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How Volkswagen Brand Campaigns Connect with Customers

How Volkswagen Brand Campaigns Connect with Customers 10 min read

Volkswagen, commonly abbreviated as VW, is a German automotive company founded in 1937. The company’s headquarters are located in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Volkswagen is the original and largest brand within the Volkswagen Group, which also includes other car brands such as Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Skoda, and SEAT.

Volkswagen is known for producing a wide range of vehicles, including passenger cars, SUVs, commercial vehicles, and luxury vehicles. Some of its most well-known models include the Volkswagen Beetle, Golf, Passat, and Jetta.

In recent years, Volkswagen has been a leader in the development of electric vehicles, with models such as the Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4. The company has also been working to improve the sustainability of its manufacturing processes and reduce its carbon footprint.

Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest automakers and has a presence in markets all over the globe. It is known for its innovative engineering, reliability, and high-quality vehicles.

Brand Campaigns of Volkswagen

Volkswagen has been known for its creative and innovative brand campaigns over the years. Some of the most notable campaigns are:

“Think Small” (1960s)

The “Think Small” brand campaign was launched by Volkswagen in the 1960s , and it is widely considered as one of the most successful campaigns of all time . The campaign was created by the advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach , and it focused on promoting the Volkswagen Beetle in the US market.

At the time, American cars were big, flashy, and often impractical. In contrast, the Volkswagen Beetle was small, simple, and affordable. However, these features were seen as disadvantages by many American consumers who were used to larger and more extravagant cars. The “Think Small” campaign aimed to turn these perceived weaknesses into strengths.

The campaign consisted of a series of print ads that featured minimalist designs and clever copywriting. The ads showcased the Volkswagen Beetle’s small size and unique features, such as its air-cooled engine, and positioned the car as an alternative to the larger, more extravagant American cars of the time.

The ads were highly effective in creating buzz around the Volkswagen Beetle and increasing its popularity in the US market. The campaign’s success was due in part to its clever use of irony and humor, which helped to engage consumers and make the car seem more approachable and relatable.

In addition to its immediate success, the “Think Small” campaign had a long-lasting impact on the advertising industry. It demonstrated the power of creative, unconventional advertising, and it helped to establish Doyle Dane Bernbach as one of the most innovative and influential advertising agencies of the time.

Overall, the “Think Small” campaign was a landmark moment in Volkswagen’s history and in the history of advertising. It showcased the power of creative, innovative branding, and it helped to establish Volkswagen as a major player in the US automotive market .

“The Darth Vader Kid” (2011)

“The Darth Vader Kid” was a brand campaign launched by Volkswagen in 2011 to promote the Passat sedan. The campaign featured a television commercial that quickly went viral and became a pop culture phenomenon.

The commercial features a young boy dressed in a Darth Vader costume attempting to use “the Force” to move various objects around his house, including a doll and the family dog. He is then shown trying to start his father’s Volkswagen Passat using the same “Force” powers, but to no avail. The boy’s father then secretly starts the car from inside the house using a remote starter, and the boy is surprised and thrilled to see the car starting up as he tries to use his powers on it.

The commercial was a major success, with millions of views on YouTube and social media. It resonated with audiences by combining humor and relatability with the popular Star Wars franchise, and it showcased the Passat’s key features, including its remote starter and advanced technology.

The campaign was successful in creating significant brand awareness for Volkswagen and generating interest in the Passat sedan. It also helped to solidify Volkswagen’s reputation as a fun and creative brand, capable of connecting with audiences in a meaningful and entertaining way.

Overall, “The Darth Vader Kid” campaign was a standout example of effective brand marketing, using a combination of humor, nostalgia, and popular culture to connect with audiences and promote the Volkswagen Passat. It remains one of Volkswagen’s most iconic and memorable advertising campaigns to date.

“The Fun Theory” (2009)

“The Fun Theory” was a brand campaign launched by Volkswagen in 2009 with the aim of promoting its environmentally friendly cars. The campaign was based on the idea that making environmentally conscious behavior fun and enjoyable can encourage more people to adopt sustainable habits.

The campaign consisted of a series of viral videos that featured fun and creative ideas for encouraging eco-friendly behavior. One video, for example, showed how a set of stairs that looked like a giant piano could encourage people to use the stairs instead of an escalator. Another video showed how a recycling bin that made a satisfying sound when used could encourage more people to recycle.

The “Fun Theory” campaign was hugely successful, with the videos generating millions of views on YouTube and social media. The campaign showcased Volkswagen’s commitment to sustainability and innovation while also demonstrating its ability to think creatively and outside the box.

