Water Use It Wisely: Social Marketing

Lets begin with an extremely basic question:

How do you prompt change?

The answer which might click would be “through fear”, “Sensationalism” or “A just say NO approach”. True, it may involve some aspect of these elements, but a truly successful social marketing campaign is more likely to result from a thorough understanding of your target audience, knowing their motivations and barriers, and a sensible, clearly defined call to action that conveys obvious benefits.

Social marketing is a process that applies marketing principles and techniques to create communicate, and deliver value in order to influence target audience behaviors that benefit society as well as the target audience. (P.Kotler, N.R.Lee, U& M.Rothschild, personal communication, September 19,2006).

Take the issue of water conservation. In Arizona, most folks know that water is a precious commodity, but when the city of Mesa committed itself to creating and publicizing a solid conservation campaign, it was imperative that the message be delivered in a way that would not only compel viewers to conserve water but would give them the tools to do so. It wasn’t about preaching. It had to truly motivate change.

“Water-Use It Wisely” was the catalyst for change. Created in 1999 by Park&Co, a Phoenix based marketing agency, the campaign has become North America’s most comprehensive water conservation program, with over 350 private and public partners, including corporate sponsors as Lowe’s and Home Depot and outreach efforts through the EPA and USAID.


Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)
A 2004 survey conducted by the Behavior Research Center asked respondents about their awareness and recall of the campaign message, their behaviors regarding water conservation, and overall attitudes about the issue since the launch of the campaign. The findings were as follows:

Ø    8 out of 10 metro-Phoenix residents surveyed recalled the “Water-Use It Wisely” slogan.

Ø    51% recalled the slogan “There are a number of ways to save water, and they all start with you.”

Ø    63% indicated they had seen, heard, or read information about water-saving tips at home.

Why it worked?
The proven success of “Water-Use it Wisely” is based on two major principles of social marketing:

Ø    Identify the motivators and barriers of your target audience

Ø    Design a campaign to highlight these motivators and overcome the barriers.

In other words, the benefits from doing (or not doing) the intended behavior must outweigh the costs in order to motivate and sustain change. Additionally, the behavior must be tangible and easy to do in every day life.

For example: “Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway and sidewalk and save up to 80 gallons of water” or “Turn off the water while you brush your teeth and save 4 gallons a minute.”

These are just a few of the water-saving devices highlighted throughout the campaign that gave viewers clear calls to action that they could easily do.

Doug McKenzie-Mohr, the venerable ‘guru’ of social marketing, frequently expounds on these principals and illustrates in his book. Fostering Sustainable Behavior, that there are three reasons why people won’t change a behavior:

Ø  They don’t know about the problem and/or how to change their behavior.

Ø  They perceive the behavior change as too difficult.

Ø  They believe there is greater benefit from their current behavior than the new behavior.

 

10 Steps to Successful Social Marketing
Authors Philip Kolter, Ned Roberto, and Nancy Lee outline in their book: Social Marketing, Improving the Quality of Life, twelve elements to a successful social marketing campaign.

1) Take Advantage of What is Known
The Water - Use It Wisely campaign is the product of three independent studies by Mesa, Phoenix and the Arizona Municipal Water Users’ Association. Each study revealed a consistent and compelling finding: Citizens were saying, “Don’t tell us to save water. Show us how to save.” This was the “Ah ha!” moment that helped us arrive at the creative foundation of the campaign.

2) Promote a Single, Doable Behavior, and Explain in Simple, Clear Terms
Once we identified our target market, then it was imperative that we communicate a clear, tangible call to action. We highlighted the water-saving device, described the behavior we wanted our customers to adopt, and stressed the benefits. For example, “The next time you replace a flower or shrub, choose a low water use plant for year-round landscape color, and save up to 550 gallons each year.”

3) Use a Tangible Object or Service to Support the Target Behavior
As our research clearly indicated, it’s not enough to just tell people to save water, we have to show them how. That’s why all 100+ water saving tips have a tangible object associated with them, as a toothbrush or a wrench. The toothbrush serves as a prompt of shift in behavior by turning off the water while you brush your teeth, wherein the wrench serves as a tangible tool that can be used to fix a leaky pipe. These visual prompts help the consumer to better interact and identify with water conservation, and in turn, promote the desired behaviors that ultimately lead to the benefits associated with conserving water.

4) Understand and Address Perceived Costs and Benefits
A crucial component of the WUIW campaign was the information received through surveys regarding initial perceptions of costs and benefits with water conservation. It is these perceived costs and benefits around which the campaign is created and directed.

