Regenerative brands: the shift from ego to eco

Businesses are playing a vital role in creating a better future: commitments to carbon neutrality, adopting measures to embrace diversity, and recycling their packaging. However, ‘keep the brand out of this, otherwise it will lose its cool factor’ is a popular belief.

A sick planet, marginalized genders, exploited workers, what real role can a brand play?

After all, they are soft ideas, aren’t they?

It is precisely this soft power of brands that make them precious in the battle to build a better world for future generations.

Brands are fundamentally ‘ideas’ that inspire us and bind us together as communities.

Apple inspires us to, ‘Think Different’ and Nike to ‘Just Do It’; and we rush to form communities around these ‘ideas’.

We proudly wear them on our T-Shirt and emulate them and take the knee too, when they do.

We need to harness this engaging ability of brands, but instead of appealing to our ego rather speak to our ecological mind (a mind that sees the ecosystem, the ecology it is a part of).

Instead of appealing to our vanity, brands can help people come together and contribute to actively creating a better world.

Brands can thus keenly play a regenerative role in society.

Instead of appealing to our competitive drive; regenerative brands can help generate real value by appealing to our collaborative drive.

Exploitative and degenerative brand cultures tend to focus around the notions of scarcity and competitive advantage, whereas a regenerative brand culture understands how collaborative advantage can foster shared abundance.

Regenerative brands can thus create a win-win-win at level of individual, community and planet.

As an illustrative example, we can see how ‘Dirt is Good’ (OMO detergent) becomes a truly regenerative brand by speaking to our eco-centricity instead of our ego-centricity at the level of individual, community, and planet.

Individual: DIG helps transform egoistic Tiger parents who want their children to succeed into empathic parents who want their children to embrace playing outdoors.

Community: DIG helps communities to be eco-centric instead of being ego-centric. Instead of investing in real estate, ‘Dirt is Good’, makes them realize the importance of creating playgrounds in the city for future generations to come.

Planet: Finally, Dirt is Good, creates a win for the planet; as it inspires R&D to not just make detergents that clean whiter but also design packaging that help create new soil, or help grow plants, so kids can play in a natural environment.

We can see above that the brand idea works as a strong organizing idea and brings coherence to a company’s actions instead of disparate, random acts of goodness.

To conclude, we need to deeply reflect on what Prof. David Orr said, “Who are we? What are we? Was our role here on this planet simply to dig up carbon and release it into the atmosphere and then expire? Was that what we were all about?”

We are worth it, and we are worthy of it in that higher sense of looking beyond our selfish being; and brands can powerfully help us unlock our better nature for a regenerative impact, by inspiring our ecological identity.

Subodh Deshpande

Empathic change: building better brands in the world of humans.

“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”

If like many of our clients you’re battling to make a change in a big organization – accelerating a movement towards sustainability and regenerative business – then this famous line by Margaret Mead will feel good – but short. It points to the first challenge we face when building a change program in an organization: find that small group of change makers, whose energy will drive transformation. But it hardly gives pointers for what comes next.

Organizational change sometimes feels like a corporate go game – building strategies to flip the color of the pitch. Yet the rules are different. Unlike the game’s black and white stones, people don’t just flip when they are surrounded. For that human go, it’s helpful to remember how we all deal with change.

As humans we are indeed wired to avoid change. It’s called the “status quo bias” in psychology. If you read “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, then you’ll know we dramatically over-value what we have in hand vs what we could have, so that the new option typically needs to be twice as good to make us budge.

Beating that bias requires the combination of three equally powerful human drivers.

Purpose (and a desirable path). There’s a reason why “purpose” has been at the center of business conversations over the last 10 years: we humans need an aspiration. Offering a group of people a meaningful ambition is a key to create a desire for transformation. A change team is there to express that purpose. Spark an intention. Express what we call a “mobilizing change idea”: not just describing the destination, but the change path, and making it desirable.

When Paul Polman initially expressed the ambition of building a Unilever that would be “double the size and half the carbon footprint” of the one he was taking the helm of, he set an aspiration. But when he coined the phrase “making sustainability commonplace”, he offered a bold mobilizing change idea. That it sounds obvious today is a testament to his success.

But purpose is not enough.

2. Contribution (from everyone). Change needs to be touched, turned into practical experience. And it needs to be owned, because – it’s another human trait – we push for the changes we decide, whilst we reject those forced upon us. The role of a change team is to organize for others to contribute to the development of the initiatives that will take the organization towards its purpose. The people in the organization, but also beyond. Change at scale happens in small touches: it’s about getting everyone to contribute a little.

