Rebecca Harris shares her thoughts on M&S’s Better with Beans campaign and explores how using behaviour change models can help brands create campaigns that do more than raise awareness, making action feel easier, more relevant and more achievable.
Many marketing campaigns try to change behaviour by giving people more information.
They explain why an issue matters, highlight the benefits of taking action and hope that a desired behaviour will follow.
But knowing what we should do is not the same as doing it.
M&S’s recent Better with Beans campaign, launched with Bowel Cancer UK, is a useful example of a brand going beyond awareness to address some of the practical factors that shape behaviour – and I think they’ve done a great job.
The campaign aims to help people eat more fibre by making beans and pulses a more appealing, affordable and accessible part of everyday meals. It combines health messaging with recipe ideas, clearer packaging (dare I say it… a little bit sexier IMO), changes to the product range and prompts at the point of purchase.
Rather than simply telling people to eat more fibre, it attempts to make that behaviour easier.
Closing the intention and action gap
Most people already understand that eating a balanced diet is good for them. Many also intend to make healthier choices. However, those intentions can easily get lost in everyday life.
People may not know which foods contain fibre or how to use beans in their everyday meal repertoire. They may see them as boring; forget to buy them or automatically choose the foods they normally eat. Or like me, you might feel slightly traumatised by childhood memories of bland butter beans being served up at your elderly relative’s house.
These are different barriers, requiring different solutions. A campaign focused solely on education may have limited impact if the real issue is habit, convenience, confidence or product appeal.
Looking at the campaign through a COM-B lens
The COM-B model suggests that behaviour happens when people have the necessary Capability, Opportunity and Motivation. Better with Beans appears to address all three.
Capability. Helping people know what to do.
“Eat more fibre” is broad advice. By showing how beans can be added to familiar dishes, the campaign makes the action more practical and specific. It moves the message from why fibre matters to how people can eat more of it.
Opportunity. Making the behaviour easier.
M&S has not relied on communication alone. Clearer product messaging makes beans easier to understand, recipe inspiration makes them easier to use and affordable options make them easier to buy. In store prompts also appear when customers are already making food choices.
Motivation. Creating reasons to act.
The Bowel Cancer UK partnership provides a meaningful health reason to pay attention and adds credibility. For example, the message “good for your gut” indicates a clear health benefit. However, the campaign also focuses on taste, versatility and value, helping beans feel like an enjoyable everyday choice rather than a medical obligation. Perhaps I will give butter beans another go!
Why behaviour change models matter in research
Behaviour change models help us to move beyond awareness, attitudes and stated intentions. Someone can believe a campaign message, support its aims and intend to act, yet still do nothing differently. This would be bad news for any company, charity or brand that has invested in a marketing campaign.
At Mustard, we use behavioural diagnosis tools such as COM-B to provide a structure for identifying why consumers behave in a certain way, and what the barriers are to behaving in the desired way. Do people understand what to do? Do they feel confident? Does the environment make the behaviour easy? Does it feel rewarding or relevant? What habits or competing priorities get in the way?
Without this diagnosis, campaigns risk being built around assumptions. Brands may invest in raising awareness when awareness is already high, add more information when people feel overwhelmed or focus on motivation when the real barrier is inconvenience.
Used well, behaviour change models can strengthen research at every stage – the design, analysis and shaping recommendations. They help uncover barriers during exploratory work, identify the most effective levers during campaign development and assess whether an idea is simply appealing or genuinely likely to change behaviour.
They also encourage brands to evaluate action, repetition and sustained change, rather than relying only on campaign recall.
Better with Beans appears strong because it combines communication with changes to the choice environment. It gives people a reason to act, shows them what to do and makes the behaviour easier at the point of decision.
Because the strongest campaigns do not simply make people want to change. They make change feel possible and drive real impact.
Behaviour change research helps brands understand why people do not always act on their intentions. By identifying barriers relating to capability, opportunity and motivation, frameworks such as COM-B help organisations design campaigns, products and experiences that make desired behaviours easier, more relevant and more achievable.
At Mustard, we use behavioural frameworks such as COM-B alongside research to uncover the barriers, motivations and opportunities that influence consumer decisions. This helps brands move beyond awareness and create campaigns that do more than communicate — they make change possible.
If you’re looking to understand what drives your audience’s behaviour and create campaigns that make a measurable difference, get in touch.