Costs/Barriers:
Studies revealed that the majority of consumers weren’t knowledgeable about water conservation techniques. Also, it ranked fifth in percentage of concern among seven local problem issues raised; air pollution and traffic congestion being numbers one and two. Studies also showed that consumers in multi-family dwellings (apartments) had little awareness of their water consumption as it was included in their rent, and as such, they weren’t as motivated to practice conservation.

Benefits and Motivators:
A 138-gallon pyramid outside of a local Home Depot to visually demonstrate the average amount of water used every day by each citizen in metropolitan Phoenix. The most consistent reaction we received to this 16-foot tall display was shock. People had no idea how much water they were using, which makes water conservation a much more important endeavor.

5) Make Access to your Message Easy
Successful social marketing campaigns provide target audiences with easy ways to sign up or take action. With Water - Use It Wisely, we call this “Omnipresence on a Budget.” We strove to have our message everywhere so that it was convenient to interact with, simple to understand, and easy to put into practice. The logo itself is a call-to-action, making the message and the resulting behaviors very accessible.

6) Develop Attention-Getting & Motivational Messages
The campaign creative featured bright, eye-catching colors with simple icons such as a watering can or wall clock to illustrate the specific water-saving devices or tips. The creative stressed the ease at which anyone can conserve water day to day.

7) Use Appropriate Media & Create Audience Participation
The WUIW campaign used tent cards at restaurants reminding patrons that water would be served only when requested. Additionally, the campaign was promoted in several ways including: on water bills and newsletter inserts, on movie theatre slides, on airport signs, and on municipal trucks, among others.

8) Provide Response Mechanisms that Encourage Recommended Behavior
One of the best ways to demonstrate to your target market that they are making a difference by adopting the desired behavior is by showing tangible results, either on a cost or statistical basis. Billing envelopes and utility newsletters are great places to reinforce the message and the brand. With WUIW, showing consumers declines in their water consumption along with the related water savings is an undeniable and consistent way to prove the benefits of their behavior change. It is also an ideal way to continue promoting the water conservation message over time. The WUIW campaign has continued to use water bills and newsletters for these purposes.

9) Allocate Adequate Resources for Research
Research is like a road-map to effecting behavior change. Unanswered questions are critical to the success of a campaign. We need to know what the concerns and barriers the target audience has about adopting this new behavior.

10) Track Results and Make Adjustments
Finally, administering a campaign is a little like playing golf. You have to make adjustments along the way to stay on course and reach your goal. With Water - Use It Wisely, we first did a benchmark study to better understand our consumers’ mindsets toward conservation. Then we conducted follow-up surveys every two years to determine how successful the campaign was and what changes needed to be made to reach our goals. After four years, we found that Water - Use It Wisely had achieved an 80 percent market penetration regarding awareness, and that 33 percent of those surveyed said they had made the desired behavior changes to use water more wisely due to the campaign.

getting into PLACEMENT COMMITTEE: An INGREDIENT to MBA DIDACTICS

            Starting the journey at a Master of Business Administration (MBA) College buds plenty of hopes and wants. The time moves on with a life which sounds hectic. But if observed minutely, it’s full of exposure, inculcating lots of experience and moreover elucidating an enigma within us. Looking beyond knowledge through lectures, an MBA college comprises of many committees and clubs. The one which happens to be the dream of many is being a member of ‘The Placement Committee’. 

           Generally, at MBA Colleges placement process is a student driven process. This is undertaken by ‘The Placement Committee’, under the able guidance of the faculty advisers and the Placement Office of the Institute. Being a part and parcel of this Committee is neither impossible (as one’s belief and working towards that goal can make anything possible) nor a cake walk. Elaborative views on the normally followed steps for getting selected for the same are mentioned as under:

  (1)   Filling the Application form:

It might come into the mind that, ‘why this obvious point has been included?’ The fact is that it’s the first step of exploring an opportunity. Although thinking on different aspect is required, but implementation is the major step in any field of management. Many students use to miss this opportunity either by getting into the loops of thinking or not prioritizing their wants.

  (2)   The First actual elimination:

Those few who dared to sustain the factual elimination round (i.e. filling the Application form), here comes the actual elimination round. It comprises of dozens of assignments having stringent specifics and moreover, tight deadline.

Why Stringent and Why Tight?

Answer to both the question is testing individual’s future commitment with constraints.