When we helped Blédina (a baby food business unit of Danone) coin the ambition to “cultivate a more wholesome way to eat”, we spent time working with the commercial, quality, R&D, sourcing and even HR teams. Tapping into ideation conversations held with farmers, doctors, chefs – everyone in their ecosystem. They made their purpose concrete, defining dozens of ideas that they turned into coordinated transformation programs.

But that, too, is not enough.

3. Impact (measure & feedback). Did you notice your tennis game or your running performance improves when you keep track of results? There is no progress without a feedback loop – that is also human. So if your mobilizing idea translates into a laundry list of disparate KPIs – from the percentage of eco-conceived innovation to carbon neutrality commitment – then everybody loses sight of the intention, like a game with too complicated rules.

The BIA, the assessment tool used to certify B-Corps, offers a way to do better. It turns dozens of impact measures (from carbon to communities, from transparency to value chain…) into “points”. The average company scores 51. The maximum score is 200. At 80, you can see yourself as a regenerative business. With our partner Nativa, we turn the company’s purpose into a desired impact profile, and score every initiative using the “point” as a common currency to track progress. Even if the company does not ambition to become a certified B Corp, it allows its people to know where they progress on the path, quarter by quarter if needed.

As you edge your brand or your business towards a regenerative paradigm, you probably know your biggest challenge is the inertia of the system you operate in. Changing it starts with the recognition that it’s made of human beings: putting humans in charge, with ways of working that leverage an understanding of what makes us change.

When it comes to building better brands, human empathy is a super power!

Ignite exponential change by empowering the change frontrunners

We all know that sustainability is a given today, and fortunately many people and companies have started making serious efforts to move towards a more sustainable future. Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is these initiatives aren’t working, and what we’re doing isn’t enough. The good news is that there is a way to accelerate the shift.

In their article Sustainability is the next digital, my former colleagues of Bain&Company brought to light two key facts:

only 4% of sustainability programs achieve their goal (vs 12% for all change programs)
a bit less than one sustainability initiative out of 2 (47%) simply fail (vs 1 in 5 for all change programs).

This is a result our society and the planet simply cannot afford.

Following this alarming observation, the authors provide interesting perspectives to help companies improve their success rate. Yet it seems that they are missing a key element and opportunity: unleashing the mobilising power of a few people will tip the balance towards guaranteed success.

Sustainability transition is not just a matter of strategy and operations. Remember Peter Drucker’s quote, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”? In the case of sustainability strategy, the last decade of successes and drawbacks leads me to adapt this to “Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and dinner”! If we want to accelerate a successful shift towards more sustainable businesses, the fundamental question to ask ourselves is: How do we accelerate corporate culture change? How do we get a high number of people to embrace change faster?

In nature energy is essential to all living things. Corporate transformation is no different: it is fueled by the energy the stakeholders put into it. So how can we unlock the maximum change energy behind sustainability transformation?

A common pitfall in organizational engagement programs is to consider all stakeholders equal. Yet, just like we have seen superspreaders of the coronavirus, some of our stakeholders are superspreaders of change. They have a much greater desire and energy to put behind the transformation than others and will drive uncomparable impact.

We call them the change frontrunners.

Once in motion and empowered with the right tools and structure, they spread their energy like no one, impacting the culture locally and shifting mindsets much more rapidly than you could ever have dreamed of with classic “engagement of all” frameworks.

Are they substitutes to your change programs? No. But they will speed up the awareness, the engagement and the contribution to the change program through all layers of the organisation. And by their close proximity to local internal and external stakeholders, they contribute to build the organisation’s capacity for empathic understanding (meaning its capacity to tune in and adapt to the diversity of perspectives that forms the organization), which is another key element of successful change. Our experience at Innate Motion has shown that they offer higher quantity and quality of change than any other corporate change programs.

How to identify and mobilise the change frontrunners ?

Innate Motion’s 15 years experience of unlocking human potential in businesses and empathy-powered journeys of transformation led us to define a 4-step approach to mobilizing change frontrunners behind corporate sustainability transformation:

STEP 1: Trigger excitement. Formulate a Mobilising Change Idea that will be used as a rally call for the change frontrunners. It will voice the overarching job to be done to progress towards the sustainability vision and is therefore the necessary magnet for change frontrunners to feel attracted by and decide to steer their energy behind.

