Nudge Nudge…

I was interested to read on a blog by Mark Easton (the BBC’s Home Editor) about a new book called ‘Nudge’ which suggests a more subtle psychological approach to changing behaviour. The book is based on the premise that instead of radical new moves or hard-hitting communications, a simple ‘nudge’ here and there is more likely to do the trick. For example, if people are advised when their energy consumption goes above the average for their street, they are more likely to act out of a sense of community. This dovetails nicely into our findings from our recent community research – people are more conscious than ever of their peers, and are happier to norm to their behaviour than to be told what to do by the government or big corporates. A very interesting insight for the future of marketing…