A couple of years ago, a bright spark in San Francisco came up with a unique way to encourage companies to reduce their impact on the environment. He reasoned that they would only ever change if they could see a potential upside in their revenue. Rather than take the ‘stick’ approach and threaten action, he looked for a way to provide the ‘carrot’.
“The problem is that businesses will do anything for money,” says 27-year-old US environmentalist Brent Schulkin. “But what if that’s also the solution?”
Schulkin approached 23 liquor and grocery stores in his San Francisco neighbourhood and asked what percentage of a day’s takings each would be prepared to invest (in energy-efficiency improvements) in return for him organising a “mob” of shoppers to visit their store. The winning store committed 23% and Schulkin got busy publicising the event on the internet.
The power of Schulkin’s scheme relies on the number of shoppers who join the mob. Schulkin’s nervous wait at that first event was rewarded with a huge turnout who spent between them over $9000 in just a couple of hours. Success!
Since that first Carrotmob in early 2008, there have been countless other mobs in the United States as well as mobs in England, Canada, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and Australia. Surry Hills in Sydney was the scene of the first Australian Carrotmob in October last year. The winning bidder, the MFC Supermarket in Surry Hills, pledged 20% of profits from the mob (subsequently increased to 80%) and has committed to a program of significant energy reduction in the store.
We love the carrotmobbing concept and we will be keeping our readers posted of any further developments in Australia.
For more information, visit the Carrotmob website: http://carrotmob.org/
“The problem is that businesses will do anything for money,” says 27-year-old US environmentalist Brent Schulkin. “But what if that’s also the solution?”
Schulkin approached 23 liquor and grocery stores in his San Francisco neighbourhood and asked what percentage of a day’s takings each would be prepared to invest (in energy-efficiency improvements) in return for him organising a “mob” of shoppers to visit their store. The winning store committed 23% and Schulkin got busy publicising the event on the internet.
The power of Schulkin’s scheme relies on the number of shoppers who join the mob. Schulkin’s nervous wait at that first event was rewarded with a huge turnout who spent between them over $9000 in just a couple of hours. Success!
Since that first Carrotmob in early 2008, there have been countless other mobs in the United States as well as mobs in England, Canada, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and Australia. Surry Hills in Sydney was the scene of the first Australian Carrotmob in October last year. The winning bidder, the MFC Supermarket in Surry Hills, pledged 20% of profits from the mob (subsequently increased to 80%) and has committed to a program of significant energy reduction in the store.
We love the carrotmobbing concept and we will be keeping our readers posted of any further developments in Australia.
For more information, visit the Carrotmob website:
Surely if these companies enjoy a sudden surge in sales that they wouldn’t otherwise have got, they should be putting far more than 20% of the earnings to support environmental causes! I suppose if you can find a good category and a healthy amount of shops prepared to compete in a specific area (cafes would be a good one) then the competition would bid that number up considerably. But the concept is great and I can see why businesses would jump on this. Thanks for sharing. patrick