Too often we see the corporate world talk of “Sustainability 2030”. This is neither a vision nor a Mobilising Change idea. It doesn’t state what vision of the future the company will contribute to nor acknowledge the starting point and the job to be done. If that’s what you have today, it might be time to re-think it.

For guidance, consider each word on its own:

Mobilising: It has been carefully crafted on the base of all stakeholders’ ambitions to ensure it is aspirational and has the capacity to get many engaged behind it.
Change: it requires important transformation from the organisation.
Idea: it is not a reality yet, it is an ideal.

In practice:

Unilever’s Mobilising Change Idea that drives their ambition to make sustainable living commonplace.

STEP 2: Drive affiliation. Unify the change frontrunners into a tight alliance where they will combine their energy for exponential impact. Get them to connect with each other, to have deep conversations, to share meaningful experiences and to collectively sign a pact for impact. For these change pioneers to be at their best, they need a safe, shared community to learn, co-create and be inspired.

Depending on the size and the complexity of your organisation, there can be several alliances created. External alliances with partners are also key to sustainability transitions, and mobilising your partners is a powerful tool to accelerate impact.

STEP 3: Build empowerment. Enable the change frontrunners to drive local engagement and contribution. This means you can’t expect them to behave as communication relays focused on driving awareness of your change program.

In order to shift mindsets and really impact the company culture, they need to have the latitude to adapt the change ambition to the local context and encourage local contribution. Culture is guided by values but based on shared stories. And there are no better stories than the ones we can add a verse to: empower your change frontrunners, and create a stage for them where they can share the stories from their micro community, fostering the transformation bottom-up.

STEP 4. Feed their desire for achievement. Engineer for fulfilment through measuring progress on their pact for impact. Keep the spirits up and the energy flowing by clearly defining milestones for their actions and giving them the opportunity to witness their impact: how many people have they effectively engaged, number of change initiatives they have ignited, stories being shared, quantity and quality of meaningful conversations in the community… Use these to show gratitude and appreciation for their continuous engagement.

This community of change frontrunners will build an incredible momentum in your organisation, the kind that is needed to implement systemic changes.

Intentional energy and Empathy are 2 essential superpowers organisations needed to be set free in order to successfully transition towards sustainable futures. What’s holding you back from unleashing them ?

Would you like to learn more ? Reach out and let’s chat!
Muriel Soupart

Only with empathy polarizing topics can be understood _ serie 2

Projective techniques play a crucial role in enabling empathy to tackle rational or defensive answers during interviews, especially on polarizing topics like vaccinations.

In our previous article, we explained how we discovered that pro and anti-vaxxers are more alike than we think. They share a common vision and aspiration for society and an evolved vaccine system. In this article, we explain how we work to come to these insights.

When we talk to people about polarizing topics we use a set of specific projective techniques. When people are interviewed on a sensitive topic they often start with the intent to persuade or to protect themselves, showing up with prepared arguments and data. To have conversations beyond listening to arguments and statistics of anti-vaxxers and pro-vaxxers, we designed the following projective exercises:

Word association. We ask people to close their eyes and reflect the emotions/feelings/free association that comes to their mind when they hear the word ‘body’. This technique gives us insight into immediate reactions, personal connections, as well as an understanding of the language used. We ask them to complete this task quickly so we can capture initial thoughts before the response is rationalized.

Why does the word association work? This helps people break their barriers and discover images, emotions, and associations related to a specific topic. It requires them to answer in an instinctual way rather than a rational way.

Tip: Ask participants to sit comfortably, close their eyes, and breathe regularly. This gives them the mental and emotional space to answer the question. After a moment, ask them about their associations. Probe them to evoke images, emotions.

Body metaphor. We ask people to pick a metaphor to describe their body. We heard beautiful metaphors like, “my body is like a temple, it keeps what is essential for me,” or, “my body is active like a car, but needs maintenance once in a while.”

This technique is a more developed version of the word association. Here participants are presented with a sentence or a story that contains a blank and asked to fill in the missing word or words.

Why does the body metaphor work? This encourages creative thinking and can uncover thoughts and attitudes associated with various situations. It helps to break conventions and beliefs that people take for granted.

Tip: Ask people to describe what this metaphor means to them and how do they feel about it, rather than asking for a rational explanation.

Transparent Body. We have people imagine they have a magical power to see through everything in their body, the way it functions on the skin, the blood, the cell, on each organ. Then you ask them what happens when they inject or are exposed to the topic at hand. Have them describe in an imaginative, not scientific way, what happens.

