Coal and Climate Change
Engineering a receptive audience in Japan

Dominic Carter
23rd January, 20201

AgendaIntroducing Dom and The Carter Group
Contrasting Japan and western audiences
Re-defining the challenge of motivating the Japanese audience
Innovating engagement

2Pleased to meet you!

LateSince

Working &living in Japan incomms testing anddevelopment

Leading an independent
market research agency

1990’s32003

Today2019
Still here ;)A Snapshot of The Carter Group
Japan Expertise, Creative Thinking, Safe Hands

4

Full-service consumer
insights-driven marketing
consultancy

Long establishedindependent agency inJapan (since 1989)

Experience covers
Japan & APAC markets

Multicultural team ofanalysts and marketing
consultants

Offices in Tokyo, Osaka &Singapore - core team of
70 & field force of 100

Offering a unique balance ofthinking & creativity

Japanese audiences are extremely well informedand confident in their world view
They are not an easy target for persuasion by outsiders in anything, letalone environment and climate issues

5Beliefs differ between cultures

Problems aresolved by tacklinghead onWesternScience asultimate
authority
Transformation

6First do no harm

JapanTradition asultimateauthority
Gradual changeJapanese look at who you are, before they listenYour message should
not be assumed as
acceptable on face valueor the strength of its
argument

7

Establishing Trust isJob #1
Establishing a firm
belief in your ability,
your reliability, andyour truthfulness89

Two crucial criteria for any NGO

TRANSPARENCY● Around the mission● Actions and mode of engagement● Source of funds and allocation of spend

CREDIBILITY● Around the mission● Scientific evidence to back up issues and campaigns● Quantitative data to illustrate the impact of projects

9Once trust is established you need to talk to a relevant needDefining a need
Simply:The gap between a desired state and thecurrent state10Ordinary Japanese citizens can identify realissues locally and globally; they know thateverything is not OK
The gap between current and ideal states is
real
But, while they can be genuinely altruistic
and somewhat aware, they live in a society
where things are ‘taken care of’
The locus of their action, responsibility andcontrol is at the individual level

1111

The ‘gravity problem’ analogy is a very apt description of the way Japanese relate to climate change

A gravity problem is a problem
that is not actionable (at leastby ‘me’)
An unactionable problem is actually
not a problem – it is a circumstance.
Circumstances don’t lend themselves
to solutions

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We hypothesise that we need to teach people to turn circumstances into smaller problems
that have a hope of solution

Creating the experience of action
At a smaller, local level
On issues close to home
Addressing the needs of the individual but
leveraging groups (communities) to meet themSurfacing a purpose for the group and confidence
to engage in bigger issues
13Action starts small

There is no playbook– this is an innovation
process

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If we were to look at our challenge in a Design Thinking context
We’re
here

Empathize

RESEARCH OUR
AUDIENCES' NEEDS
Gain an empathetic
understanding of theproblem you’re trying
to solve
Empathy is crucial to ahuman-centered
design process likedesign thinking

15(re) Define theproblem

IdeateSTATE OUR USERS'NEEDS AND
PROBLEMSCHALLENGE
ASSUMPTIONS AND
CREATE IDEAS

Define the core
problems - define theproblem statement ina human-centeredmanner“Think outside thebox”, look foralternative ways toview the problem andidentify innovative
solutions to theproblem statement

Prototype

START TO CREATE
SOLUTIONS
Experimental phase,aiming to identify the best
possible solution for eachof the problems identified
Produce a number of
inexpensive, scaled-down
versions of the product toinvestigate the problem
solutions generated in theprevious stage

Test

TRY OUT SOLUTIONS
Rigorously test thecomplete product using
the best solutions
identified in thePrototype phase
Results generated areoften used
to redefine one ormore further problems

Thank you16