How Do You Change Consumer Behavior? The Problem: How do you get consumers to change ingrained behavior?In the late 1990s, Neil Peterson, then a Los Angeles public-transportation official, was traveling in Europe when he stumbled upon a new approach to owning a car. Car sharing, which became popular on the Continent in the 1980s, was aimed at people who owned a vehicle or were thinking of buying one but were turned off by the expense and hassle of maintaining the thing full time. Under car sharing, you didn't buy a car outright; you used it as you would a time-share property, reserving blocks of time that suited your needs. The Solution: Mr. Peterson's marketing tried to position car sharing as liberating, offering slogans such as "Why buy wheels when you can borrow them?" Flex car’s ads also urge drivers to "Shift your thinking" about car ownership--don't look at a car as a status symbol but as a means of getting around. Don't even look at it as property, in fact; think of it more as a time-share vacation home. Car sharing "gives you a short-term relationship, kind of like getting a motel room instead of buying a house," says Michael Marsden, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky., who teaches about American car culture. "We as Americans love our cars, but they certainly drain time and money, and this is an alternative to that." Mr. Peterson also pushed price. The average cost of owning or leasing a new car, including things such as gas, insurance, depreciation and the car payment itself, totals $625 a month, according to the American Automobile Association. The average member in a car-sharing program spends less than $100 a month on car expenses. Flex car members pay a one-time $25 membership fee. Someone needing a car only occasionally can pay as little as $10 an hour with 10 free miles, plus 35 cents each additional mile. Those needing the car more often can select from five monthly plans starting from $45, for up to five hours and 50 miles, to $725 for 100 hours and 1,000 miles..But the idea of a large car-sharing program in Seattle encountered some bumps in the road. Ref Lindmark, a Seattle transportation official who helped get the Flex car program off the ground there, says the idea wasn't well received by a number of potential partners. Some rental-car companies, which he approached about starting a car-sharing program, didn't respond to requests. Some small neighborhood car-share organizations expressed their concerns that the idea just wouldn't work: Car sharing was a local, niche idea, they felt, and they didn't want to be part of a national operation. "We knew we were taking a risk," says Mr. Lindmark, outreach coordinator for the King County metro area's Car-Sharing Program in Seattle and a partner with Flex car. "But we thought wherever you have urban density, a good transit system and marketing opportunities, there's a good chance it could work." and Mr. Peterson discovered his customers weren't exactly who he expected them to be. Unlike in Europe, he found, people in the U.S. weren't necessarily interested in replacing their cars altogether, but rather in using the car-share program as a supplement to public transportation or a substitute for a second car. Also, Mr. Peterson discovered that the biggest growth came not from individuals, but from small and midsize companies that didn't want to maintain their own fleets of vehicles. Mr. Peterson quickly tailored his ad campaigns to attract more businesses as clients, as well as people looking for second cars. The work paid off. Flex car remains tiny compared with traditional rental firms, but its network has grown to 10,000 members in six states, covering such markets as Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. It plans to expand to 30 more markets by 2008. Perhaps an even better indication of success: Other car-sharing programs have popped up since Flex car got started, including San Francisco-based City Carshare, Boston-based Zip Car and Chicago's I-Go Car. Case Question: Q.1a How do you get consumers to change ingrained behavior? Q.1 b by looking at the solution that people attach their image with their cars, so do you this this solution will help in changing this ingrained behavior? Give your opinion and provide reasoning.
How Do You Change
The Problem: How do you get consumers to change ingrained behavior?In the late 1990s, Neil Peterson, then a Los Angeles public-transportation official, was traveling in Europe when he stumbled upon a new approach to owning a car. Car sharing, which became popular on the Continent in the 1980s, was aimed at people who owned a vehicle or were thinking of buying one but were turned off by the expense and hassle of maintaining the thing full time. Under car sharing, you didn't buy a car outright; you used it as you would a time-share property, reserving blocks of time that suited your needs.
The Solution: Mr. Peterson's marketing tried to position car sharing as liberating, offering slogans such as "Why buy wheels when you can borrow them?" Flex car’s ads also urge drivers to "Shift your thinking" about car ownership--don't look at a car as a status symbol but as a means of getting around. Don't even look at it as property, in fact; think of it more as a time-share vacation home. Car sharing "gives you a short-term relationship, kind of like getting a motel room instead of buying a house," says Michael Marsden, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky., who teaches about American car culture. "We as Americans love our cars, but they certainly drain time and money, and this is an alternative to that." Mr. Peterson also pushed price. The average cost of owning or leasing a new car, including things such as gas, insurance, depreciation and the car payment itself, totals $625 a month, according to the American Automobile Association. The average member in a car-sharing program spends less than $100 a month on car expenses. Flex car members pay a one-time $25 membership fee. Someone needing a car only occasionally can pay as little as $10 an hour with 10 free miles, plus 35 cents each additional mile. Those needing the car more often can select from five monthly plans starting from $45, for up to five hours and 50 miles, to $725 for 100 hours and 1,000 miles..But the idea of a large car-sharing program in Seattle encountered some bumps in the road. Ref Lindmark, a Seattle transportation official who helped get the Flex car program off the ground there, says the idea wasn't well received by a number of potential partners. Some rental-car companies, which he approached about starting a car-sharing program, didn't respond to requests. Some small neighborhood car-share organizations expressed their concerns that the idea just wouldn't work: Car sharing was a local, niche idea, they felt, and they didn't want to be part of a national operation. "We knew we were taking a risk," says Mr. Lindmark, outreach coordinator for the King County metro area's Car-Sharing Program in Seattle and a partner with Flex car. "But we thought wherever you have urban density, a good transit system and marketing opportunities, there's a good chance it could work." and Mr. Peterson discovered his customers weren't exactly who he expected them to be. Unlike in Europe, he found, people in the U.S. weren't necessarily interested in replacing their cars altogether, but rather in using the car-share program as a supplement to public transportation or a substitute for a second car. Also, Mr. Peterson discovered that the biggest growth came not from individuals, but from small and midsize companies that didn't want to maintain their own fleets of vehicles. Mr. Peterson quickly tailored his ad campaigns to attract more businesses as clients, as well as people looking for second cars. The work paid off. Flex car remains tiny compared with traditional rental firms, but its network has grown to 10,000 members in six states, covering such markets as Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. It plans to expand to 30 more markets by 2008. Perhaps an even better indication of success: Other car-sharing programs have popped up since Flex car got started, including San Francisco-based City Carshare, Boston-based Zip Car and Chicago's I-Go Car.
Case Question:
Q.1a How do you get consumers to change ingrained behavior?
Q.1 b by looking at the solution that people attach their image with their cars, so do you this this solution will help in changing this ingrained behavior? Give your opinion and provide reasoning.
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