Words matter. How you use them when you want to get your sustainability messaging across is key – especially when fossil fuel companies spend billions on advertising.
As we wonder whether sustainability is even the right word to reach right audience, Florencia Lujani, co-founder and Strategy Director of ACT Climate Labs, joins us to talk about language and communication in winning the battle.
Florencia works with the likes of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, bridging creativity and strategy to drive their messages home. She talks us through the campaigns ACT have worked on to shift attitudes and behaviours around the world – from Brazil to the West Midlands.
We learn about the Persuadables – the crucial middle ground of the population who believe in climate change but need to be drawn into action or change and away from climate denial. And we take optimism from companies continuing to pursue sustainability plans despite any changes in the political winds.
Florencia tells us about the key to effective advertising, the problem of false messaging, and the trap of communicating only with those who are already convinced – leaving other to think action is ‘not for people like me’. And she moves from local communities to the United Nations, working across all levels of society.
Paul admits his bafflement at the non-stop stream of sustainability messaging he is exposed to on his way to work. Jan’s pub discussions are in the spotlight. Roger Moore and Tony Curtis get long-overdue praise. And Jan struggles to accept Pau’s assertion she is an extremist.
For more details on the Overton Window concept, which is definitely nothing to do with stained glass, see here: https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow
And find out more about ACT Climate Labs here: https://www.actclimatelabs.org/
