The fun theory – Designing for social change.

In the first of many posts that I will write about designing for social change, I thought I’d show you the fun theory.

This is just one of the theories that is not only aimed towards promoting change, but one that highlights how simple and fun change can be.

Humans are, by nature, scared of change or find it too hard to bother. But what happens when you get creative about ways to influence people? What’s the best way to infiltrate society to become motivated to change? Can we design a strategy to promote change?

Introducing the fun theory.

This is a campaign and website supported by VolksWagon that is dedicated to the idea that something simple and fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

If you wanted to inspire people to use the stairs instead of the escalator what sort of a strategy could you come up with?

Can you make people use the stairs by making it fun?

Here’s one such example that uses the fun theory and gets great results.

And watch how the fun theory can give parents some peace.

So the next time you want to influence change, whether it’s getting someone to switch to your product or service or simply just convincing a child to keep their room tidy, think about how you can make it fun and simple.

Ellie

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The Tipping Point in action

One of the most fascinating videos I have ever seen has hideous camera work and a God-awful soundtrack.

You’ll be tempted to turn if off after 2 or 3 seconds, but this one rewards you for sticking with it for the full 3 minutes and 6 seconds, because it shows something we mostly only ever read about.

A tipping point.

For those who haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, the tipping point is the moment where a product, service or an idea suddenly becomes  popular. It’s described as ‘the level where the momentum for change becomes unstoppable’. It’s the brand that was unknown yesterday and is now on everyone’s lips.

Like Twitter.

It tipped after being featured at the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive Conference. Before the conference, the number of tweets a day was 20,000. During the conference, it jumped to 60,000, and now it’s up around 3 million tweets a day.

Or the ‘Twilight’ series, which was first published in 2005 to the delight of teenage girls, but now seems to be on everyone’s bookshelf and, with the movie release, has entered popular culture and spawned terms such as ‘Twilight Moms‘.

But back to the video (below), taken at the Sasquatch Music Festival in 2009.

While everyone sits and chats on picnic blankets, a lone man (very possibly under the influence of something illegal) starts a crazy little dance and is quickly joined by his mate. At that point their idea – ‘let’s dance’ – is not something anyone else wants buy into. Most ignore them, some look a little embarrassed for them. But these two are having a grand old time while the crowd just sits and stares.

Now it’s gotta take guts – or hard drugs – to swim against the current like these guys are.

In front of hundreds of people they’re flying in the face of the status quo. They’ve just launched a new idea and nobody is quite sure what to make of it. And we humans tend to prefer the safety of numbers. Socially, it’s much safer to do what the majority of the crowd is doing.

But look at what happens at the 1:20 mark.

Another 8 people join the group.

This idea just tipped.

Now in that group of 8, there was very likely one brave (and popular) soul who not only decided to get up and dance, but convinced 7 of his closest friends to do so too. No longer are we watching a couple of weirdos dancing in a field, we’re at a small dance party. And that clearly makes all the difference.

At 1:30,  people are running – literally running – to join in.

At 1:50, the dancers have taken over from the picnic blanketers. Get up and dance, little fellas, or you’re gonna get trod on.

At the end of the video, at least 100 people are on their feet, waving their arms in the air. We’ve gone from a few picnickers on blankets to a swarming, dancing crowd.

New ideas work this way too. They don’t necessarily take off immediately.

We have a quote on the wall here, readying: “Don’t worry about people stealing your idea. If it’s truly original you’ll have to ram it down their throats”.

But if you get the right few people behind it, it’ll take off faster than you can believe.

xk

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In the brave new world of social media where the fan and the brand are now on the same level, but the multinational computer company releases the hounds on the little Aussie supermarket for having a stylised “w” that looks a bit like an apple as part of its corporate identity, the matter of who owns your brand and how you police it becomes a very grey area.

Now, I’m nothing if not unoriginal (I even stole that line), but even I don’t want this to be just another blog about big brands and how they ought to lighten up a bit.

So I’ll keep it small.

Personal even.

Natalie Imbruglia being that person.

In 1998 she had a massive global hit with the song “Torn”. It sold a million copies in the UK alone (that’s copies kids, not downloads), it was in the US Billboard chart for 14 weeks and won both ARIA and MTV music awards.

Even today it’s still the song most readily identified with her. You’d think she wouldn’t want anyone dicking around with that.

Yet in 2005 English comedian David Armand did just that, in character as ‘Johann Lippowitz’ – an Austrian interpretive dance artist – a performance of his mime to ‘Torn’ went viral and was seen around the world. And to be fair it is very funny. But it’s borrowed interest (like all the stuff I get from Wikipedia) and it’s hardly doing anything for Brand Imbruglia is it?

What to do then?

