Don’t Be a Noodge

NACS working with convenience community to help customers act in their own best interests when it comes to healthy choices.

April 22, 2015

NACS Magazine recently introduced a new column, “In Context,” authored by NACS Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Jeff Lenard. Each month, Jeff’s column will share the NACS perspective on some of the “big picture” issues facing our industry, and what NACS is doing to address those issues — both within the industry and to the larger audience of customers and potential customers. Jeff can be reached at jlenard@nacsonline.com or (703) 518-4272.

If you’re a parent, or had a parent, you’ve heard or used the phrase, “Because I said so” — so basically all of us. And we can all probably agree that it isn’t a particularly effective long-term strategy to effect behavioral change; nor is pestering someone by pointing out their flaws. Teaching and coaching is far more effective.

The essence is the difference between two very similar words, but with very different meanings: “noodge” and “nudge.” In nutrition circles, increasing attention is focusing on nudging.

First, the technical definitions: Noodge (verb): To pester; to nag. Nudge (verb): To give someone a gentle reminder or encouragement.

To anyone who has spent time in the New York City area, noodge is considered a noun. And New York has the perfect embodiment of a noodge: former New York City Mayor Bloomberg, who still spends considerable energy — and money — trying limit, tax or even ban products that he doesn’t like.

This embargo strategy often backfires. Prohibition is the classic example. While people couldn’t buy alcohol legally from 1920 to 1933, illegal sales flourished and criminals made a killing, literally and figuratively.

A similar story has played out in New York City over the past decade as its cigarette excise tax (combined state and city taxes) surged to $5.85 per pack. Smokers continued to smoke but increasingly sought out lower-priced options, including the black market. Smuggled cigarettes now account for more than half of all cigarettes purchased in New York. The end result is that retailers lose sales — and customers — while bad guys grow sales and taxes aren’t collected, which ironically was the stated goal of the tax increase.

It’s such a problem that New York State filed suit in February seeking nearly $200 million in lost taxes from a package delivery company that the state claims helped to facilitate the problem. Talk about a noodge.

Nudging, on the other hand, is a broad strategy increasingly embraced by the nutrition community. In fact, it was the sole focus of a U.S. Agriculture Department meeting last summer. Nudging is about moving in step with the customer; it is about telling a story. It’s about helping customers act in their own best interests rather than forcing them to do so.

At Cornell University, researchers refer to nudging as “libertarian paternalism” a fancy way of labeling the basic behavior science to elicit change in how we behave. Last fall I was part of a group that visited Cornell’s Food and Brand Lab to see how they run tests to nudge behavior in positive ways. The results and insights are impressive. It’s worth picking up Professor Brian Wansink’s book, Slim by Design, to read how simple visual cues can change consumer behavior at schools, supermarkets and restaurants.

NACS is actively engaged with several nutrition-focused groups to develop tools to nudge (not noodge) customers in our channel, and we are already delivering tools to help you. Our first deliverable was developed as part of our partnership with United Fresh, a 26-page resource called “Building the Business Case for Produce in Convenience Stores.” It is available for download at nacsonline.com/refresh.

Let’s not be noodges. Not just because it’s annoying, but because it’s not very effective.

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