Key points
- Impact production is an emerging field aiming to create positive environmental and social impact through media projects like films, TV, radio and social media.
- Behavioural scientists are now working with media producers to design and evaluate content that addresses one of our most pressing global issues: climate change.
- By embedding climate messaging into popular culture like reality TV and Hollywood movies, climate narratives are being delivered to mass audiences, promoting a shift in social norms and behaviour change at scale.
We’re all familiar with strategic product placement to drive sales and marketing. But what if our motivation is to inspire positive change?
Behavioural scientists are now working collaboratively with media practitioners to advance the field of impact production. This emerging field aims to deliver social and environmental change through content such as TV, film and even social media. There is a growing focus on addressing climate change with this approach and using social science to drive impactful behavioural change.
Research suggests embedded climate narratives are a powerful way to influence behavioural change. We spoke to our social scientist Danie Nilsson about her evidence-based research in this creative field where art meets science.
Talking about global challenges
Climate documentaries will appeal to a small audience. But social science research suggests it can be more effective to normalise and embed climate messaging into popular culture. This enables climate narratives to reach mass audiences and inspire large-scale behavioural change.
"If you consider storytelling examples, like Miranda ordering a plant-based burger on And Just Like That or Brian driving a hybrid electric vehicle in Family Guy, embedding climate narratives into mass media is a powerful tool to drive social acceptance and change,” Danie says.
"Impact production in mass media, like Hollywood films and reality TV, was a hot topic at New York Climate Week. Global interest in this approach is really booming. The United Nations Climate Change has just announced a film and television steering committee within its Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action alliance."
"Want to see a great story? Stories can engage with the climate even as they entertain. Whether they are dramatic or funny or stories of courage, stories about protecting what you love, or a story of adventure, climate change is the story of our time and it’s being told right now, in small moments and blockbuster events that are connecting with audiences worldwide." Meryl Streep - The Hollywood Reporter
Behavioural science activating change
Danie’s research is unique as it expands the field of impact production by focusing on both strategic content design and impact evaluation. Her research encompasses designing the narrative and strategies to enhance impact through to measuring outcomes in shifts in social norms, preferences and individual behaviour. Her work draws on evidence-based approaches and theory from social psychology and behavioural science.
"There is a gap at the moment with designing content with a behavioural science lens to enable real-world impact. It involves working with the creatives - producers, directors, writers, even actors,” Danie says.
"It's highly applied research, and it's both an art and a science.”
Danie works directly with the production company to identify opportunities for integrating climate narratives. For example, she worked with producers of the Australian reality TV series Renovate or Rebuild to embed and evaluate sustainability messaging that aimed to inspire audiences to adopt sustainable housing.
"I’ll go through a storyboarding process with the producer and identify opportunities to embed behavioural science strategies into the episodes and make sure these are translated on set where possible. One of these is what we call social normative messaging,” Danie says.
Danie says an example of embedding this into a TV episode includes when cast members’ dialogue mention “everybody is doing it these days” when referring to a desirable action, such as installing rooftop solar and battery.
"This frames sustainable practices as common, and widely acceptable within the larger community," Danie says.
"Another example is evoking what we call social modelling. Research has found we are largely influenced by the behaviours we view on TV, especially if they are performed by people we respect, admire and relate to, especially celebrities.
"We can leverage this for good, by demonstrating these people engaging in behaviours we’d like the viewership to adopt, with big decisions such as insulating their homes, or even smaller, everyday actions such as opting for public transport instead of driving.
"Here’s an example of Australian reality TV stars modelling the benefits of their own energy efficient home choices in both an educational and entertaining fashion.
"The impact, if it’s done strategically and creatively, is the audience sees sustainable housing as the new norm and is motivated to act themselves."
Evaluating the impact
Danie’s research has a strong focus on comprehensive evaluation. Her research team found, through a longitudinal study, viewers of Renovate or Rebuild were significantly more likely to report 'a home energy star rating above the minimum standards for Australia' as a 'must have feature' after watching the show, compared with before they watched.
"Results indicated an increase of eight percentage points between the initial and final viewer surveys, which represents a 25.8 per cent increase from the base rate," Danie says.
"In contrast, no significant change was found over the study period for people who did not watch the show."
Renovate or Rebuild has reached millions of views nationally and now has a second series (available on Channel 9). The success of the show, in terms of reach and scale, has illustrated the value of embedded sustainability messaging and comprehensive evaluation research.
"We were able to demonstrate the positive potential for the TV series to drive the sustainable housing market by increasing viewers demand for energy efficient and sustainability-related house designs, products and services," Danie says.
The future is changing
Danie is passionate about behavioural science being woven into the art of storytelling.
"The content must be engaging first and foremost so we must respect the work of the creatives. From there, we can work together to embed the climate messaging in whatever way that works seamlessly with the story and format," Danie says.
"Oil and gas companies have previously used similar techniques to normalise and encourage driving cars and air travel, for example. But behavioural scientists are now working with media practitioners applying the techniques to solve one of the greatest challenges facing humanity – our changing climate."
Product placement spending is expected to reach almost $41.5 billion globally by 2026. Imagine the global impact if climate storytelling was as ubiquitous.
"If we could have climate storytelling embedded into all films and TV shows into the future, we could enable mass behavioural change," Danie says.
Some examples of impact production might be aerial shots showing homes with rooftop solar, using reuseable coffee cups when ordering coffee, induction stove tops used in cooking shows, repurposed furniture in home improvement shows, and discussing compatibility on environmental values as part of reality TV dating shows.
"We’re working on creating new programs with producers that exemplify this approach. But the goal is to build a consortium of media practitioners and scientists to build the research and evidence in this field, ultimately expanding this approach globally," Danie says.
"We're starting to see this happen now, and it's expanding rapidly, which is exciting in terms of positive societal change."