Why does the Transparent Body work? When working with a concept or product that impacts the body, using the Transparent Body technique helps to get to people’s true feelings and understandings around the idea.

Tip: Give this one a bit of time. People need time to project this and to feel the impact, so don’t rush it.

Solar System. We made a solar system with “Vaccine” as our sun, and the planets were: politics, environment, science, science, society. We asked people to position the planets, with the most relevant being closest.

Why does the Solar System work? This helps to unveil the hidden influences, perceptions, concerns, and reasoning related to the vaccines and get a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play.

Tip: make it playful by using visualization as part of the technique to guide the process.

World With and Without. We ask people to think about the World With Vaccination and the World Without Vaccination, describing how that world looks, smells, what the people are like, how they interact, and how they live.

This exercise reveals and builds on deep desires and fears by asking people to imagine and describe a world without something dear to them.

Why does the World With/Without Work? The extraction or adding of an element forces people to choose to really imagine the impact of that element in their lives. It is pushing the boundaries of their imagination. It allows them to step away from logic, tapping into the emotions.

Tip: Make sure to explore nuances. Not making it a black and white picture.

Research is not just about asking straight questions that would lead to straight arguments. The verbally based process of interviewing limits the potential for imagination and creativity. There aren’t enough words for some of the more complex situations and feelings we encounter.

Projective techniques make it safer to talk about things that people are reluctant to talk about. Without the use of these techniques, research becomes superficial and inaccurate.

Stay tuned as another series about vaccines will come soon!

Moniek Tersmette, Jasmine Huang, Mai Huan-Maury

Empathy Fitness Challenge 2021

Empathy is the most powerful way to connect with others, understanding how and why people feel the way they do. After a challenging 2020 we learned the importance of considering those around us. We believe that to be ‘empathy fit’ one must train this “muscle” as you would any other – by practicing often

In order to encourage others to do the same Innate Motion has created a simple online challenge. The 5 day challenge will run live from Monday, 25 January 2021 to Friday, 29 January 2021. read more

At Innate Motion we have witnessed how being ‘empathy fit’ can transform brands and companies to be more in tune to the people they serve. To make the world more human we have committed to using empathy as a tool both in our daily lives at home and with colleagues at work.

In order to encourage others to do the same Innate Motion has created a simple online challenge. The 5 day challenge will run live from Monday, 25 January 2021 to Friday, 29 January 2021.

Each day we will post a video with an exercise. By the end of the 5 days, you will feel more centered, mindful and connected. Join us in our mission to get more empathy fit! Bring a friend, colleague, partner, anyone you like!

See you there! #empathyfitnesschallenge2021 #EFC2021

DAY 1

Welcome to Day 1 of our empathy fitness week!

Today, Kanchana Moodliar, business humanizer at #innatemotion will introduce you to the first challenge, which is all about self-empathy. How can we better get in tune with ourselves? How can we show ourselves more kindness and appreciation, in order to better do it for others?

By turning our negative thoughts into positive statements, we can really change the way we feel and act towards others.

Share your experience in the comments. When we did the mindfulness exercise, what physical sensation and/or emotion did you become aware of that you weren’t fully conscious of before? Let us know!

Join us in our mission to get more empathy fit! #empathyfitnesschallenge2021

DAY 2

Did you know that everyday, you take about 35 thousand decisions? You do this without even noticing that you are doing so. Just like we don’t notice this, we often don’t realize that our decisions are filled with unconscious biases that we acquired along our lives, from our upbringing, culture and so on. Only when we are aware of the biases we carry, can we begin to improve them.

Femke Van Loon, business humanizer at #innatemotion will walk you through today’s challenge on battling our behaviours and actions that are consequences of our biases.

Take the test here: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html

Let us know what are the unconscious biases that you discovered in yourself and how this made you feel.

Join us in our mission to get more empathy fit! #empathyfitnesschallenge2021 #EFC2021

Day 3

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and you can tell that they are totally disconnected? Well, today’s challenge is all about the art of listening.

Learning how to be an empathetic listener allows the person you are speaking to feel heard and understood. Megan Pratt, business humanizer at #innatemotion will give you some practical examples of the pitfalls of the art of listening, hopefully allowing you to become more aware and a better listener.

Let us know which of the empathetic listening actions you practiced today? How did it change your conversation?

