Presentation to Frank Fenner Foundation, 18 February 2015 Speaking notes are available at http://sustainablejill.com/publications/ Information about Frank Fenner Foundation is at http://www.natsoc.org.au/about-fff

1. Using marketing for
cultural transformations
presentation by
Gillian King
Sustainable Jill
to
Frank Fenner Foundation
18 February 2015

2. 1. Introduction
2. Culture & Communication
3. Advertising & Marketing
4. Effecting Change
5. One Model
6. Discussion
Program

3. 1 Introduction

4. About me
• Sustainability facilitator bringing together
people, information & ideas
• 20 years Aust Gov’t policy, management
– environment (particularly climate change), industry
& ageing
• Long-term interest in climate change & urban
planning
– scientist, policy-maker, community member,
activist
– interested in systemic change, game-changers
 cultural change!

5. • catalyst for social change to bring about
biosensitive societies which satisfy the
needs of humankind and the Earth's
ecosystems of which we are a part … and
upon which we are entirely dependent.

6. Human activity  degradation of natural environment
 detrimental to human prosperity, health and wellbeing
Human civilisation ∝ transforming dominant world culture
• rapid
• reassert the biophysical realities within which we live
• promote culture sensitive to & respectful of nature & its limits
Still time for effective action to minimise disruption to human
society
Transforming Culture stream - assumptions

7. Shifting How We (FFF) Think
• Academic focus – theoretical models

• Practical focus – effecting change
̶ How?
̶ Very practical set of steps and possibly
even a group to carry these forward

8. 2 Culture & Communication

9. Culture & Communication
• Culture is communication
• Meaning requires emotion

10. • Narratives we tell ourselves
• Those narratives become our
identity
• New stories can replace current
stories
– What is needed, not what is possible
Culture & Communication

11. 3 Effecting Change via
Advertising & Marketing

12. Effecting Change
• Psychology
• Advertising and marketing
• Campaigning
Effecting Change

13. Why advertisers & marketers?
• Behaviour change industry
• Use psychology to influence behaviour
• Evidence-based
• Creative

14. Shaping Public Opinion
“develop a message and strategy for
shaping public opinion on a national scale”
(internal fossil fuel industry memo)
– ‘This manufactured campaign found a receptive
audience among many citizens who would
understandably prefer not to acknowledge the
existence of such a frightening and potentially
overwhelming threat as global climate change.’
Gore, A. 2009. Our Choice, p. 358

16. What can we learn from the
commercial world?
1. Psychology
2. Models for influencing

17. .
Ferrier, A. & Fleming, J. 2014. The Advertising Effect: How to change behaviour.
Oxford University Press: South Melbourne.

18. Adam Ferrier

19. Advertising, Psychology & Systems Thinking
How do we replace them?
What do we want to replace them with?
What are the dominant images, stories & words in our
culture?
‘Mere exposure effect’ (Zajonc 2001)
Every time we see a picture, hear a story or read words,
it makes an impression on our brains (Heath 2001)

20. 4 Effecting Change

21. Some ways of getting change
• Fairy tales – ‘outsourcing’:
Prince Charming will rescue us
– eg Whitlam, Rudd, Obama, Abbott,
technology
• Empowerment movements
– eg Divestment, Kitchen Table
Conversations, March Australia
• Marketing

22. Psychology of behaviour
Feelings
Actions
Thoughts
Behaviour

23. Change – how?
Change thinking  change behaviour

24. Change thinking  change actions
Feelings
Actions
Thoughts
Behaviour

25. Change – how?
Change thinking  change behaviour
Change behaviour  change

26. Change actions  change thinking
Feelings
Actions
Thoughts
Behaviour

27. Why focus on behaviour?
Action changes attitude
faster than
attitude changes action

28. Six Principles of Influence
1. Reciprocity
2. Commitment & Consistency
3. Social Proof
4. Liking
5. Authority
6. Scarcity
Robert Cialdini. 1984. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

29. 5 One model

30. Basic Sales Model‘Selling’ change

31. ‘Selling’ change – why?
• ‘Reframing is social change.’
(George Lakoff. 2004. Don’t Think of an Elephant, Scribe Publications: Melbourne)
• If you don’t know where you’re going,
any path will take you there

