In our fast-paced world where the demands of daily life keep us on the move, safe driving practices are paramount. Beyond ensuring our own wellbeing, we have an even greater obligation behind the wheel: safeguarding the lives of others who share the road with us. The dangers of driving distracted are well-documented and pose significant risks for drivers, passengers and pedestrians alike. 

Today, we’re sharing 20 distracted driving safety tips that can help you become a safer driver and effectively prevent distractions — whether you’re navigating extreme weather conditions or managing the delightful chaos that comes with having pets in the car. 

“Fast fashion” is a relatively new term to the style industry. It’s cheap, runway-inspired clothing made in large quantities to meet consumer demand. The aim is to deliver the latest styles quickly, encouraging frequent purchases and short-lived garments. “Wear today. Dispose tomorrow”

This practice contributes to fashion's overproduction and overconsumption issues, making it a major environmental polluter.

 Are you considering adding a furry member to your family? They can bring joy, excitement, and fun to any household and really do become a member of your family. You may be considering a new pet for your child this holiday season and wondering how to go about adopting your pet and the best ways to integrate that pet into your home.  

Even if you have adopted a pet in the past, there are so many options and tons of information out there that can make finding your perfect new pet seem overwhelming. If you have previously adopted a pet from a breeder or pet store, you may have unknowingly adopted a pet that originated from a puppy mill, which although legal, can be a breeding ground for illness, disease and overall unethical conditions for animals. While it may seem like the easy route to find the exact pet you are looking for, there so many shelters and rescues filled with perfect pets looking for their forever homes.  

Before you adopt a pet, here are a few questions you should ask yourself.  

Travel is officially back, and it’s thriving. The statistics speak for themselves.

As we embark on this new era of travel, it's clear that travelers are reshaping their habits to prioritize personal growth and global betterment, embodying a more conscious and responsible approach to exploring the world.

Let’s dive into three key behavioral shifts that have emerged and destination marketers that are transforming the future of travel.

Plastic is not inherently bad, but our throwaway use of it is. Brands and consumers are reviewing their own behaviors to prevent plastic pollution. But are we all doing enough? Sadly the answer is, “probably not.”

I recently stumbled upon a Netflix special called History 101, and the first episode that caught my eye was titled “Plastics.” In the first 2 minutes I was stopped dead in my tracks when they said “Almost every piece of plastic ever made still exists today.” That was hard to wrap my head around, which led me to dig deeper to understand how serious the issue is and what can be done about it.

In 2022 more than 34 million people in America were food insecure, including 9 million children. Feeding America and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) define hunger as a “lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.” Food insecurity has many root causes, from poverty, lack of affordable housing and access to healthcare.

Understanding the root causes of hunger and getting involved with your local food bank is a great entry point to learn more about fighting and advocating for changes to public policy so no American ever has to go hungry.

Here are three ways that you can give:

VI cares about the issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. While we work to influence behavior change and make a positive impact in our communities, we understand that it starts internally first. Our DEI committee’s mission is to cultivate a workplace that upholds diversity, equity, and inclusion at the forefront: influencing our ideas, impacting our strategies and shaping our values.

Some of our members of the DEI committee recently had the pleasure of attending the Schnake Turnbo Frank Inclusion & Diversity Consortium where they brought back key information on how to be better allies, how to create a sense of belonging in shared spaces and how to avoid burnout when doing the hard work of combating systemic issues.

As I reflected on my topic for this year’s 30 Days of Change, I considered changing things up, but like it or not, addiction is what I know best. I’ve pored over the science of it, sure, but I’ve also lived through it — and changing behaviors begins with empathy, followed by raising awareness and influencing attitudes. I don’t know that anyone is better qualified to tackle a sensitive subject than someone who’s personally experienced it. What else am I going to do with all of this righteous anger? Because despite decades of evidence proving that SUDs are mental disordersinvolving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment and an individual's life experiences, many people still believe they’re a choice, or worse yet, a moral failing. These harmful misconceptions have only exacerbated the stigmas that bar many sufferers from asking for help.

I struggled to distill my thoughts into a single blog post, so I thought to myself, Why do one when I could do several? (Which is precisely the kind of logic that led to my alcohol use disorder in the first place, I know!) Today, I’ll share a bit of my own experience with an SUD, along with breaking down some diagnostic criteria and root causes. Hopefully, by the end of part I, you’ll have a deeper understanding of addiction and empathy for those who suffer from it.

Everyone wants a safer, healthier world, but it can feel overwhelming to see how we achieve it. We have so many opportunities for behaviors to target as we affect change, from healthy habits to smoking to violence prevention to road safety. All of these areas require long-term, sustained work to push toward a large-scale change, but change is possible.

In a world buzzing with distractions, there’s a timeless habit that continues to enrich overall health – reading. Whether you prefer fiction to nonfiction, adventure to romance, self-help to science there are many books to immerse yourself in and kickstart your reading journey.

Where should you even start? We have compiled key benefits, steps to change your behaviors and resources to read more below.

With over 30 years of experience in behavior change marketing, VI is one of the country’s most experienced agencies in the industry. But what exactly is behavior change marketing? 

Behavior change marketing is all around you, engrained in your everyday life. Picture your daily routine. Do you brush your teeth for exactly two minutes? Swap disposable water bottles for reusable ones? Fill half your plate with fruits and veggies? Say “no” to tobacco? Odds are, you’ve been affected by behavior change marketing. 

Behavior change marketing, or social marketing, uses marketing principles and techniques to influence audiences to voluntarily accept, modify, abandon or reject a behavior. Sound intimidating? Don’t worry; it’s kind of our specialty. Let’s get into the weeds of how it’s done.

There’s no shortage of books about how to positively change your behavior. Lucky for you, I’ve read many of these books and think about habits as part of behavior change for my job daily. The science of behavior change is much more than changing one small thing in your life, but one way to change behavior is to impact habits and make change easier for people. It’s important to consider barriers to habit change, and to fully understand what it really takes to change your behavior.  

You’ll find conflicting research about how long it really takes to change habits. Some say 28 days, others much longer. Recent studies say it actually depends on the habit. If something is an easier change to your life, it may take less time to adopt it. If it’s a full-scale change to how you’ve lived your life, give yourself some grace and don’t give up if it takes more time. One of the greatest takeaways in the books referenced below is that dedication in the process to change is potentially even more important than the change itself.