful insight – but will it sell any eggs?

1/20/11

The American Egg Board launched a new campaign this week courtesy of Grey NY. While the purpose of the campaign is to encourage the eating of eggs for breakfast on a daily basis, the consumer insight being used is that parents will do anything for their kids.

While this is indeed a powerful insight, which has been used successfully by many advertisers, one has to wonder how successful it will be when cooking from scratch has become a lost art; especially on weekday mornings. (“Got Eggs”, 2011)


(2011, January 17) Got Eggs? Grey Breaks Them Online, On TV Too. mediapost.com. Retrieved January 20, 2011 from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=143046&nid=122708

The internet has no undo button. Act accordingly.

1/13/11

Several years ago I attended an NYU class designed to teach professors how to blog. For reasons I can’t explain, they decided to make our class exercise live. As a result, the silly comment I posted comes up every time I google myself. It drives me nuts.

As bad as I feel, Sarah Palin feels even worse as she and her people scramble to try to remove the infamous crosshair map that no doubt contributed to the horrifying shooting in Arizona last weekend. Her efforts to remove the offensive visual have only made it more prominent, in what is a classic case of the Striesand effect -- in which an attempt to remove things from the web only makes the situation worse.(Bernoff, 2011)

There was an amusing story in the New York Times last November about an ethically challenged vendor who discovered that complaints posted about him on the web only served to increase his standing in Google searches. So, he says “Bring ‘em on!” (Segal, 2010)

Cyberspace is a whole new world, and we all need to adjust to its unique challenges. Perhaps from now on, before we post something, we need to ask ourselves “What would mom say?”


Segal, D. (2010, November 26). A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web. nytimes.com. Retrieved January 13, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html

Bernoff, J. (2011, January 12). Sarah Palin Learns the Web Has No Undo Feature. adage.com. Retrieved January 13, 2011 from http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=148162

Does It Make You Want To Buy Something?

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Please check it out, and pass the word along!

Thanks
Prof. Lehrer