At BH&P, we’re driven by understanding what makes people tick, and what helps them change.
Whether you’re an energy company, government agency, financial challenger, or sustainable consumer brand, behaviour sits at the heart of your biggest challenges and most exciting opportunities.
But behaviour change isn’t just about growth - though sustained commercial success is often a powerful sign that you’re doing things right, especially in today’s climate.
When we talk about behaviour change, we use an inside-out thinking approach. That means considering all the behaviours that need to shift to drive long-term, systemic impact.
Take fossil fuels.
If we agree they’re not part of a sustainable future, one approach is to inject more biomethane into the grid. It’s still methane - but derived from waste, not drilled from the ground.
The result?
A potential 5x reduction in CO₂ impact when switching from natural gas to biomethane. (We’ve simplified that stat, but you get the gist.)
To make a change like this happen, we need to bring people with us at every level:
Taskforces need a shared narrative to align everyone involved.
Gas distribution networks must engage leadership and operational teams in both the challenges and opportunities.
Producers - sewage works, farms, manufacturers - need to see what’s in it for them, and what’s required.
Consumers can apply pressure to accelerate change through their choices and demands.
Yes, it’s behaviour change. But it’s complex. And it starts by creating desire for change, through the right content, messaging, and insight.
That’s why we draw on robust frameworks like the UCL Behaviour Change Wheel, and adapt them through our Inside Out Impact Thinking methodology, a toolkit to help clients drive lasting change, fast.
Developed by UCL’s Centre for Behaviour Change, the Behaviour Change Wheel puts human decision-making at the centre of any successful intervention.
At its core is the COM-B model, which states that behaviour (B) is influenced by:
Capability – Do people have the knowledge and skills?
Opportunity – Are there environmental or social enablers?
Motivation – Do people want or feel able to make a change?
Around this sits a set of tools: intervention functions (like education, incentivisation, enablement) and policy categories(like legislation or communications) that support behavioural shifts at scale.
It’s a powerful, flexible system for designing change that lasts.
Our Inside Out framework brings the Behaviour Change Wheel into the world of complex, multi-stakeholder challenges. We combine behavioural insight, strategic clarity, and creative execution to help organisations:
Spark desire for long-term shifts - like reducing smoking around children or making handwashing routine.
Stimulate smarter decisions - like choosing healthier, more sustainable food.
Align teams and stakeholders - around ESG, regulation, or difficult transformation agendas.
FFBS: Enabling Behaviour in Complex Systems
When we worked with FFBS to build a new positioning and brand strategy, we mapped the internal stakeholder behaviours that had to shift to drive wider change. We used the BCW to identify where enablement, modelling, and environmental restructuring were required to embed behaviour change within internal teams and partner organisations.
Stay Energy Safe: Shaping Habits through Ritual
In our campaign to tackle energy theft with Stay Energy Safe, we use the BCW to frame interventions around habit disruption and emotional cues. By linking safety to family behaviours (e.g. reporting anonymously, checking meters), we work across persuasion, environmental restructuring, and enablement to make safer choices feel easy and rewarding.
In industries where trust is fragile, change is slow, and stakes are high - like energy, finance, or AI - shifting behaviour isn’t just a marketing challenge. It’s a systems challenge.
And when done right, marketing has a vital role to play in solving it.
Our approach helps brands simplify the complex, reach the people who matter, and embed meaningful behaviour change—from the inside out.
If you’re grappling with a change challenge - whether it’s consumer, stakeholder, or organisational - we’d love to talk.
Because when you truly understand how people behave, change becomes not just achievable, but inevitable.
Want to know more about nudge theory and how to apply it to your marketing?
[Grab our quick-start guide to Behavioural Nudges ➜]