Sue? That’s what Apple would probably do, have the legal department to get medieval on his ass.

Turn a blind eye? Coca Cola did that with the Facebook page that was started without their permission, it now has 4,129,366 fans and they have left control in the hands of the pages’ founders, they even occasionally supply content. True story.

But Imbruglia chose to do neither. She embraced it. In 2006 at the ‘Secret Policeman’s Ball’ the Amnesty international fundraiser, she got up and performed alongside Johann Lippowitz. The audience loved it, how could you not? She had shown in one single act that she was not just a big enough person to be able to roll with the punches, but big enough to take back ownership of the song again.

I think it’s brilliant.

Apple, watch and learn.

d

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Every now and then, you hear about someone who’s gone out and had a corporate logo tattooed on their body. It’s usually incentivised by the company who stands to benefit from the exposure. Sometimes they offer money. Or a lifetime supply of whatever it is they produce – like one guy who had ‘Peri Peri’ tattooed on his thigh for unlimited free Nando’s. Then there are people who just sell the space to the highest bidder – like one girl from the US who tattooed ‘goldenpalace.com’ on her forehead for $10,000.

You couldn’t pay me enough to have that thing on my face for the rest of my life.

In fact, I’m generally against putting any kind of branded tattoo on my body – even if it’s temporary. Up until now, I’ve thought it was tasteless.

But then I came across this gorgeous range of temporary tattoos that have been released by Chanel. They’re unlike any I’ve seen before – because they’re not just promotional tats, they’re fashion accessories.

You can buy the full set from any Chanel cosmetics counter for around $90.

At risk of sounding like a sucker, I’m keen to go check them out. And I’m sure I won’t be the only one.

They’d look so cute with the outfits I plan on wearing to upcoming music festivals, which might come as a slap in the face to the festivals’ corporate sponsors.

Because while those companies fork out the cash to have their own brand of temp tats given away, Chanel will be achieving the same level of exposure – and cashing in at the same time.

Stef

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Last year, singer songwriter Regina Spektor released a song that became an instant favourite of mine.

You see, I’m a big fan of good word-play or a clever turn of phase, this time it’s just a lyric got straight to the heart of something.

Musically it might not be your cup of tea, it’s not all that different from the sort of thing Alanis Morissette puts out. But unlike Ms Morissette who once released a song called “Ironic” wherein she proved that she didn’t actually understand what irony was at  all, (which is itself is quite ironic), Ms Spektor knows her  subject matter.

“Laughing With” is a song that at its core is one of ad-land’s  holiest of grails, an insight.

She’s just making an observation about society’s views on religion and faith. And the human condition. That it’s ok to take the piss when everything is going well, but placed into a situation that’s gone seriously pear-shaped our attitude changes somewhat.

Ok, it’s not rocket science, and she’s not going to trouble the Pulitzer board with this, but is that the purpose of a pop song anyway?

If this were a bit of advertising and if it got peoples’ attention, made them take a second look and sold lots of product I’d say it’s more than done its job. Look, I know music is subjective, but then so is art, and design, and advertising, but if we could build all our creative around an insight, how much greater the chance we’d connect with our audience.

“Laughing With” ended up going to a very respectable number 14 in the US singles chart, which might suggest I’m not the only one who heard it and thought “yeah that’s what I think too”.

d

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It’s the standard smart-arse response when you ask for a ballpark quote or a budget or a rough idea of head hours or any question where the details haven’t yet been nutted out.

How long’s a piece of string?

It’s a cop out.

Because you’re not being asked for a precise figure. You’re being asked to guesstimate and you probably have enough information to do that. If not, ask a few questions. Figure out your parameters.

All you really need to know is what the string is for:

For tying up my tomatoes? Anywhere between 10cm and 20cm per tomato plant.

For wrapping a toy? Probably somewhere between 30cm and 3m.

For stringing up Christmas decorations in the agency. Hmmmm, around 30m should do the trick

Rough, ballpark figures to give someone a better idea of what they’re dealing with.

That’s all we ask.

You’d be mad to give a creative team a brief without a budget – it’s like throwing down a challenge to any creative worth their salt. You’re telling them the sky’s the limit. And you’ll never be able to afford what they come up with.

My rough guess is that most people have a half-decent idea of their budget. The conversation goes something like this:

Me: What’s the budget?

Them: Client didn’t give us one

Me: Just a rough, ballpark cost. Doesn’t have to be exact.

Them: Sorry, I really couldn’t say.

Me: OK. So a hundred dollars a pack sound OK?

Them: God no, more like 2 bucks.

So next time your request is met with ‘how long’s a piece of string?’, ask ‘what’s the string for?’.

Or just answer ‘twice as long as half the length’.

That ought to shut ‘em up.

xk

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