I spend some time reading and thinking about social marketing and campaigns, which try to trigger that wanted behavioural change. A lot is done within the field of guerilla marketing, which is a usually a cheap method and executed efficiently can be very effective. That is because it uses unusual means, which can raise a lot of attention.

One example is a very recent campaign against wild animals in German homes. The organisation body painted three models as snakes and put them on a couch in heavily frequented pedestrian area in Berlin. You can watch a video about this campaign on Youtube. It’s in German, but I think the pictures speak for themselves.

By posting this video on Youtube they raised the level of the campaign. Now it’s viral marketing and they hope that people are interested and share the video with their friends and they share it and so on. Through that it can become an epidemic, the characteristic of viral marketing. But is the video good enough to be spread like a virus on the internet?

Successful viral marketing campaigns are the well-known example of Blair Witch Project or the viral videos sponsored by Volkswagen . The aim of one video by VW social marketing campaign was making people use the stairs instead of the escalator, which is better for their health. In the spot they introduce the Funtheory: “Fun can obviously change behaviour for the better”. When you make something more fun, you add another incentive to a certain behaviour. They did the same with another video, which wanted to make people throw their trash in a waste bin. Besides doing that for the environment, people now had fun within the process. See how they achieved it.

The communication instrument mass media is often used because of it’s obvious advantage: the possibility to reach a lot of people. Many companies rely on television, but also other media have great potential, like posters. Here one example by the Australian Childhood Foundation (this one by misereor is also quite good).

For an intellectual target group I consider PR methods as especially effective. That is because people, who were so fortunate to attend university, were trained in certain scientific approaches. So they rather believe a magazine or an organization, which are known for their good research and especially their independence. Is a product scientifically proven by a organization or does a product receive a recommendation by respected institute it will most likely convince an educated target group.

If they do not trust in institutions, they trust in people who are close to them. Science has proven, that if you want to convince somebody to change their behaviour, for example do volunteer work, they are more easily convinced through personal contacts. That’s why viral marketing works so well. In the diffusion process the innovators and early adopters are the ones who achieve that the product gets accepted by the majority. Gladwell is the one who combined diffusion and viral marketing. And formed new groups of people, the connectors (who have many connections) , the mavens (who know the trends and communicate them) and the salesmen (who have a strong persuasive power). If you identify those people (opinion leaders) and make them “love” your cause, those can become a very strong marketing tool.

Besides your close friends, who obviously have great influence on you, famous actors or singers have a certain persuasiveness as well, because a lot of people feel personally connected to them and follow their advice. For example did Leonardo DiCaprio try to use his stardom to raise attention for the environment.

During these articles I read I had a fun idea for a social – guerilla / viral – marketing campaign for driving less (save carbon dioxide). I would convince an actor, who is known for his environmental engagement and big fan crowd, to act in a short video for me. In this video he sits behind the wheel of his car. Then there would be a close up of his hand on the key in the ignition. He moves a little, but then he doesn’t start the car. Afterwards you see the actor who is still sitting there slowly starting to cry.. then more heavily and more heavily… he bangs his head on the wheel. Afterwards there would be a black screen with the slogan. In the beginning you could not give it away, not say why he cries (or she for that matter). It would be possible to make people guess why. After the secret is lifted there could be a competition for amateur-actors to re-enact the scene and the best wins a price. There are many components which can be added to the campaign. It’s actually very much fun making up those ideas….