Many might find it harsh and difficult to manage, when

§  there are plenty of pre-reads for lectures

§  the season of assignments have begun

§  surprise quizzes have already started intimidating

§  interviews of other clubs and committees have already been started (which too need to be taken into consideration as a back-up for ‘The Placement Committee’)

§  seminars, conclaves and lecture series have started utilizing(consuming) the whole time

The managerial tactics comes into picture under these circumstances. Realization of the facts and folklore of management have already started sowing the seeds.

  (3)   Team work round

To be precise it’s a test of more of your team work rather than the group work (a team comprises of a set of people having different skill sets, while a group consists of people having similar skill sets). It helps to learn gathering information, dividing work, listening to each others view points and finally implementing the same.

  (4)   Presentation Skill

The main aim is to ‘Present’ your capabilities in a way to ‘Represent’ your college. The overall process is designed to test the look & feel of individual’s effort, the heart & will of joining ‘The Placement Committee’ and need not mention the depth & skill in preparing the presentation.

  (5)   Rigorous Interviews

Interviews are taken into two parts:

a)      By Senior Placement Committee

Seriously depicting, the interviews are conducted in such a way that will project ‘A to Z’ of an individual.

Why you? Why MBA? Strengths and weaknesses? What extra? Family? Background? How will you project your college? Why your college? What’s the specialty in the students? Negotiation skill? Crtical questions which you won’t have imagined? Questions which need diplomatic answers.

Numerous such questions and situations are fired one after the other, as if Darwin’s theory of ‘Survival of the fittest’ is being tested.

The perception after the interview gets over: “I wasn’t grilled this much even at the time of getting to the college”. But it’s required to scan every bit and pieces of an individual. If these steps are not followed, it may create a disaster at later point of time.

b)     By Faculties and Professors

This is a Human Resource (HR) round with genuine questions. Few of the questions are expected and rest of them is random. The faculty uses their experience to judge an individual and its worth.

  (6)   Result Declaration

After all these days, the most awaiting results are announced with few happy faces ready to take up the challenge.

  

            The real future master in Business administration is the one who even after getting selected stays humble and down to earth. All the students in the college should be treated equally by them. Managing one’s own studies along with all those Placement Committee’s work is the biggest challenge, when you have exams coming, assignments pending, summer and final placement dates approaching. The main target is in bringing the best possible companies for recruitment. At the same time, the committee also makes sure that prospective employers get a fair chance to select the students of their choice. All those skills on which they are judged upon during the selection process, this is the correct time for implementation. The placement team works throughout the year to make these events successful. Also, this gives practical exposure to the students. All these concurrent tasks help in bringing out the best manager out of an individual. Positive mind-set and commitment is the key to success. Hence, it can be concluded that getting into The Placement Committee is an ingredient to MBA didactics.

was that just a Maiden Month ??

23rd June 2012 - Entry to IMNU(Institute of management , Nirma University)

Felt like entering Splits-Villa !! Jab paisa bolta hai, to niyate badalti hai (when money speaks, intention changes) :-)

Being a student of government engineering college(kgec). It looked like a college "Joki filmo me hota hai"(which are only in films). I can recapitulate the college in the movie "kuch kuch hota hai"(something something happening - a Hindi movie) :-)

Beautiful-lush green campus, having both kinds of greenery :-P . That too in plenty.

Having worked for almost two years at chennai. Is it a reality that 'i am into a college' – ‘my MBA college’ for two full years

OR

 is it a fairyland, which i landed fortunately !! ), 

Don't know why people call Gujarat a dry state?? Go to chennai, if you really want to observe the dryness in all respect. Ahmedabad is really cool. Specially my IMNU - adding 'my' before IMNU is a dandy feeling.

Also, as it is a ladder to my future dreams. So can’t take this golden opportunity of life and time spend over here lightly and hence started my day keeping in mind the theory of "sab moh maaya hai"(everything comes into the category of hedonism). :-)

This reminded me of a practical line written to me in one of those childhood love-letters that '"love" is like a china-dish, once broken can't be mended. If mended, crack remains'.

And i have a dream, which i "love" like anything. Friends sometimes say that what kind of guy is this, who loves someTHING, rather than someONE. When there is a lot of greenery which you can take as an opportunity, without any Opportunity-Cost.

I don’t say, but want to say that, i too have that someONE in my life, whom i "love" like anything(will reveal by the end of this blog). But runner-up to that is my dreams, to which i had found a ladder(IMNU :-)).

Switching from 'Love' and coming to 'War'.

Its good that only Frontal attack is happening as if now. Otherwise, if it would have been Flank or Guerilla warfare. Then we would have been demolished.

Demolished... Naah... We are future managers.

Its simple… find a solution or an alternative.

i.e. we would have applied Preemptive techniques.