32. ‘Selling’ change
Pain
Island
Boat
Pleasure
Island

33. Language,
Words, Stories, Images
1. About what?
2. To whom?
3. How?

34. Pain Island
• Anthropocene
• Anthropocentric thinking

35. What are the dominant images, stories & words in our
culture?
Economy, financial eg $, buy, sell, share market, exchange
rate, commodities, prices, GDP, Work hard and (eventually)
you can be rewarded (eg by retiring)
Growth, more, building, improvement, fast, better = good
Celebrity, fashion, design, appearance, food – fast,
engineered, ‘perfect’
Man-made objects (eg cars, buildings, food, fashion, faces,
bodies)
Refinement = improvement: natural = primitive = bad
Extrinsic value
Dehumanising, objectifying, abstracting
I/me, you, status, ownership, control, closed, fast

36. Pleasure Island
• Sustainocene
• Ecocentric thinking

37. Environment eg GSP
Humanising: People, relationships, personalising
Feelings, spirituality eg GHP
Sustainable, enough, less, natural, experiencing, caring,
mindful = good
Growth, more, building, develop, improvement, fast = bad/
neutral
Intrinsic value
Humanising, personalising, concrete
We/us, commonality, caring, sharing, openness, slow
What do we want to replace them with?

38. How do we replace them?

39. How do we replace them?
Jack Proctor, Native Fishing Boat at Sea, 1942 , Blue Mountains Local Studies, Blue Mountains City
Library, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

40. Summary (1)
• Culture is about communication.
• Language, stories and images that resonate
with us emotionally are the key.
• Psychology and marketing can provide
invaluable help with transforming culture.
• A bold, vivid and clear alternative that
engages us emotionally is the key to change.

41. A. Marketing
 change attitudes & behaviour
 useful
B. One basic marketing model: Pain Island, Pleasure
Island, Boat
1. Pleasure Island – imagining different futures (scenarios)
2. There are boats to get to Pleasure Island
3. Pacific colonisers – get on boats without knowing
destination
C. FFF can help people imagine different future
 help get people get on boats that may be legal
Summary (2)

43. 6 Discussion

44. "Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed, it's the
only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead

45. Asian Wisdom
Tell me, I forget.
Show me, I remember.
Involve me, I understand.
- ancient Chinese proverb

46. A model for developing Pleasure Eco-Island

47. http://www.unep.org/newscentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2754&ArticleID=9703
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary UNFCCC
Keynote address at the World Coal Association International Coal &
Climate Summit, 18 November 2013:
“…the phrase "where there's a will, there's a way" is
tantamount to human history because will precedes
innovation, and innovation precedes transformation.
John F. Kennedy called for putting man on the moon in ten
years at a point when no one knew how that would be
done.”
Vision: Bold, vivid & clear is vital

48. “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving
the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the
moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single
space project in this period will be more impressive to
mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration
of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to
accomplish…. all of us must work to put him there.”
JFK, Man on the Moon Speech, Joint Session of Congress, 25 May 1961
• Daring, daunting, word-picture of a possible future
• Specific: who, what, how, where, when
Vision: Bold & clear is vital
Williams, P. 2005. Coaching Your Kids to Be Leaders: The Keys to Unlocking Their
Potential. FaithWords: New York

49. It’s Time
• "It's Time remains the most memorable and important political
campaign we have seen in Australia.
• "It is a shining example of the truly effective political campaign: it
took the highly complex and intelligently transformed it into
something approachable, fresh, and believable.
• "The song itself has simple but positive lyrics about the future and
invites the audience to get on board and be part of that bright and
exciting world. It was a pitch aimed directly at those middle-class
voters who were concerned that Labor was too militant or pro-union.
In my opinion, there has never been a better, more effective
advertisement in Australian political campaigning. It still gives me
goosebumps. Watch it and see if you agree."
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqMCZBjvmD4
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-22/its-time-gough-whitlam-1972-
campaign/5831996

50. Example

52. Archaic thinking in 21st century
• ‘energy is “produced”’
– the law of conservation of energy means that
energy can neither be created nor destroyed
but only change form;
– the language of ‘production’ derives from
another archaic time
• ‘energy = fuel’
– fuel is just one way of (inefficiently) converting
energy from one form to another

53. Conscience Families Precious (Fairness)
(Stand up for what is right) (Sacrifice)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-07/lambie-vows-to-oppose-bills-until-
adf-pay-offer-boosted/5873432

55. Letter of Hope
1. Change what we do
2. Change how we do it
3. Change how language, stories, images
 What it means to be human, Australian
 Different to what got us into this mess
4. New, clear, positive vision for the future

56. Letter of Hope
• We cannot succeed if we do not have
hope…or a clear vision
• Familiar values we connect with
 Family
 Community
 Friendship and mateship
 Fair go

57. Letter of Hope
When you are literally fighting for your life,
you are very clear and focused about what
is your goal, your vision for the
future…and you have the energy to do
whatever it takes – even things you've
never done or fought off before – to win