The campaign was successful in generating significant buzz and awareness for Volkswagen’s environmentally friendly cars. It also helped to position Volkswagen as a fun and innovative brand that is committed to making a positive impact on the world.

Overall, “The Fun Theory” campaign was a standout example of effective brand marketing that combined sustainability, innovation, and fun to create a memorable and impactful message. It demonstrated Volkswagen’s ability to think creatively and connect with audiences in a meaningful and engaging way

“The People’s Car Project” (2011)

The People’s Car Project was a brand campaign launched by Volkswagen in China in 2011. The campaign was aimed at engaging with Chinese consumers and soliciting ideas and feedback for the development of a new Volkswagen car specifically designed for the Chinese market.

The campaign was centered around an interactive website where consumers could submit their ideas and designs for a new Volkswagen car, as well as vote and comment on the ideas submitted by others. The website also featured a range of online tools and resources to help consumers develop and refine their ideas, including 3D modeling software and design tutorials.

The campaign was a huge success, with over 119,000 ideas submitted and more than 33 million votes cast. The ideas submitted ranged from practical improvements to existing Volkswagen models to completely new and innovative designs.

Volkswagen used the feedback and ideas gathered from The People’s Car Project to inform the development of a new car specifically designed for the Chinese market. The car, called the Volkswagen Lavida, was launched in 2012 and was a major success, becoming one of the top-selling cars in China.

The People’s Car Project was successful in creating significant engagement and interest among Chinese consumers and helping Volkswagen to develop a car that was specifically tailored to the needs and preferences of the Chinese market. The campaign also helped to position Volkswagen as a brand that is committed to engaging with consumers and listening to their feedback and ideas.

Overall, The People’s Car Project was a standout example of effective brand marketing that leveraged the power of crowdsourcing and interactive digital tools to create a truly collaborative and engaging campaign.

“Das Auto” (2007-2015)

“Das Auto” was a brand campaign launched by Volkswagen in 2007. The campaign was designed to reinforce Volkswagen’s position as a leading car manufacturer and emphasize the company’s commitment to quality, engineering, and innovation.

The campaign centered around the tagline “Das Auto”, which translates to “The Car” in English. The tagline was intended to convey Volkswagen’s confidence and pride in its products, while also emphasizing the brand’s German engineering heritage and reputation for precision and excellence.

The campaign featured a range of print, TV, and digital ads, as well as social media content and experiential marketing initiatives. The ads showcased Volkswagen’s different models, highlighting their design, performance, and features, and positioning them as superior and iconic cars.

The campaign was highly successful and helped to reinforce Volkswagen’s position as a leading car brand. The “Das Auto” tagline became synonymous with Volkswagen and was widely recognized and admired by consumers around the world.

However, in the wake of the 2015 diesel emissions scandal, Volkswagen faced criticism for its “Das Auto” campaign, with some accusing the brand of promoting an overly confident and self-assured image that was not reflective of its actions.

In response, Volkswagen discontinued the “Das Auto” tagline in 2016, acknowledging that it had become outdated and no longer aligned with the brand’s values and priorities. The move was part of a broader rebranding effort aimed at promoting transparency, accountability, and sustainability, and restoring consumer trust in the brand.

Overall, the “Das Auto” campaign was a notable example of effective brand marketing that leveraged the power of a simple yet powerful tagline to create a distinctive and memorable brand identity. While the campaign faced criticism in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal, it remains a key part of Volkswagen’s brand heritage and legacy.

“Drive Bigger” (2019)

The “Drive Bigger” campaign is a recent brand campaign launched by Volkswagen in 2019. The campaign is designed to emphasize Volkswagen’s commitment to sustainability, innovation, and social responsibility.

The campaign centers around the tagline “Drive Bigger”, which is intended to convey Volkswagen’s ambition to create a better future for all, and to inspire its customers and partners to think and act in more impactful ways.

The “Drive Bigger” campaign features a range of print, TV, and digital ads, as well as social media content and experiential marketing initiatives. The ads showcase Volkswagen’s different models, highlighting their advanced technology, safety features, and sustainability credentials, and positioning them as vehicles that can help customers make a positive difference in the world.

In addition to promoting its products, the campaign also showcases Volkswagen’s broader commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. For example, t he campaign highlights Volkswagen’s partnership with The Conservation Fund, a non-profit organization focused on conservation and environmental protection, and features stories of real Volkswagen customers who are making a positive impact in their communities.

The “Drive Bigger” campaign has been well-received by consumers and industry experts alike, and has helped to reinforce Volkswagen’s position as a brand that is committed to innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility. The campaign has also helped to differentiate Volkswagen from its competitors, by emphasizing the brand’s unique values and priorities, and showcasing its products in a more purposeful and impactful way.

