The Branding of Climate Change

This report is about how branding can be used to motivate people to work towards a low-carbon economy and, by extension, embrace low-carbon products and services. Branding techniques can provide the ideas, stories, myths and/or metaphors which are effective in getting people to act, and effective branding can build valuable business and policy assets, but what would be the most compelling branding concepts in this sphere? The most commonly associated idea of ‘preserving mother nature’, or perhaps other ideas that might seem less obvious?

The report focuses on testing 6 different branding ideas predominant in this subject area to see how powerful people find them to be.

Concepts Tested
• ‘Beautiful Nature’
• ‘Zen-like Simplicity’
• ‘Positive Human Relationships’
• ‘Anti-Consumerism’
• ‘Empowering technical low-carbon solutions’
• ‘Guilt-free Luxury’

Questions addressed

• Which of the six concepts tested faired best overall?
• What cultural differences are shown in the rating of these concepts?
• How do differently do Climate Citizens, Mild Greens, and Sceptics & Uninvolveds rate the six concepts?
• Can particular sub-groups in society be identified as being more aligned to each of the concepts?
• What implications does this research have for policy makers responsible for motivating the public to action regarding climate change or businesses involved in the low-carbon economy?

"The vast majority of people (95%) are engaged with at least one of the environmental branding ideas presented - with the remaining 5% thinking that they all have ‘little’ or ‘no appeal’.”