ACCESSING PEER GROUPS TO INCREASE EFFECTIVNESS OF BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE STRATEGIES IN WASTE MANAGEMENT

Transcription

1 ACCESSING PEER GROUPS TO INCREASE EFFECTIVNESS OF BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE STRATEGIES IN WASTE MANAGEMENT STEPHEN BATES Stephen Bates EnviroComms, 3 The Capricorn Centre,Cranes Farm Road, Basildon, SS14 3JA SUMMARY: The classification and grouping of society is important for both private and public sectors. Governments can identify population trends, housing needs and areas requiring priority investments. Companies can identify key market groups and target products and marketing campaigns accordingly. In the context of waste management, society classification touches upon both, with a need to assess the practical suitability of a public utility as well as the need to consider the most appropriate way to engage and communicate with residents to encourage participation. For the purpose of this paper, the content focuses on classification for engagement, although the content will have relevance in other areas of participatory planning for waste management. In the developed world, waste is ubiquitous. It does not distinguish between sex, race, religion or wealth. If you exist, you produce it and have a reasonable expectation that someone else will deal with it. Yet, despite this apparent homogeneity, waste managers continue to rely on social classification techniques, originally designed for newspaper marketing. Social mobility is greater than ever before, class boundaries are not as robust and many of the traditional defining notions of society no longer apply. For waste management, decisions based upon traditional social assumptions can create significant difficulties. This paper challenges the convention of systematic social profiling in waste management and considers a more relevant (but more difficult) method; peer group profiling. EnviroComms Thought Leadership Programme: 1

2 1. LIMITATIONS OF EXISTING PROFILE MODELS 1.1 Of the many social profiling tools available, and there are hundreds to choose from, the two most commonly referred to are Socio-Economic Grouping and ACORN. Both stem from the observable fact that members of specific groups have similar lifestyles, beliefs and values, which can and do affect their behaviours. 1.2 Socio-Economic Grouping classifies society into six categories, ranging from E (those at the lowest level of subsistence such as the unemployed and low grade workers) to A (higher managerial, professional individuals). It was originally developed by the newspaper industry as a means to classify a particular newspaper s typical reader against a rival in order to sell advertising space more effectively. Traditionally, The Times would be read by those in the A category and The Sun by those in the E category. As means of providing a very broad snap-shot of society, it remains a handy model but its use and relevance is in decline. 1.3 As an example, if we look at the grades C2 (Skilled manual workers) and B (Middle management and lower professional), such structured grading would suggest that the Bs are better off than the C2s and in the past, this would have been an accurate assessment. Today, it is not uncommon to find C2s as having more disposable income than Bs. 1.4 Social mobility and changes in the workplace away from manufacturing to service and administration mean that the rigid structure of such profiling provides too little accuracy to be of any real use on its own. 1.5 ACORN (A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods) is commonly used by local authorities alongside socio-economic profiling. It is a geodemographic segmentation of the UK s population which segments small neighbourhoods, postcodes, or consumer households into 5 categories, 17 groups and 56 types and provides an understanding of the people who interact with the council, filling in many of the gaps left by socioeconomic grading. MOSAIC is another similar model that is sometimes used that further segments the market. 1.6 Although these systems of segmentation provide an accepted framework, the data they are drawn from will always be retrospective and thus, out of date and increasingly more so as the extent and speed of social mobility increases further, both up and down. For waste professionals responsible for engaging with members of the public, an additional segmentation system is needed to achieve greater results. 1.7 Key action Consider and challenge existing segmentation models currently used. How relevant and real are they and consider what impact this has on initiatives that uses only these methods of defining the communities to which you need to engage with. 2.0 PEER GROUPS AND THEIR ROLE IN SOCIETY 2.1 The first conscious social decision we make as children is to align ourselves with another child who we consider to share similar likes (such as a toy). We observe their behaviour EnviroComms Thought Leadership Programme: 2

