Development and implementation of effective pro-environmental campaigns: Psychological strategies and case study

Abstract

It is generally acknowledged that human behavior is one of the main factors contributing to climate change. Therefore, there is an increasing need for campaigns addressing environmentally unfriendly habits while promoting an environmentally friendly lifestyle. These ecological campaigns are able to improve their effectiveness by integrating various psychological strategies and theories. Furthermore, statistical analyses enable campaigners to gain more insight into attitudes, norms and behaviors of their target group, and even enable the setting of benchmarks for further campaigns. Based on psychological studies this paper proposes a general design for such a pro-environmental campaign. This design comprises 1) identifying the target group, 2) identifying effective strategies, 3) implementing the campaign and 4) evaluating the implementation. In consideration of this proposed design the last section provides a practical example: the applied strategies of Opower - a company which claims to foster ecological behavior change in households.