I just found an inspiring example of a behaviour change advertisement.
When a catastrophic fire approaches, just turn to your partner and say these words: “We should leave.”
I could do that.
Anyone could do that.
Most emergency management ads want people to “Have a plan” – a vague and sprawling idea that raises a pile of perplexing questions and doesn’t answer any of them. By comparison, how beautifully simple is this alternative.
Of course, the creators were reporting to a state government, so they felt duty bound to include some conventional elements – a cinematic apocalypse and a meaningless slogan “How well do you know fire?” But let’s celebrate ad agency VML for finding one genius moment that does the work, delivering 100% of what that ANY video advertisement could possible do, which is to identify one simple, followable action, and model it.
Here is another wonderful example, from NSW Department of Communities and Justice. Again, the action is just to say a few words: “Can I kiss you?”
Anyone could do that.
Brilliant! It reduces all the (no doubt) fantastic complexity of sexual consent education to a simple, followable action. And, nicely, the voiceover even says “That’s how you do it” showing that the scriptwriters knew exactly what they were doing.
These are both examples of ‘I can do that moments’ – simple, crisp, followable depictions of the pivotal action.
I reckon ‘I can do that moments’ are the single most important components of a behaviour change project.
Why? Because they attack the #1 enemy of change – people’s fear of failure.
I like this quote: “In most cases, people hate change because they don’t like to suddenly become stupid.” (Jared Spool)
‘I can do that moments’ directly attack one of our deepest fears – the humiliation of getting it wrong. When we can see exactly how to perform an action, our self-efficacy grows and fear starts to evaporate.
And yes, you’re right, probably our biggest problem will be to decide which ONE pivotal action to focus on, and then convince our managers. I know that won’t be easy – but judicious use of focus groups (which we should be doing anyway) are sure to help.
Best wishes changing the world folks!
This, and a whole lot more, is covered in our next Changeology Masterclass on the mornings of 28 and 29 October 2025. You’ll get to design your next behaviour change project with some delightful colleagues.
Click here for Masterclass details: www.enablingchange.com.au
