#pester power

Wall's Sky Ray ice lolly with free cards and stamps. Another ruse to sell products.

Which, further, has yours truly wondering if there were actual cases of parents who, unable to deal with the excesses of advertising-driven “pester power” from their children (especially if incessant), were left with no choice vis-a-vis the Ungrateful Children but to resort to extremes of depravity and cruelty. (And no, I’m not talking about instances thereof which were likely exaggerated to sensationalist effect for the tabloids, in particular during the I ATE MY BABY phase of the National Enquirer or its Canadian “cousin,” the Hush Free Press.

Image: “Child tugging adult's hand, Portugal 2014″ by Canovu. CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Check out the deck here: http://www.slideshare.net/katzkiely/loop-instanbul-final-pdf

Many projects have tried to crack this challenge over the last few years with limited success. Using available technology and integrating behavioural insights across all stages of design and implementation, LOOP Labs (working with Intel Collaborative Research Institute and Ogilvy Change) is developing a new integrated model to motivate people to walk more and drive less.  The first LOOP multi-channel behaviour change campaign is called “Walk the Talk.” Over the next three months at a testbed in Brixton, in a TSB funded feasibility project, we will experiment with a number of innovative design techniques, and share our journey across multiple platforms, to benefit likeminded organisations. The input of local community leaders will be central to design and development process. As adults are heavily influenced by the desires of their children, we will harness “pester power” by including primary school children from our testbed area in the design, development and decision making process.  A clever, and brand new, game mechanic will harness, and potentially strengthen, intergenerational bonds. Children will depend on points collected from adult team members to rise through game levels. Points will be collected by adults on a smart phone tracking app based on tried and tested models like those used by “Moves”. The app will track steps, distance, calories, and map routes. LOOP believes that public connected screens could be a powerful piece in the motivational puzzle. They litter the urban landscape, often with unused, or badly used, media space. We will commandeer screens in places where significant numbers of the testbed community spend time, including supermarkets, municipal offices, health centres, cinemas, and pubs.  People feel individual actions are worthless in the face of the massive climate change challenge. Perceived lack of impact is demotivating. Following the crowd and “keeping up with the Jones’s”,however, are both powerful drivers. Childrenand parents will be rewarded for even their smallest successes, keeping them engaged and enthused. LOOP LABS interventions will show that individual actions, collected across communities, can have significant impact. Data generated by kids and their adult teams will be aggregated and visualised on public screens, answering questions such as: How far has the community walked? How many calories has it burned? Which school and which child are doing best? Cities were not built in a day. Solving the Smart Cities challenge will not happen overnight. However LOOP Labs believes that new models harnessing social media, behavioural insights and open data hold a vital key.