 Focus group closes ‘green gap’
between recycling and organic
September 4
On August 21, I had the great opportunity to sit in on a focus group whose purpose was to evaluate shoppers’ triggers and motivators as they relates to sustainability. Since this was funded by a client, I’m not at liberty to provide all the details. But I would like to share some general insights that I believe impact the ‘greater common good’.
The moderator started out by asking a group of mostly professional women, ranging in age from about 30 to 45 (among whom were an attorney, personal trainer, web designer, and accounting rep) what behaviors they had changed since learning about how various activities can impact the environment. Recycling was clearly the number-one answer. It was considered by far to be the single most important thing a family or household can do to support sustainability.
The next behavioral change cited by the members of this group was switching to organic food. They really believed that buying organic had an impact on the health of the planet (as well as on that of their families), which provided me with a huge insight into the tie-in between organic and recycling. Perhaps it shouldn't have seemed so surprising, but I must admit that I myself had never been fully aware of how strongly these two seemingly separate aspects of the Green Revolution relate to each other. In fact, I had always tended to view them as independent entities, but with these individuals, at least, the connection was a much closer one than I thought.
I love focus groups precisely because they always enable you to discover connections you hadn’t previously made. Most retailers, for example, tend to think of recycling as a kind of a dirty, soggy, weird business having to do with the salvaging of trash, rather than a critical enterprise. (I know, because I once felt that way myself.) But in today’s world, with oil going for well in excess of $100 dollars a barrel and petroleum reserves being rapidly depleted, materials recovery can help keep life on earth sustainable by substantially reducing the use of fossil fuel – a concept of which these focus group members displayed a firm understanding. It was quite obvious that the act of returning containers to the retailer or making sure they’re deposited in curbside receptacles for recycling is a source of pride to such conscientious consumers, just as is the purchase of organic food.
Third on the list of answers to the moderator’s question was -- you guessed it --- buying local, and supporting businesses in the surrounding area. In fact, they were rather passionate on this particular subject. I asked the moderator to have them more precisely define what that meant, and it was quite interesting to hear the direction the conversation took from there. Interpretations went from just not buying imports to limiting one’s purchases to West Coast products to restricting them to a range of from 500 to 100 miles. There were even two panelists whose only criterion was that they didn’t want to buy merchandise that had been shipped for thousands of miles.
What also really amazed me was how intuitive this group’s comprehension of the issues was and how pragmatic its members where in regard to the realities we face in today’s world.
I left the focus group having had a few too many M & M’s (not exactly an organic product, to be sure, but one for which focus groups are notorious) and feeling like I now had a better handle on the environmental priorities of today’s consumers: recycling, eating organic and buying local, in that order.
The bottom line is that, when it comes to eco-awareness, increasingly, the public seems to “get it,” and be changing its behavior accordingly. The question is, how well is your business keeping up with its customers?
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