Overall, the “Drive Bigger” campaign is a notable example of effective brand marketing that leverages the power of purpose-driven messaging to create a distinctive and memorable brand identity. By emphasizing its commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, Volkswagen is able to connect with customers on a deeper level, and inspire them to think and act in more impactful ways.

Overall, Volkswagen’s brand campaigns have been highly successful in creating brand awareness and loyalty, while also promoting the company’s unique features and initiatives. These campaigns have often been innovative and creative, reflecting Volkswagen’s commitment to quality and innovation.

Also Read: The Volkswagen Group: A Deep Dive into the Company’s Portfolio of Brands

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Fun Theory: how positivity inspires action

If fun gets you there, that’s fine….

One of our favourite fables involves an argument between the wind and the sun over who was more powerful. To settle the matter, they challenged each other to make a passing traveller give up their cloak (this was back when cloaks were a thing). The wind blew and blasted but the traveller only tightened their grip and pulled the cloak more closely around them.

Exhausted, the wind gave up. The sun smiled and shone, its pleasant rays warming the traveller so that they soon unfastened and discarded their cloak by choice. The moral is simple: it’s easier to get someone to do something if they want to do it. And that’s the principle behind Fun Theory.

Fun Theory had been around for a while before it burst into our consciousness through an advertising campaign by Volkswagen.  

The essence was to encourage people to do the right thing by making it fun . At a busy subway station in Sweden, Volkswagen installed piano stairs – stairs that looked like giant piano keys and played a musical note when anyone stepped on them. They were positioned right next to the escalator. This enabled people to play a tune by walking up the stairs, rewarding them for making a healthier choice. It was a huge success; usually, 95 percent of travellers took the escalator but now, 66 percent were choosing the stairs. Watch the video, below;

Why did this work? It’s based on the reality that we humans often need a good reason to do something that we perceive to be annoying or harder work – sometimes we need an incentive to do the right thing. In the case of the piano stairs, it’s easier to take the escalator and more effort to take the stairs, even though we know the latter is better for our health. A few people will take the stairs for that reason alone, but most need an extra nudge in the form of some fun!

Humans are pretty much hardwired for fun; we enjoy having fun and will go out of our way to do fun things.  

It can therefore be a strong motivator for our actions, and this is what Fun Theory plays on; fun is the reward for doing something we might not otherwise do.

A sense of fun is also important in communications. To communicate effectively and to persuade people to act you need them to engage with your content and messaging. Fun is a great way of engaging people: it makes them want to read more; it makes them feel positive about your message; it makes them want to act because they associate your message with positivity. As the adage goes, they might forget what you said but they won’t forget how you made them feel.

Here it’s important to differentiate between fun and funny. Fun content is something enjoyable, whereas funny content makes you laugh – and we’re not suggesting you should try to make subjects like plastic pollution humorous. However, adopting a fun approach that is positive and engaging (as opposed to severe and depressing), can deliver a serious message very powerfully without belittling the subject.

The positivity that comes from fun is crucial in communicating difficult subjects such as the climate crisis – especially if you want to compel people to act. Negativity breeds negativity and content draped in horror and despair can form a huge barrier to action – why should I act if it’s all so awful and we are all doomed? Positivity is infinitely more effective and ‘fun’ content comes with an implicit sense of hope.

So, how can Fun Theory be applied to purpose-driven topics, such as pollution and climate change? Being purpose-driven, the goal is to change behaviours: recycle more; save water; switch to green energy. The seriousness of the situation cannot be denied but it doesn’t have to be dwelled upon.

Consider another of Volkswagen’s Fun Theory stunts: the world’s biggest bin drop . It created a special sound-effect-emitting bin that made a comical, cartoon-like noise, like something falling off a cliff, whenever rubbish was dropped into it. It was a huge success, so much so, that members of the public actually started collecting discarded litter to drop in the bin, just for the fun of it.

Making recycling fun is, superficially at least, more about the fun of the action than the dangers of plastic pollution in our oceans. What matters is the end result, the action, not why that action was taken. If someone recycles a plastic bottle because it is fun or feels good, the bottle is no less recycled than if they acted through fear for the planet. When that feel-good action becomes a spontaneous habit – job done.

Inspiring people to change their behaviour and do the right thing is the goal. If it’s fun that gets you there, that’s fine.  

At Creature & Co., we know that fun has a valuable role to play in our communications. We specialise in purpose-driven topics, and find that it resonates with audiences young and old . Even the most serious of grown-ups still value a sense of fun, and it can work wonders for inspiring those people to act.

