\n[Of course, no one expects visibility alone to change the world, but if we\u2019re invisible we\u2019re not even in the game!]
\nPlaying in the wacky zone<\/b>
\nThe trick to grabbing attention is
![\"toys\"](\"http:\/\/changeologyblog.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/02\/toys.jpg\")
<\/a> to surprise and break stereotypes, which means that, as communicators, we need to be able to surprise ourselves!\n<\/span>
\nSo how could we do that? I\u2019ve been experimenting with some simple ways to encourage out-of-the-box creative thinking. Last year I did a crowd-sourcing experiment<\/a> that provided a pile of cool ideas. Since then I\u2019ve been trialling some in workshops with professional agency staff. Here\u2019s a post that shows a few methods that definitely work<\/a> (and are fun).
\nSome cool examples of wacky (stereotype-busting) campaigns:<\/b>
\nA recent Australian classic is, of course, McCann Melbourne\u2019s \u201cadorably morbid\u201d Dumb Ways to Die<\/a> for Melbourne\u2019s Metro Trains. 70 million Youtube views and scores of parodies, can\u2019t be wrong.\u00a0If (somehow) you haven\u2019t seen the original,\u00a0this is it<\/a>. Enjoy.
\n
<\/a><\/b>And here\u2019s the Rio version<\/a>.\nThe poo fairy won\u2019t pick it up for you!<\/b>
\nMosman Council borrowed \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as the poo fairy\u201d campaign from Keep Britain Tidy\u2019s effort. Here\u2019s how it looks in Mosman parks\u2026with little flags on the doggy poos. Nice work.
\n\u00a0
<\/a><\/b>Crapman, every kid\u2019s role model<\/b>\nZoo Victoria conservation campaigns put most of us to shame for their sense of fun and adventure in support of important causes. A nice example is Wipe for Wildlife that encourages kids to badger their parents to switch to recycled toilet paper. According to Director, Rachel Lowy, 33% of participating families switched.
\nhttp:\/\/www.zoo.org.au\/get-involved\/act-for-wildlife\/wipe-for-wildlife<\/a>
\nIncidentally, I\u2019m love Zoo Victorian\u2019s strategic thinking. Here\u2019s an example:<\/b>
\n<\/b>Illegal mining of Coltan, the source of tantalum capacitors used in mobile phones, <\/b>funds militias which are destabilizing the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, threatening gorillas with extinction. Zoos Victoria\u2019s They\u2019re Calling on You<\/i> campaign<\/a> has so far recycled 95,000 mobile phones to raise over $180,000 for gorilla conservation. That’s a different angle on “closing the loop”.
\n
<\/a>Visualising a bad cactus<\/b>\nHarrisia is a bad cactus that\u2019s causing havoc on farmlands around Goondiwindi in Qld, and over the border in NSW.
\nWaggamba Landcare needed a simple way to to alert farmers to the threat. The solution was to demonise it. The resulting poster uses shame to motivate action by farmers who are “growing it”. It’s a simple image that efficiently communicates: “This guy is muscling onto your good land. Run him outa town!”
\n(Les helped create it for Waggamba Landcare.)
\n
<\/a>What killed Dino?<\/b>\nHeatwaves are set to take an increasing toll on Australians\u2019 health. Typical Emergency Services communications are unlikely to be effective to getting people to prepare, for lots of reasons, one of which is that they are so predictable they are almost invisible.
\nHere\u2019s an alternative visual approach (developed by Les for the City of Port Phillip\u2019s Weather Ready program).
\nIt aims to be fresh, noticeable, and get to the point quickly, without the usual explanations, background, justifications and cognitively demanding “5 step action plan”.
\n
<\/a>Communicating good cycling behaviour<\/b>\nWith so many men turning to bikes for exercise, and many having not a clue about good behaviour on shared paths, it\u2019s getting scary to be a pedestrian, especially with children around.
\nTo communicate shared path protocols, the message has to both be easily seen and simply, precisely communicate what the desired action is.
