Understanding the low-carbon challenge
At Haddock Research & Branding Inc., we help our clients develop their low-carbon brands and services. We help them by better understanding the challenges they face – whether in research, marketing and/or branding. We invest in building our knowledge of the low-carbon market around the world.
We primarily employ quantitative research techniques, but also conduct qualitative research as required - usually at an exploratory phase.
A particular thanks to Jim Lawless of Taming Tigers, for inspiring this venture!
And, where did the name “Haddock” come from?
I confess, the inspiration came from a French-Canadian colleague who used to say “we need to do some haddock research”, or that is how “ad hoc research” sounded to our ears! But we also liked some of the hooks that came with the name. I have fond memories of Tintin - and one friend now calls me Captain Haddock. Hergé was sensitive to the political events of his time when writing the Tintin books. If he were alive today, I like to think that Hergé would have pitted Tintin against climate change villains!
And, Captain Haddock was of increasing support to Tintin in his adventures. Although initially depicted as a weak, alcoholic character (in the Crab with the Golden Claws), Captain Haddock became a brave friend to Tintin, as well as providing valuable assistance (rather taking over this role from Snowy). As an emotional character, Haddock acts as a foil to Tintin’s flawless heroism, and uses wonderful pseudo-expletives such as troglodyte, ectoplasm and billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles (mille millions de mille milliards de mille sabords). The name Captain Haddock was first suggested by Hergé wife, who described the haddock as “a sad English fish”.
The haddock, or offshore hake, is a marine fish found on both sides of the Atlantic. It is widely fished commercially. The haddock is now listed as “vulnerable” on the ICUN Redlist, and as such, is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future. What can be done to improve its prospects? How will the haddock be affected by climate change? As a specific case, at Haddock Research & Branding, we want to get involved in helping to ensure that the haddock remains a thriving, viable species! We will post news of progress on this website, and also welcome your thoughts and suggestions about this.
And, why the focus on "Branding"?
Brands live in people’s heads. Brands are not the physical product; or the service offering.
Brands are all to do with what these products and services mean to people. So, we need to know how the brain works, and how people create brands in their minds. We need to know what causes people to act – and advances in the neurosciences have demonstrated the importance of emotion in human decision-making.
Neuroscientists have also profoundly challenged some key assumptions that have been implicit in the way that market research has been, and is being, practiced. Specifically, it challenges the notions that we are (fully) conscious of all the significant factors which contribute to our decisions, and that we make decisions on a rational basis.
So, when asking people about climate change, we should be wary about asking why they do something, or why they do not. We should be wary of asking them to rationally deconstruct their decision-making (such as with an ACA conjoint). Instead, we need to understand, and measure, the associations and attached emotions people have to climate change and relevant high-carbon/low-carbon brands.
We need to know how to create compelling emotional and rational incentives for action. And we need to know what action should be measured, and to understand the interaction between action, beliefs and feelings.
For more information about the Environmental Choices™ section report specifically devoted to Branding and climate change please follow this link:
About the science of climate change
We are not climate scientists; we'll leave it to others to discuss the science of climate change and tell us what we need to know. In a nutshell, climate scientists seem to concur that:
i) CO2 and other greenhouse gases have increased due to human activity. CO2 emissions in particular continue to increase at a rapid rate;
ii) the effect of these gases is to warm the climate and it is very likely that most of the warming over the last 50 years was in fact driven by these increases; and
iii) the sensitivity of the climate is very likely large enough that serious consequences can be expected if carbon emissions continue on this path.
And time is short. As the United Nations, Prince Charles and climate scientist Gavin Schmidt warn us, another decade of 3% growth of worldwide CO2 emissions will make stabilisation at any ‘reasonable’ value by 2050 or 2100 almost impossible to achieve.
