March 2008
Shifting consumer behaviours to more sustainable food choices
A new way of connecting
•http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&ChannelID=206134959
Food shopping can be a pleasure
Even for Royalty
But in reality.....
...it’s rarely a valued experience
Budget pressur
e
Sterile environmen
tTime pressure
Choice overload
We have become disconnected to food
% of total household spend
1957 2006
Food 33% 15%
House 9% 19%
Leisure 9% 19%
Source: Office of National Statistics
•Despite there being more choice than ever before, we spend less time and money on food shopping than ever before
•As nation we have become detached from the source of food, we have forgotten how to cook, we have lost our culture of food
A shift IS beginning
Stop buying from companies you feel are supplying
unhealthy products
Stop buying from suppliers you feel are acting
unethically
Stop buying from companies you feel are damaging the
environment
% of consumers who claim they have done in the past year
31
29
25
40
33
28
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
2003 2005
So
urc
e: H
enle
y C
entr
e P
lan
nin
g f
or
Co
nsu
mer
Ch
ang
e 20
03 &
200
5
•But there is a difference between saying one thing and then actually doing it•Understanding attitude vs behaviour is critical
Attitude or Behaviour Change First?
•Some changes start with attitude e.g. organic food•But attitude change can equally follow behaviour change e.g. plastic bags•Will depend on your typology
Behaviour Change
Attitude Change
Propensity to change varies across segments
Rejecters Pre
-occupied
Confused Cautious
Conformists
Conveniently
Concerned
Converts Crusaders
No effort Limited effort Active effort
Attitudinal and Behavioural
* Approximate from various sources
10%* 10%* 15%* 15%* 25%* 15%* 10%*
‘Waste not want not’
(Defra) 12%
Let’s focus on the middle ground
• They would like to do more• But a number of barriers get in their way
Confused Cautious
Conformists
Conveniently
Concerned
15%* 15%* 25%*
‘Waste not want not’
(Defra) 12%
There are real barriers
No real consensus over issues
•Green beans from Kenya- right or wrong?
Confusion and lack of clarity
vs
vs
Still positioned as a luxury by manufacturers
And requiring more effort
vs
The result for many...
To overcome this inertia
• Sustainable food needs to find ways of:
• Clarifying the confusion
• Offering easier solutions
• Mainstreaming luxury
• Delivering convenience
• i.e. normalising ‘good’ food choices
• And above all, re-connecting people with food
A framework for reconnection
Engage
Educate
Ease
Enforce
Exemplify
Experience
ENGAGE in a more personal way
• Community action
• Local and personalised
• Ripple effect
• Making it real and tangible
EDUCATE
• We have forgotten how to eat well everyday
• And how to cook
• Opportunity via kids
• Change of lifestage
EXEMPLIFY and Lead
• Supermarkets are already taking the lead
• Celebrity and media play a key role
– Jamie and Hugh
• Make non-action obvious
– e.g. all low emission cars ‘badged’
ENFORCE a behaviour change
• Legislation-led
• Consumers want this:
– 27% of more involved consumers actively want government to intervene (Ipsos July 2007)
• Battery egg ban in 5 years
EASE better choices
• Resolve trade-offs
– E.g. Saving energy also saves you money
– Local food really does taste better
• Minimise effort required
– Ariel Turn to 30o
– Affordable veg boxes
Create EXPERIENCE
• Give people a visceral feeling of the joy of sustainable food
• The production, the preparation and the eating
• Reconnect them with food emotionally as well as rationally
All can work together to catalyse attitude and behaviour change
Engage
Educate
Ease
Enforce
Exemplify
Experience
Change
Thank you