Join us in our mission to get more empathy fit! #empathyfitnesschallenge2021 #EFC2021

DAY 4

One of the secrets of stepping into someone else’s shoes is to find common ground. Not an easy task in a society that is increasingly becoming more and more polarizing. But we need to challenge ourselves and exercise our empathy muscles and remember that in the end of the day, there is more that unites us, than divides us and narrowing labels are the root of disruption.

Join Riccardo Cristiani, business humanizer at #innatemotion to see how you can practice finding common grounds in life and at work.
Check out this video for inspiration: https://youtu.be/jD8tjhVO1Tc

Use this document to facilitate the game.

Share what you have learned with us! How did it go? What were the common grounds? Has this game changed the way you interact with others?

Join us in our mission to get more empathy fit! #empathyfitnesschallenge2021 #EFC2021

DAY 5

Welcome to day 5, our last day of the empathy fitness week!!! Thank you for sticking to us and challenging yourself this week.

Yaw Sarkodie, business humanizer at #innatemotion, will talk you through the last challenge! We want you to think about a situation where your point of view is different from someone else. Today, you will put yourself in their shoes and try to understand why they think, act, feel the way they do. For inspiration, on completing this exercise, you can check out this talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/lori_gottlieb_how_changing_your_story_can_change_your_life

Share your stories with us and tell us how this has impacted your perspective!

Join us in our mission to get more empathy fit!
#empathyfitnesschallenge2021 #EFC2021

2021: the year brands should take people’s resolutions seriously

What do brands have to do with people’s new year’s resolution? Many would think not much, to be honest. Because humans are overly optimistic when it comes to the turning of a calendar. Because their resolutions often get thrown out of the window once the new year fever is cooled off. The tradition of setting unattainable new year’s resolutions is one of those things people rarely learn to improve. But, what if, this year, we actually learn something?

2020 was not easy for the majority of us. The pandemic has impacted every human being one way or another, in a manner and magnitude that we would not forget for quite some time. What if this experience taught us to approach new year’s resolutions differently? Because if it did, there are clear implications for brands who want to play a more meaningful role in the lives of the people they serve this year.

Three key things we learn when we set out to use social listening, and explore whether or how people’s resolutions have changed this year compared to the last:

A significant larger amount of people are keeping it bluntly real this year

Contrary to the popular belief that most people are obsessed with aiming big every new year, we found out that only 30% of total resolutions-related posts on social media in 2020 had to do with something big, audacious, or out-of-the-world. Tellingly, this figure has dropped by half in 2021. In other words, we now witness the overwhelming majority of 84% total resolutions evolving around improving the little things that really matter to our lives. Our goals are no longer centered around another promotion, a new house, or a big fat road trip around Europe. 2021 is about doing more of what we truly love, being real about who we are, spending more time with our family, and maintaining that one good habit in our everyday routine.

There are four major themes around what people want to do in 2021, all tied under an overarching desire to make the most out of life.

Ranking from the most popular theme to the least are: (1) To spread more love in the world, (2) to act on what I want, (3) to appreciate what I have, (4) to strive to survive. The first two themes combined already account for almost 70 percent of social mentions and as such, are important for brands to understand.

One the one hand, people want to actively cultivate and spread love to ignite collective healing. To go beyond our immediate circles, to show care, and be kind because we believe love can get us through. We want to mobilize and take advantage of the power of community in tough times. To find our gangs, stick to them, contribute whatever we can and get back the support we need.

On the other hand, people want to explore and liberate their own selves. We want to fully enjoy this beautiful but finite life that we have. We want to take more risks and make changes that might seem ridiculous in the past. Maybe, we won’t be so strict with our savings this year. Maybe, we will just pick up that guitar and record a 30-day progress challenge. We want to force ourselves out of our comfort zones, try new things, and act on what we want sooner than later. Because life is unpredictable and we need to make sure that we make the most out of it.

Brands will gain relevance when they tune into these fundamental shifts in perspectives and desires

(1) Community is no longer seen as the cherry on top, adding flavor to our life. After a prolonged period of social distancing, people now realize that belonging to a community is powerful and crucial for their survival. For brands, this means more proactive effort and investment to facilitate community and foster platforms of connection will be crucial.

(2) To focus on ourselves used to mean more care and more investment to our inner needs so we can be happier. Now, it encompasses a genuine appreciation of all the strength we already have within us so we can persevere. This shift opens quite many opportunities for brands to step in and help people build resilience by untapping the power within themselves.