Waise bhi (although) most of us are not from Ahmedabad. So, college got an opportunity of being  a perfect Nicher and making the best use of home-ground :-) )

To be precise: Whether its the first class, or the last one which i attended. I found one similarity,  people might have pointed out -> Rules were strict(which i found cute :-) , as discipline is what i have always respected). It was good to see that rules were followed by both ‘us’ and ‘professors’.

Punctuality, Timely follow up of course schedule(by hook or crook :-P) and ban on ragging. Seniors could be so cool and loving, i had never imagined. It feels like everyone knows here each other from long time(doesn't matter , we met first time or everyday).

Hectic -> Hectic -> Hectic

It wasn't "Why this Kolaveri D ?"

rather , literally it was "Why this Kolaveri D ?"

(Why are you killing me)

Paraphrasing the same "Why this 24 Hours a D(day)?"

It reminds me of a dialog of 3-idiots => Life is a race, if you dont run fast someone will squeeze you and move ahead. Even a single sperm had to defeat 3 million other sperms go get a life.

2 years back, we enjoyed this dialog. Now facing a similar situation(Although, all those whomsoever i have interacted are really sweet over here…specially the girls :-P). But it’s quite natural that when it comes to work, everyone needs to give the best out of them)

jo bhi ho (whatever), its good that time cannot be purchased. Everyone is having it in equal amount(i.e. ONLY 24 hours a day). It depends on individuals to make the best use of it.

Lots of ‘Happenings’ which were/are so frequent that only today i got time to jot down something really hectic but interesting(and i am loving it. Yooo !! “Torcher me as much as u can. I will not give up.” :-)). If one gets time to think upon it, he/she can understand that they are doing these for our benefit only. Hence, making us strong and impregnable to tough challenges which life will put before us in future.

Elaborating the term ‘Happenings’:

1) Pre-reads

A must. Most of the time is consumed/utilized doing same. Don't know how people having girlfriend/boyfriend get time for the same. May be the case that the counter act as a motivator. :-P

2) Surprise quizzes

Some of them really surprised us(rather "surprised me", not in a position to generalize the term. As toppers might find it offensive :-P)

Further, quick assessment which was followed by public-praise/public-insult by posting the marks outside class(that too on notice board or through group mail).

3) Interviews of club and committees

Applied for so many(almost all in the beginning). As was not sure, how deep my legs are in the water. But later due to time-constraint prioritized my wants. This resulted in getting through Placement Committee at the end.

4) Events organized by clubs and committees

Never got this much exposure in life (or may be was concentrated on someone/something else :-|. Whatever !! Life is all about experiences, "take it" and in future "make it"(make the best out of it)). I was so excited to get into everything. Try, perform, participate and win(as if Victor Vroom’s Expectancy theory of Motivation was being followed). But again, time-constraint(that is one thing, we the future managers need to manage :-)). Treasure hunt, Cherkhaani- A nautanki , Quizilla, Brandwizer etc.

Won "Brandwizer - A Marketing competition" (was happy that day, but was expecting Maslow's Esteem need to be fulfilled, rather than Physiological need, that too is pending till Ranbhoomi - an event :-P ).

5) Saral

Dekho inhe ye osee ki boonde.(see them, droplets of fog). Just Literal meaning, actual one need not be explained. :-)

Although, it feels good to be a part of it. But i feel like i am also a kid , may be because "Dil to baccha hai ji"(Heart is a kid)

6) Fresher’s party

It was a mood-healer, a power-booster , a refresher. Dance, Party, Food- although vegetarian. But I am a vegetarian u know(since the day mentioned on the very first line of this blog ).

Ramp show was organized. Got selected for the 2^nd/final round – A feel good.
Came back to hostel walking in group, singing all kinds of song. 

7) Etc

As something need to be pending for next blog - A Folklore

There are so many stuffs, what to write, what to skip - A Fact

Finally came the season of Mid-term exams.

What season?? Came and gone as a whiff of fresh air.

After coming from the exam hall

Saw 'sad faces' in numerical based subjects.

Saw 'happy faces' in theoretical subjects. As if they would speak out any time "maine to paper par apne thoughts ki expressions macho di hai"(i have given perfect expression to my thoughts into the paper)

The first one month at IMNU brought so much in our lives. Feels like it wasn't just a month. Rather an immeasurable time which gave a lifetime time-stamp on our hearts. In 'very brief', this is what/how the first month @ IMNU was !!

Aaahhhh...  you might be waiting for that 'someONE' as mentioned in the end of first paragraph. That someONE are my parents :-)