\nHere\u2019s a way to do it:
\nhttp:\/\/changeologyblog.wordpress.com\/2013\/11\/19\/communicating-good-cycling-behaviour\/<\/a>
\nSweden\u2019s Largest Energy Experiment<\/b>
\nOne of the challenges with designing energy conservation campaigns is that energy is invisible.
\n
<\/a>E.ON, the Swedish energy company, reduced energy use by 12% (a HUGE amount!) with a campaign that was also an experiment: what if people could see how much energy they were using?\n10,000 participants were given an app, connected to a smart meter in their homes, that visualized their household energy use in different ways:
\n– real money spent in real time
\n– a virtual battle with other households to save energy
\n– a mean coach spurring them on to save more
\n– a cute Tomogouchi that died if you didn\u2019t save enough.
\n
<\/a>What visualisation worked best? The company didn’t say\u2026but altogether the 10,000 participants cut their energy use by a wopping 12%.\nAnother nice idea they used was to invite the public to share their energy saving tips. The campaign converted them into cool cartoons, printed in booklets, distributed nationally, and displayed on billboards.
\nThe video is worth watching: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DW7cG2yEV84<\/a>
\nAbout the campaign: http:\/\/www.fb.se\/work\/eon\/swedens-largest-energy-experiment<\/a>
\n
<\/a>Take 3<\/strong>\nHere’s another neat angle on visualisation. What if the name of the campaign, alone, told you exactly what to do?
\nThis is the beach anti-littering campaign of highly-motivated surfer, Tim Silverwood.
\nTake 3<\/a> is a simple idea “take three pieces of rubbish with you when you leave the beach.”
\nAll you need to know is the name (plus Tim’s cool surfing charisma).
\nMaking climate change visible<\/b>
\nWith super cyclone Haiyan smashing the Philippines, and a burning hot summer at home, Climate Change is getting very real, but for a lot of people it\u2019s still invisible and often happening somewhere else. How can we help people see it?
\n
<\/a>What I love<\/b>\nTo help climate change touch home, here\u2019s a nice idea from The Climate Reality Project. Just like iconic species have helped rally efforts to save biodiversity, so maybe climate change has its iconic threatened species too\u2026like cheese, beer, rice, coffee and skiing!
\nSelect 8 things you love (water, bananas, freedom, home improvement, Tokyo) and see what climate change will do to them, then do something about it.
\nhttp:\/\/www.whatilove.org\/<\/a>
\n
<\/a>Globaia: visualising climate change<\/b>\nGlobaia is a data visualisation company that have produced some beautiful and awe inspiring videos depicting impacts of climate change. Here are a couple that would make any audience take notice.
\nWelcome to the Anthropocene:\u00a0http:\/\/vimeo.com\/40940686<\/a>
\nClimate Change \u2013 The state of the science:\u00a0http:\/\/vimeo.com\/75038049<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSydney:<\/b>\u00a01-2 April
\nMelbourne:<\/b>\u00a029-30 April
\n
\nInnovation Seedbox:\u00a0Creative<\/span>\u00a0solutions for tricky problems
\n<\/span><\/span>A one day \u201cinnovation lab\u201d to put an inventive zap into your service or project. Our promise: you’ll be excited by the solution you create! Plus you’ll prepare the perfect pitch to sell your idea.\u00a0Full details<\/a>.
\nSydney:<\/b>\u00a010 April
\nMelbourne:<\/b>\u00a02 May
\nFacilitation\u00a0Skills<\/span>: Facilitate any gathering with confidence
\n<\/span><\/span>Facilitation is a change maker’s core skill. Les shares the skills and tools to productively facilitate almost any group in almost any situation.\u00a0Full details<\/a>.
\nSydney:<\/b>\u00a08 April
\nMelbourne:<\/b>\u00a01 May\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This Signs and Wonders focuses on making communications that people actually SEE: that grasp their attention. [Of course, no one expects visibility alone to change the world, but if we\u2019re invisible we\u2019re not even in the game!] Playing in the wacky zone The trick to grabbing attention is to surprise and break stereotypes, which means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,8,10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-facilitation-2","category-innovation-2","category-marketing-and-communications","has-post-thumbnail","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pac6ss-bb","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}