3 and deduce that because we too like that toy, it s a reasonable assumption that we will also like that child and from that, friendships evolve. These exact same processes take place as we grow into and through adult life as we continue to make conscious and subconscious decisions to associate with people who share our likes, dislikes, ambitions, values, etc. 2.2 Peer groups typically comprise the following: members of peer groups will be roughly the same age they will normally share the same ethnicity, religion and culture they will earn roughly the same amount of money they live in roughly the same size and type of house they drive broadly similar cars they share similar tastes in entertainment and they have similar political views 2.3 They have a profound effect on society, as they do not exist in isolation. Rather like water lily leaves on a pond, some overlap by some margin, some hardly at all, some do exist in isolation but never for long. This means that thoughts and opinions can rapidly migrate throughout a community, region and beyond. It is often said that the only difference between opinion and reality is quantity the amount of people that hold that opinion. It s for this reason that political parties now recognise and embrace peer group outreach in their campaigning techniques. 2.4 Key actions: Consider how peer-groups can be defined in your target area. Are there similar social drivers that are likely to create clusters of certain peer group types, or is there greater homogeneity? 3.0 HOW WASTE PROFESSIONALS CAN UTILISE PEER GROUPS 3.1 The extent to which an individual or household embraces a new recycling service or changes to existing scheme is driven by nothing other than their opinion of it. The role of communications in this context is to ensure that opinions are compatible with the objectives and to achieve this, it is important to understand how these opinions are formed and the influences that affect them. Figure 1 shows a marketing model called The Continuum of Behaviour 1 adapted for use in a waste context: 1 Chartered Institute of Marketing EnviroComms Thought Leadership Programme: 3

4 Trigger Perceived need Unawareness Awareness Comprehension Conviction Adoption Participation Evaluation Unfavourable Abandonment Favourable Continuance Figure 1: The Marketing Model Continuum of Behaviour 3.2 People s opinions begin forming at the point of perceived need. News articles may appear about other recycling schemes in other areas and these will be discussed with friends who may tell of their family in other parts of the UK where schemes have been introduced. So even before a council begins the process of planning a launch, residents will have already begun to form complex opinions that will affect its success. Councils therefore, need to consider this when developing communication material but there is also the need to consider ways to influence opinions much further upstream, as doing so effectively will have a significant, positive effect on downstream communications as well as the budget needed to deliver it. 3.3 By recognising the influence of peer groups in opinion forming, it is possible to deploy methodologies to infiltrate these groups, directly and indirectly. At this stage, it should be stressed that doing so is unlikely to change opinions but it will ensure that they are based upon facts, not hearsay and this is far easier to deal with and address. 3.4 Methods of accessing peer groups 3.5 Direct access In any community in the UK, there exists a plethora of special interest groups ranging from Women s Institutes, British Legions, clubs, societies and so on. These are themselves, peer groups as those that take part all share a common interest. Schools, particularly primary schools abound with peer groups via PTAs and school playgrounds at dropping off and picking up times. EnviroComms Thought Leadership Programme: 4

5 Religious groups of all denominations also provide defined groups of like-minded individuals. Accessing these groups does require some on-the-ground leg-work but doing so can pay significant dividends and is possible to stimulate key advocates individuals or groups of individuals that can act as motivators amongst their neighbourhoods. 3.6 Indirect access Social networking media provide a hugely powerful means of reaching significant numbers of people at practically zero cost. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become the new powerhouses of brand communications and are perfect for the sort of behavioural change lead communications deployed by local authorities in relation to waste. The technical term for this type of platform is peer-to-peer networking which underpins their relevance in respect to this paper. A common misperception about such channels is that they only reach the young but this is not the case. Facebook for example, has 23 million users in the UK, each with an average of 130 friends. The average age of these users is 35 and the fastest growing market are women aged over 55, followed closely by men and women aged 45 and over. Less than 12% are under The ability to reach significant numbers of people with key messages at the trigger point at which opinions are formed and thus, positively influence those opinions is profound. Of course, the key to this is what you populate this media channel with. The content still requires a strategic approach but including it within the communication planning will yield highly effecting results. 4.0 KEY ISSUES AND ACTIONS o Peer groups are what stimulate mass opinion so it is important to understand how peer groups operate across the target area. o Consider the point in the chain at which opinions begin to form about waste and recycling services and consider how you can jump ahead of this to control the facts that control these opinions. o Peer groups do not exist in isolation - people can and do migrate across many, as they do so, their opinions are carried with them. o Consider ways to access peer groups via organised societies and stimulate these groups or individuals into become advocates. 2 Inside Facebook. Mediabistro EnviroComms Thought Leadership Programme: 5

6 Finally, it should be stressed that such an approach is not intended to replace existing society classification models such as ACORN, rather provide additional means to identify the ways in which behaviour can be changed that relate much more specifically to the needs of the community at a micro level. Doing so requires minimal, if any, additional monetary investment, just a different way of thinking and planning. EnviroComms Thought Leadership Programme: 6