May 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 59

Operations
Most of You Will Love this Article!
The power of social-norm marketing
By Jeff Price

ecently, my wife was in a nearby discount store to purchase some party
favors. While in line to make her purchase, she observed the cashier asking a customer at the checkout stand if she would like to donate a dollar
to a certain charitable cause. I'm sure most of you have experienced this yourself
at least once or twice, right? But what happened next was truly fascinating.
Once the customer indicated a willingness to make a donation, the cashier
proceeded to get on the store intercom
and, with great enthusiasm, announced
to the entire store that, " Another customer has donated! " to this particular
charity. You can probably imagine what
happened next. My wife observed every
customer in line in front of her make a
donation to the cause. She also made a
donation herself when she made it to
the checkout clerk. That same intercom
announcement also notified every shopper in the store of their fellow shoppers'
contributions, which essentially primed
the donation pump. The cashier told
my wife that she was the 36th person to
donate during this particular cashier's
shift! What happened?

The phenomenon at work here is referred to as social-norm marketing. Social norming is the concept that people's
behavior can be significantly shaped
by the behavior of those around them.
Social norms are nothing new. However, what is new is how businesses are
quickly adopting these tactics to drive
customer response and increase revenue. My own dentist has even engaged
in this practice. After my most recent
appointment, the dental assistant said to
me, " Join our other patients who complete their own appointment cards. " It
is genius. I don't want to be unlike all
the other patients who comply with his
wishes, do I? Of course not!
Another prevalent application has
been on college campuses. Universi-

ties such as Northern Illinois University initiated a marketing campaign in
1999 aimed at students with the message that, contrary to students' beliefs,
most university students did not consume more than a few drinks at parties. Once students understood that
their fellow students weren't drinking
as much as they thought, their behavior began to change. Student drinking
dropped by 44 percent over a nineyear period. Another example is the
IRS. In 2008, they were successful in
reducing the number of people who
cheated on their taxes by promoting
the fact that most tax filers were honest about their taxes. Again, people
have a strong, innate sense to act like
others. Once people understood that
most people were honest about their
taxes, it ended up driving the desired
behaviors (more honest tax filers!).
Are there opportunities in the park
and recreation industry to apply
these (no-cost) principles to generate

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