(3) The adventurer inside each of us used to think of life as packed of chances to explore the big wild world. Now, a year of not being out and about has enabled us to find the thrill of discovery from within ourselves, during the everyday moments pursuing tangible joy. This is great news for brands that want to inspire and nurture people’s creativity, enabling them to pursue adventures and find joy in their own home/ town/ city.

(4) During normal times, we tend to strive for ever betterment and advancement of ourselves for the sake of personal growth and satisfaction. Today, many of us invest time on ourselves not only to master skills, but more importantly, to become compelling and irresistable in the market. This development is already taken seriously by many brands offering courses and tutorials to support learning and improve competitiveness.

A call for brands to tune in and practice empathy this year

New year’s resolutions, as aspirational as they usually appear, are often rightfully taken with a grain of salt by brands and marketeers. But as we approach 2021 having all learnt something difficult from the recent past, we might want to lean in and listen more carefully to what people wish for and plan to do in the upcoming months. To train our empathy muscle and tune in with people’s resolutions this year is going to be crucial for brands. Because only in doing so, we can start doing something to meet people where they want to go and become more relevant in their lives. Especially in the hardest of times, when help is more than appreciated, do not miss out on an opportunity to connect meaningfully with the people you want to serve.

purposepositioning empathymatters empathyfitness businessasaforceforgood innatemotion humanizingbusiness

If you are interested and would like to get the full presentation and brainstorm on how this can be applied to your brands, please reach out to us: linh@innatemotion.com femke@innatemotion.com nicholas@innatemotion.com meggan@innatemotion.com

Anti-vaxxers and pro-vaxxers are more alike than we think – series 1

Breaking news! Pfizer announced a 90% efficient vaccine against Covid-19. We expect that launching this vaccine reignites controversial conversations around vaccination. Why is the conversation increasingly polarising? We talked to anti-vaxxers and pro-vaxxers to understand their perspective. What surprised us the most is what appears as a paradox: pro- and anti-vaxxers are more alike than we thought.

We spoke to 23 people, both for and against vaccines, and touched all continents and all generations. Listening to different opinions, feeling how they feel to get to an understanding of what drives their point of view. People are passionately divided in what seems an impossible dialogue, full of misunderstanding, anger and fear. Anti-vaxxers are easily perceived as detached from society and reality. Neither side feels they are being heard. We will explain how we came to meaningful conversations next week.

Here first some surprising observations that we did: 4 shared beliefs of anti-vaxxers and pro- vaxxers.shared desire for a harmonious world

Pro-vaxxers think anti-vaxxers have a predilection for conspiracy thinking and government mistrust. They want to destroy society.
Anti-vaxxers think pro-vaxxers don’t dare to care, are too lazy to challenge the system, and just follow the flow.

However, they actually share the same worries and views on society. We live in a polarized world today where division, chaos and dissension are extreme. Both want a more peaceful, harmonious world. A more just and equal society, where we can be stronger together.

Shared trust in science and medicine.

Pro-vaxxers think anti-vaxxers are utopians, mistrust science and believe pharmaceutical industries want to sell products regardless of harmful consequences.

Anti-vaxxers think pro-vaxxers are misinformed. They lack the ability to discern and don’t question the information they receive.

Surprisingly, in our post-truth world, both sides believe science research is the only way for society to evolve. Though they interpret some of the data differently, both rely on science to inform themselves, protect their body and their children the best way they can. Science drives their decision making.

Shared care and love for nature and body

Anti-vaxxers believe pro-vaxxers rely too much on modern chemical treatments on health issues, forgetting about the body’s own healing mechanisms.

Pro-vaxxers believe anti-vaxxers see their body as a holy temple they only treat with natural products.

In reality, both believe the body and health wellbeing are crucial. Love for nature and a proper wellness routine is needed everyday to take care of it. Both adopt things like: spiritual practices, mental and emotional health, integrating exercise, healthy eating habits in their routines.

Shared desire to evolve the vaccination system

Anti-vaxxers believe vaccines are harmful with dangerous side effects. Current information does not provide enough space for discussion, information exchange or questions.

Pro-vaxxers believe vaccination should be mandatory for everyone, that it is a symbol of a healthy civilization. This means we should all give full compliance and support to build a resilient world for the next generation.

You may be surprised to find out that both pro-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers want to evolve the vaccination system. Pro-vaxxers believe one size does not fit all; they rather wish for more freedom and more room for an exchange of views and customized solutions based on personal profiles.

