ENGAGING THE CUSTOMER TO CREATE SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS COLLECTIVELY

Theres a new path to social engagement in Corporate America thats shifting from like us to lets do this together. Companies are inviting the customer inside and asking for input to collectively create solutions for big sustainability issues. Slipping away are the days of CEO-driven corporate giving programs. So are the days of pleading, cajoling and coercing customers to care about the planet. First on the scene for community give-back programs: Pepsi and American Express. Now, with a sustainable twist: Starbucks and Levi Strauss. It Started with Community Outreach In 2007, American Express launched The Members Project, an online program inviting members to nominate and vote on their favorite project to create positive change in the world. Winning organizations receive a prizes totaling $200,000. AMEX members received satisfaction from extending extra resources with little to no money from their own pocket. Pepsi put its own twist on the idea by launching the Pepsi Refresh Project in February 2010 to fund great ideas based on voting popularity. These ideas range from driving senior citizens to their appointments to saving a local theater to garnering support for solar powered trash receptacles. These cause-based corporate programs tap directly into the hearts and emotions of the targeted customer and support their associated causes. Their success is notable and commendable. It changes a corporations charitable spending behavior to be more aligned with their customers, but it doesnt necessarily facilitate a change in customer behavior outside of generating brand loyalty. Facilitating Change Corporate responsibility is on the rise and a few leading companies are starting to ask how they can facilitate not just behavior change within their organization, but that of their customers. The operational need being to create solutions to issues related to customer behavior such as paper coffee cup usage or the energy requirements of a product. Behavior change is built on numerous factors and requires no small effort. It starts with identifying the indivisible barriers to the behavior change being sought. These barriers may be rooted in outdated beliefs where access to accurate information is hard to find, changing an ingrained habit or an unawareness of a change that is needed. Practically speaking, change evokes all kinds of emotions and reactions in people that can either motivate or cause resistance depending on how that change is implemented. Marketers are accustomed to positioning their products and services in the best possible light to customers in order to get them to buy more. So what happens when a company invites their customers in to help them address the problems their products and services are facing? The answer is: customers respond. Positively and with enthusiasm. When customers care about a brand, they want to help. Two companies have found a resounding groundswell of support for their behavior change programs that affect our planet.
Image:Patchareeya99/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

January 2011 A Sustainable Twist on an Emerging Trend Enter the Starbucks BetaCup Challenge. A staggering majority of the customer complaints at Starbucks concern the waste caused by the paper cups. Starbucks decided to solve its disposable cup waste problem by starting with a goal. Starbucks announced that its sustainability goal is to serve all of its customers in 100% recyclable or reusable cups by 2015. Understanding that customer behavior plays a large role in using the cups, they engaged their customers online via the BetaCup Challenge, an online platform that collected and displayed alternative cup solutions, feedback and ratings on ideas submitted. The winning clever idea was no cup at all. The Karma Cup solution uses a chalkboard at the register and rewards every tenth reusable cup holder with a free cup of coffee tracked on the honor system by each person that brings his or her own cup to check the appropriate box. Brilliant. Its easy to institute, it taps into loyalty programs that we are all now accustomed to, it influences and changes customer behavior using gentle peer pressure and positive behavior rewards and helps Starbucks meet its sustainability goals. When Being Hung Out to Dry is a Good Thing Levi Strauss took on a harder customer behavior change: airdrying jeans. In the spring of 2010, Levi discovered that 50% of its negative environmental impact occurred after the jeans were sold. The highest impact occurs during the washing and drying process. Levi realized that using a clothesline is a dated concept; however, the company wanted to find a way to encourage customers to use an air-drying alternative. If all customers reduced the amount of energy expended by using the dryer, this behavior modification would dramatically reduce this negative impact on the climate. Levis lacked the peer pressure Starbucks has on its side. Drying jeans happens in the privacy of homes where no one knows outside of the household if the dryer is used or not.

