1+1=3. Big change, small actions

Cutting your carbon footprint, wearing a seat belt and jogging; apart from their impact on our environment do you notice any similarities?

I didn’t either until the other day. vInspired staff became the lucky recipients of a presentation delving into the world of ‘Behaviour Change Campaigning’ as part our ‘Innovation Lunch’ series. Delivered by the impressively qualified Hugh Mouser, whose repertoire of work includes Amnesty International, Global Witness, Age Concern UK and 38 Degrees, this was guaranteed to be better than a jam sandwich.

Behaviour Change Campaigning

Short of sounding like something a visit to a hypnotherapist promises; behaviour change campaigning is fast embedding itself into the third sector’s social artillery and achieving an impressive range of outcomes.

Through researching and tapping into your target groups’ current influences, behavioural patterns and value systems in order to introduce new patterns of behaviour for social good.
Examples range from 10:10’s focus on individuals, schools and workplaces to take action in combatting climate change; the invention of the ‘jogging’ craze’ by Nike; Time To Change’s fight against mental health discrimination through promoting public discussion, ‘salon chat’ and human libraries.

To me this sounds like marketing with a social conscious; which gets me excited. The government may be well versed in legal frameworks and policy yet bottom-up approaches can remind us that we to are able to step up and shape the world around us.

What would you change?

So what would you change about today’s behavioural patterns in order to make a positive impact on the community and world you live in?

I was thinking about my general dislike of consumerism and waste, which is always then followed by a guilty feeling epitomised by my rather large clothes collection – enough for a small family with only about 2% of them in use.

So I thought why not make a pledge to not buy any brand new clothes for a whole year and only buy from Charity Shops. This consumerist cleanse is bound to transform me into Charity Shop Champion, supporting local causes as well as finessing my recycling and patchwork skills.

So what about you? Where do you see that a simple change in your actions and behaviour could make a lasting difference to your communities, world and beyond?

Answers on a postcard please (or a simple comment will do)!