Anti-vaxxers wish to improve the system, to be given more freedom to discuss, and more transparency regarding side effects. Those are the starting points for them to re-evaluate vaccination and rethink their decisions.

So how does this make you feel? Anti-vaxxers and pro-vaxxers sharing beliefs. It is almost mind-blowing, right? It was for sure for us the case. Anti-vaxxers are not detached and rejectors of science. They actually want to use science to better the vaccination program and to better society. We realized that with empathy we could stop polarising conversations and find a shared way forward.

By: Jasmine, Moniek and Mai

Canceling for good OR Supporting for better?

If you are a marketeer, a strategist, a social activist, or actually just a person who uses the internet, you have heard about cancel culture. Yes, that faceless movement that has been stirring up across countries and continents, wrecking havocs for countless brands. From RedBull in Thailand, TRESemmé in South Africa to Oatly in Europe and North America.

Triggered by as little as an offensive tweet to as complicated as an investment deal, a canceling wave can take a brand down in a matter of hours. The scale of impact and how quick it can hurt a business would have been unimaginable without social media and our generation’s masterful use of it. It’s all a spider web of interlinked influence.

By the time a marketing manager realizes what is going on, sales have been lost, images have been tarnished, products have been taken down from shelves. It is fascinating to think about the amount of power at our fingertips, isn’t it?

But, what is the point of this canceling act? Yes, of course we want to punish. To send a message to those businesses. To show that we are not here to be tricked. We are not fools. What else? Isn’t it also about crying out loud for business to do better? Isn’t it also because we desperately need alternatives that actually align with our beliefs? So yes, we should cancel bad brands for good. But how about supporting good brands to build a better future? Are we doing that enough?

So, I set off to build a social listening search query in English across the US, UK, RSA, India and Australia to see how much are we ‘canceling for good’ versus ‘supporting for better’? How much are we using social media to stand up for brands that do good? How much are we tweeting to let our followers know a nice brand that aligns with our values actually exist?

Not to my surprise, canceling bad brands is so much more popular than supporting good brands on social media platforms. People are more triggered by and more likely to respond to scandalous news. But also, I get that canceling (stop buying) something is less costly than supporting (buying more) something else.

What is shocking, to me, is the insane magnitude of imbalance between these two types of social conversations. On average, social posts to support good brands only account for 5% of total mentions, leaving the whopping 95% of conversations in this topic fully about canceling the bad guys.

Why in today’s world, are we so much better or enthusiastically engaged in boycotting brands who don’t share our views than in supporting those who do? A possible explanation to the scalability of cancel movements is in how “hurt” as an emotion, can become internalized and owned by everyone, making it the thing that unites us against them. Whereas, a good experience a person has with a brand is often limited to that single person.

If this is the case, the way forward for brands could be to start investing in hashtags that can activate a lot of good stories to be aggregated. I am not talking about #VivaPatagonia or anything in that line of brand centric promo. It is about uncovering and tapping into something powerfully human and good, that everybody wants to take and make their own. Things such as #LikeAGirl or #AmericaIsBeautiful, both of which triggered sizable social movements that spread love and set the brand as an igniter of positive changes.

If hate talk is social then love talk needs to become social as well. Brands need to train their empathy fitness to understand the people they serve, to feel their tensions and aspirations. From there, nurture and enable a collective who talks love and spreads more positivity around.

By: Linh Nghiem

When it comes to societal impact, your competitor is not your enemy.

Last month for Climate Week, a new digital clock was unveiled in Manhattan’s Union Square, designed to tell us exactly how long the world has left to act before an irreversible climate emergency alters our existence. As of Tuesday 27th of October, it displayed 7 years, 66 days! Scary right?

At Innate Motion we have witnessed with joy the rising importance of environmental sustainability and social impact on brand management agendas, moving central place from what used to be side CSR activities.

Yet our frustration too is rising: all too often do we hear brand teams negotiating exclusivity deals with their societal impact partners. Really? We want to shake our heads and roll our eyes at this trend as it does nothing but block others from doing their part for the planet, and slows down an important movement.

Today we are reaching out to the marketing community to shout: STOP! Stop using your well-intended societal actions to increase your brand differentiation.

Yes, creating a strong point of differentiation for a brand has always been a marketeer’s dream. But using your societal initiatives for that purpose is the wrong battle. You should be honored if your competitors copy you, you should encourage them to follow you – not prevent them from adopting such honourable promises.

