Hank [BS/MSEE,
MSM $$$, Ph.D. Mgmt] teaches From time to time I have mentioned that this Fall I will be teaching a section of MGMT323 [Intro to Marketing] at Purdue’s Krannert School of Management. Further, a major part of the final exam for my section [the other section is using a computer game] we will be working on a project with the Indianapolis-based LLC, Service Concepts in an attempt to modify the behavior(s) of REMC electric customers to use LESS electricity through Social Marketing techniques.
With this background, consider the following from here: “Motivated by the assumption that youth adopt ideals based on how they’re presented, Grey/Madrid [Spain] launched Compra esta actitude (”Buy this attitude”) on behalf of the Madrid City Council.” The effort tells people to save energy by twisting up gimmicks we’re all familiar with, in this case, Ping Pong balls. The target market is probably teens, and the message appears to be you can have fun and save energy too. What say you? Is this effective approach to changing people’s energy consumption habits over the long haul? Hank
love it! Great idea Hank.
I have to ask though, why? Is there an issue with using more electricity than we maybe “need” to?
If we can sustain it, we should use as much as possible, history shows that an economy’s success is directly related to their energy consumption. People aren’t generally of the mindset of changing… An example is Easter Island, which used to be covered with trees. There are multiple things that led to the fall of their society, however one of the biggest forces was the lack of sustainability for energy. What did the islanders think when they were cutting down that last tree to burn for energy?
If they knew that was the last tree they had, why didn’t they stop a little sooner or slow down? The result is that when there isn’t a visible shortage or a monetary restriction from using as much as you want, people use more than they would otherwise. There is a law describing this from econ classes, not just something I made up
My point is this: There is nothing wrong with being less wasteful, but as a society, we need to move forward and do things much better, not cut down on little bits here and there. As Kawasaki says, do things 10 times better, don’t just make marginal improvements.
If you’re interested in how society’s have dealt with this throughout history, Collapsed is a great book to read, by Jared Diamond.