Values, passions & incentives - in relation to climate change

This report addresses how people’s identity relates to attitudes to climate change, and how this can be used in marketing. A general finding from academic research is that people with more materialistic values tend to have less concern for the environment – yet marketers need to know what this means in selling specific low carbon products to specific demographic sub-groups, in different cultures and in different product categories. Selling a micro-energy system is different to selling a Prius, which is different from getting people to take the train!

This report also considers how people’s personal passions are correlated to concern about climate change – and how this varies by age/gender sub-groups in different countries. A major issue is whether a belief about the threat of climate change makes us more interested in the natural world.

Finally, this report investigates whether the source of a respondent’s household income has an impact on their belief in climate change. As Caesar observed ‘Men willingly believe what they wish’.

Questions addressed

• Is there a link between materialism and attitudes towards climate change, and how strong is this relative to other demographic and cultural differences?
• Do people who think the Prius as ‘desirable’ have a distinctive values profile? How could this be used in leading Toyota marketing in the US?
• Can a ‘status-based materialistic’ marketing approach be useful in getting people to make low-carbon improvements to their home?
• How much do people’s passions and leisure pursuits vary according to their concern about climate change? How might this be useful in a media strategy?
• Does the threat of climate change make people more (consciously) attracted to nature? What opportunities and implications are there for the travel industry?
• Do people’s opinions about climate change vary by which industry sector their household members are employed?