When it’s a matter of societal impact, the barriers of differentiation need to be torn down at the favour of alliances with – dare we say it – your archrivals. And believe us, it won’t hurt your business: remember last year when Burger King launched the ‘Day Without Whopper’? They stopped selling Whopper burgers and asked their clients instead to buy from McDonald’s who was giving $2 to childhood cancer for every BigMac sold. The campaign had a very positive impact for both brands… and for the cause.

We would like to see more marketeers take inspiration from this.

We would like to see more brands and industries build partnerships at the favour of greater environmental and societal impact.

We would like to see more brands be so people-focus that they forget about competition when they have the opportunity to have more impact.

We ask you to wake up and understand: in the fight to save the planet, competition is not the enemy.

The Climate Clock reminds us that we have seven years left to save the planet.

We don’t have time for exclusivity deals.

And we don’t have time for every brand to try to reinvent the wheel.

By: Muriel Soupart and Thais Gyurcso

Projective techniques aid free expression

During qualitative research sometimes people get stuck on a thought or an emotion. They struggle to articulate or express what they are thinking and feeling and why. By building in creative and projective techniques we can help to free their expression, which gives us richer insights into the topic at hand.

We believe strongly in using both creative and projective techniques. Not only does this approach keep a session alive and interesting, but it helps people to express their most natural perspective on a topic. It brings them to deeper emotions. It lets people step by step conceptualize the unknown, leading to answers that are more genuine.

Here are a few of the projective techniques we keep in our toolbox that help lead us to deeper and more meaningful insights. You can read the article about our creative techniques here.

Projective techniques help to express without limitations

The Q&A approach focuses on the left brain answers, which are primarily logical. Using projectivity unlocks the right side of the brain. This approach steps away from generally accepted beliefs, norms and values. It opens up imagination. Especially around sensitive topics it allows to get to more depth and understanding.

Sharing the output is key to let people purely describe what they see and feel, but never challenge their imagination – only probe for better understanding on your end.

Photosort

This is a basic projective technique that takes little preparation and execution time and has a great result. From a set of images people select the image that represents the feeling that they have around a concept, design or brand. They then describe what they see in the selected image, what associations it created for them.

Why does the photosort work? Talking about the image explicitly and implicitly about the topic makes people relate to the idea in a new way that is not connected to the obvious.

Tip: Do not ask to explain why they chose the image, because that only leads to them rationalising the choice. Know what you are probing for.

Spaceship

This requires more skills of the researcher to bring people in the right mindset. If applied well it has a rich result. We invite people on a trip with a spaceship and slowly bring them into a world of imagination. People have some time to disconnect from their current situation and step into the imaginative world. We guide them wandering around with questions. Back on earth they describe their observations.

Why does the spaceship work? While still verbal, this exercise taps into creativity and imagination and allows people to go beyond the limitations their brain puts on what is possible.

Tip: No rush, no jokes that interrupt the imagination. Prepare relevant questions for this tour.

A world without

This exercise reveals and builds on deep desires and fears by asking people to imagine and describe a world without something dear to them.

Why does the world without work? The extraction or adding of an element forces people to choose. To really imagine the impact of that element in their lives. It is pushing the boundaries of their imagination. It allows them to step away from logic, tapping into the emotions.

Tip: Make sure to explore nuance. Not making it a black and white picture.

Transparent body

When working with a concept or product that impacts the body, using the transparent body exercise helps to get to people’s true feelings and understandings around the idea. You invite them to imagine that they’ve been given a new ability, to see their body in transparent layers, how it functions. Then you ask them what happens when they inject or are exposed to the topic at hand. Have them describe in an imaginative, not scientific way, what happens.

Why does the transparent body work? This helps people move beyond rational logic, breaking down barriers and norms to express how they feel about the topic.

Tip: Give this one a bit of time. People need time to project this and to feel the impact, so don’t rush it.

Be perceptive and flexible. Empathize to find what works for them. For example: Are your respondents more Pinterest oriented than collage oriented? Let them find an image that represents X in Pinterest. Or do you find they are too educated or prejudiced about a certain technique? Help them to succeed in the exercise by adapting to who they are.

Be confident and comfortable. It’s important for the moderator to embrace these exercises and lead them with confidence. If you act like they’re weird then people will feel uncomfortable or struggle to fully participate. Go ahead and address that it’s something different and a bit “out there”! Then people are able to relax and explore the topic with a free and fun approach.

Let us know if you know of some great projective techniques we should try!

Moniek Tersmette and Megan Pratt