5-Step Sustainable Behavior Change Process

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Identify barriers to change Incentives/peer pressure, preferably public Pilot test Adjust Launch

Levis Care to Air Contest seeks the next generation of air drying design ideas that will improve or replace a typical clothes line. Levis designed the contest to engage, entertain, and ultimately remind the community to air-dry jeans instead of using a dryer. Early in August 2010, Levis selected six finalists, three of which were selected by the online community and three all-around favorites chosen by a panel of eco-innovator judges. The winner of the contest created a multifunctional artwork drying rack that when stored in the upright position displayed a piece of art that can flip down to be a drying rack. Beware of Possible Pitfalls Will Robinson had a robot to tell him that danger lies ahead. In this case, let Starbucks serve this role. Just two months after the Karma Cup winner was announced, Starbucks started hedging on actually implementing the idea saying that the contest was a huge opportunity for product development and market research. Starbucks further indicated that it will look over the submissions and take them into consideration. This isnt promising for the Karma Cup, which could in turn produce a negative perception from the very enthusiast that participated in the contest. This is not an insignificant number with 430 solution generators, 5,000-plus voting fans and 10,000,000 online media hits that supported the contest. If the idea was all for naught or worse, lip service only, the brand loyalty built by the contest can even more quickly erode well beyond what was built initially by the contest. Media are starting to pay attention that it may have all been a publicity stunt with no intention of being acted on by Starbucks. Time will reveal Starbucks true intentions and actions, but let this be the red flag to learn from for marketers considering a similar collaboration exercise. If you launch a contest, be sure to have parameters and a plan for implementation. Levi Strauss engaged well-known eco-entrepreneurs to judge their contest, brought in designers to fine tune the finalist designs and is putting actual money and effort behind the winning idea. Perhaps this level of effort was needed on their part since their behavior modification takes place behind closed doors versus the closest neighborhood Starbucks. However, in judging the two contests overall, Levis certainly seems to have taken over the lead by establishing better credibility and follow-through. Customer Input: Just for Show or Real Change? The voting models like AMEXs The Members Project and Pepsis Refresh Project are relatively painless to implement and establish credibility. The new sustainable initiatives require more thought on the follow-through portion of the effort to ensure retention of the credibility and brand loyalty built during the program. Its encouraging to see corporations engaging their customers at a more personal level and allowing their customers to drive and support the companys community support efforts whether it is a charitable organization or a wholesale customer behavior change. However, this type of initiative is not for the corporate giants alone. In fact, many sustainable efforts are grassroots in nature. The Internet certainly allows a company of any size the opportunity to engage their customers in solution-oriented idea generating efforts. Marketers and the companies they work for may no longer dictate what and how customers buy.

Collaborating with customers, actually caring enough to ask for their ideas and input, is transforming from the road less traveled to the clear route to success. Engaging customers can bring priceless results Marketers in companies large and small can take advantage of the results from these initial programs. From a brand standpoint, this kind of customer outreach has tertiary benefits beyond actually solving the problem. Enthusiasm for a program can help your brand awareness through word of mouth and build loyalty and brand reputation by reaching out to the very people you serve. Cost reduction cannot be overlooked either. Companies of all sizes can take note of these pioneering efforts. It doesnt have to be done on the same scale, or even use the same format. Finding the right customer behavior issue that by engaging your customer could solve a business issue, create a better planet and implement sustainable change is an inarguable achievement. Innovation and creativity occur much faster by actually engaging the customer community. Its here where companies and customers can collaborate to create mutually desired change more quickly.

Sol utio n-S our ci ng Gui del ines Who can submit? How will you control expenses? How will you judge the ideas coming in? How will you build customer loyalty and retain it post contest? Consider a pilot program for the winning idea 5-10 stores. Outline an implementation budget and timeframe Determine how you handle a winning idea that cant be implemented.

About the Author Cindy Jennings is the President of Volition Strategies in Denver, Colorado. She has over 15 years of marketing, brand and sustainability strategy experience. She has worked with numerous clients to define both their brand strategy as well as guidance on incorporating sustainability strategy to support a brands distinction. To learn more about Volition Strategies and its services, please visit VolitionStrategies.com. You can also view the companys profile on LinkedIn.