Over time, a growing number of companies have begun or are driving sustainability transitions to reduce damage to the natural environment, improve resource efficiency, and promote a low-carbon and green economy. However, many companies attempting to make the sustainability transition, especially consumer goods companies, face a challenge: the results they can achieve are largely determined by "what consumers do" rather than "what we do". For example, a shampoo company can autonomously reduce the energy consumption of its factories, but it is difficult to reduce the carbon emissions generated by consumers when they use shampoo to wash their hair.

In response to this challenge, Keith Weed, chief marketing and communications officer at Unilever, suggested that brands have a huge potential to become drivers of change in consumer behavior. Combining Unilever's own experience, and insights from academics and consumers, he also proposed "five levers for changing consumer behavior" to enable brands to be more powerful agents for change.

• Lever 1: Make it understood. First, brands need to make sure consumers are aware of what to do and encourage them to accept changes in an easy-to-understand way. For example, Lifebuoy, Unilever's antibacterial soap brand, has been promoting hygiene education for children for years. It employs ultra-violet light demonstrations to help children understand that "washing hands with water alone is not good enough to get rid of invisible germs" and to encourage the behavior of "washing hands in a hygienic way at the right time. "
• Lever 2: Make it easy. Brands also need to consider whether people feel comfortable with changing their behavior and have the confidence to sustain it. Generally speaking, live demonstrations and distributing samples are more powerful in building consumer confidence than TV commercials and other virtual promotions.
• Lever 3: Make it desirable. People do a certain behavior either to conform to their desired self-image or to follow certain social norms. Brands should use consumers' desires to motivate behavior change. The coffee brand SATURNBIRD regularly holds offline recycling events where consumers can exchange their empty cups for themed souvenirs, which leverages consumers' psychological need for being environmentally friendly and seen to be so.
• Lever 4: Make it rewarding. Brands need to prove to people that they' re doing the "right" thing and that it pays off. Unilever's Suave shampoo brand encourages people to turn off the shower when they wash their hair and demonstrates how families can save up to $150 a year by reducing their energy bills.
• Lever 5: Make it a habit. Once people have changed, brands must think about how to make the new behavior habitual. It takes at least 21 days to make something a habit, and brands can initiate campaigns such as a "21-day attendance project" to guide consumers to repeat the behavior.

Brands should develop a clear understanding of how people use products and what values, habits or motivations influence that uses, and then use these five levers as much as possible to positively influence consumer behavior as part of corporate sustainability transformation.