Want to effect your customers’ behavior in a major way? Make the thing they’re striving towards fun.

As part of its new campaign “The Fun Theory,” Volkswagen converted the stairs in a Stockholm subway station into functioning piano keys. Each step played a different note. Walking up the staircase became an opportunity to play a little ditty. The result: 66% more commuters than usual used the stairs instead of the escalator.

Another part of the campaign included equipping a trash can with cartoon sound effects. Every time someone threw out a piece of trash, a high-pitched whistle sounded (think Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff).

The sound effect got people curious. They wanted to hear the odd whistle again, so they picked up litter off the ground and threw it away. In one day, the Fun Theory trash can collected 90 more pounds of trash than any neighboring trash can.

Both initiatives nudge people towards a positive behavior — not because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the fun thing to do.

Pizza generates guilt. Some people feel guilty eating the calories and carbs. Others feel guilty because of the waste. You use paper plates that get thrown out. And, since the box won’t fit in the fridge, you have to wrap each leftover slice in aluminum foil, which gets thrown out, too.

What to do? William Walsh has a solution.

Walsh’s company, e.c.o. Incorporated, has created Green Box, a pizza box that acts as its own paper plates and storage unit.

The box’s lid is perforated to tear into four square plates. The bottom of the box folds over into a space-friendly storage container for leftover slices.

How did Walsh come up with the Green Box? In college, he lived in a house with forty football players who opted to throw out their dirty dishes instead of washing them. One day, they were eating pizza when Walsh noticed grease dripping down his housemate’s shirt. Walsh tore the lid from the pizza box, ripped it into makeshift plates, and handed them to his fellow diners. An idea was born.

Walsh, an engineering student, bought 150 pizza boxes and went to work with a ruler and an exacto knife and experimented on improving the design.

With business partners, Ned Kensing and Jennifer Wright, he later filed a patent for the box.  

In 2007, they were granted the patent and went door-to-door to pizza restaurants with their new design. Things moved slowly as the partners worked other jobs and finished up business school.

In the last month, though, interest in Green Box has skyrocketed. What happened?

Wright used Twitter to send a message and web link to actor Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher, who was the first user to reach one million Twitter followers, re-tweeted her message with a note that said “Smart.”

Overnight, Green Box became a sensation. Walsh’s company received 1,500 domestic and 150 international email requests for the product.

They posted a YouTube video, and in five days received over 435,000 views.

Several pizza chains are reviewing the Green Box. Walsh wants to have regional distribution of the packaging so that the company’s carbon footprint is as low as possible.

New Soap, Old Bottle is a company that buys name-brand soap and packages it in reused, sanitized soda bottles.

Founder Scott Amron says his products offer consumers a “greener option. . . New Soap, Old Bottle saves two bottles for each bottle sold. That’s the bottle that would have been manufactured and the bottle rescued.”

Why though doesn’t the company manufacture its own soap? “We believe you need a brand name to add value to the old bottles,” Amron says.

The concepts behind New Soap, Old Bottle are simple and smart. They repurpose trash into something valuable, which is particularly striking when considering that Americans throw out 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour, according to the Clean Air Council.

By repurposing the bottles, New Soap co-opts the expected experience. While everyone else in the world is getting Dr. Pepper out of a Dr. Pepper bottle, you’re getting soap. It’s a subtle deviation that’s memorable.

Noah Graj has a vision. Through his company, Urban Farmers, he wants to build sustainable, year-round farms throughout New York City.

"Geodesic Dome Sidewall" photo courtesy of Jim Hulme

In a place as crowded and expensive as the Big Apple, where would these farms be located? In the only part of the city that makes sense: rooftops.

Graj’s vision was inspired by Buckminster Fuller, a philosopher and architect who invented the Geodesic Dome. Graj realized that lightweight domes, constructed of advanced and recycled plastics, metals and wood could protect crops from the elements all year long.

The company will install the rooftop farms and domes, and will counsel clients on how to make them fruitful. Though a manufacturing deal for the domes is still pending, Urban Farmers has secured 50,000 square feet of rooftop space, which will house its first farms.

“Some people are scared that the domes will be detrimental to buildings,” says Graj, “but the structures will prevent roof damage and reduce energy costs by serving as heat insulators.”

Graj also believes that the farms will benefit “economically neglected neighborhoods” by providing a source of income and organic nutrition for community residents. The company hopes Urban Farmers will build a connection to nature and the earth that many city dwellers have never experienced.

Graj’s plan is an example of rethinking your physical environment. By reconsidering urban and farm spaces, he’s opened up unused rooftops for rich opportunities.

(For a related post on physical environments, visit the Kennedy School.)

For more information about rooftop farms, contact:

Noah Graj
Founder & Chief Growth Officer
Urban Farmers - Grow®
UrbanFarmers.Org
Noah@UrbanFarmers.Org
Tel: 914.953.9826

In their book, Greentailing and Other Revolutions in Retail, authors Neil Strauss and Will Ander write about a study they conducted with a thousand consumers regarding green in retail. One question, in particular, revealed an intriguing statistic:

“ . . . while many retailers are considered to be making a decent effort at being green, they are not doing a particularly good job of educating the consumer on what they are doing. Just 6 percent of consumers rated retailers as excellent or very good at educating consumers on green, while over half believed they are below satisfactory or poor.” P. 59

Supporting a cause or having a strength is one thing. Letting people know about that cause or strength is quite another.

Whether you’re championing green or doing something else to help the planet or your customers, remember that good communication is part of a strong experience.

Don’t think you’re showing off. Let your customers know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how everyone stands to benefit.