To truly shape behaviour, information and understanding are key, so injecting fun into articles, quizzes, and other modes of explaining complex topics helps to inform, inspire and empower positive action. Today, many brands aspire to do the right thing, and many of them hope to inspire their audience to do so, too. As content creators, we can try to force or frighten people into doing something, or we can make them want to do it by applying fun.

Just like the sun and the wind, we know which method works best!

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The Fun Theory

BRAND Volkswagen / MADE BY DDB

How do you get people to change behaviour and do the right thing? How do you incentivise doing good? Volkswagen answered these questions with The Fun Theory. They staged four different public interventions: a piano staircase, a bin with a fifty-foot drop, the bottle-bank arcade, fast lanes in supermarkets and subways and a speed-camera lottery.

Instead of making consumers feel guilty, this campaign makes it exciting to do the right thing. This enjoyment of doing good also ties back very strongly to Volkswagen’s Bluemotion – a series of cars they have designed which are more environmentally friendly than their standard offering.

The Fun Theory proved to be true – all of the interventions were used much more than other local options – the stairs, which were right next to an escalator, were used 66% more than normal as people took their time playing a tune. These ideas and the reactions from people were filmed and then made available online as viral films, where they performed very well. This campaign proves to be so cutting edge because it straddles the line between ambient and viral and at the same time espouses an idea more than a specific brand message. It’s all about doing good and having fun.

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Volkswagen Fun Theory Campaign: It’s easy to change people’s habits … if we make it fun

It’s a trend that brands can’t ignore anymore – the green one. It’s what people want to buy (As long as it doesn’t affect their comfort) It’s what’s going to sell

Some succeed in their approach better than others, though. With a little bit more  creativity , a tad more  originality  … Volkswagen  – Yup, the dudes that sell cars, defo got that right.

Have you heard of The Fun Theory campaign that took place in Sweden?

It’s about proving that yes indeed,  it is easy to change people’s habits if we make it fun . We love it. Here is a brief overview:

The bottle bank

The aim:  Get people to recycle.

How:  With a game. Easy. put the bottle in the correct hole.

The result:  Hundreds of bottles collected within 24h. The collector that’s on the same street didn’t do so well apparently. Huh.

The world deepest bin

The aim:  Make sure people through their rubbish in the bin, not on the floor (!!)

How:  With a bin that makes a noise when you through something in it.

The result:  72kg in one day, 41% more than usual.

The piano staircase

The aim:  Get people to use the stairs instead of the escalator.

How:  By turning normal stairs into Musical stairs.

The result:  Well, some people even went up and down, some others even ran – I noticed.

Goes to show doesn’t it.

No, that’s not it. It even goes further than that, there is a whole website, where people can even suggest ideas and win 25,000 Euros.

All about it on  thefuntheory.com  website.

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183 – The fun theory

• John Laurito
• August 18, 2021
• Leave a Comment

In this episode, host John Laurito talks about the Volkswagen experiment in Sweden and how it changed people’s preference of getting to and from the train station in their daily commute. The Fun Theory tells us that novelty makes things interesting, and making something fun makes doing the task more bearable. John also shares how the same theory can be applied in people’s personal or business lives to make activities or work fun while getting maximum results.

[ 0:00 ] Intro

[ 0:26 ] The Piano Stairs in Odenplan underground station of Stockholm

[ 3:32 ] Delayed gratification

[ 4:12 ] Changing the behavior by adding a short-term reward and how this theory relates to leadership and business

[ 7:46 ] John’s point for today’s episode

[ 9:00 ] Outro

John Over the last two decades, I’ve been on a quest to learn everything I can about leadership obsessed with what makes the best leaders so good after running companies small and large for the last 20 years. Today, I speak on stages all across the world to audiences who are interested in that same question. My name’s John Laurito and I’m your host. I invite you to join me on this journey as we explore this topic. What makes the best leaders so good? Welcome to tomorrow’s leader. All right, welcome to today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader, where we dove deep on all things related to leaving yourself and leading others. I’m John Laurito, your host today, yesterday, tomorrow, and every day thereafter.  

John So I was reading an article that I thought was kind of cool. There is a train station in Stockholm, Sweden, called Odenplan. I don’t know if that’s pronounced correctly or Odenplan, Odenplan, Odenplan train station, if that’s my Swedish accent or not. So a little Irish, a little Swedish authorities accent. It’s a Swedish Irish Odenplan train station. Oh, maybe it’s in Scotland. It’s a Scottish train station. I don’t know. It’s one of those anyways. So I was reading this story. This was a study done by not a study, it was kind of this experiment done by Volkswagen. And they called it the fun theory and what they found in this train station.  

John This is probably like every train station in the world that they had escalators and then stairs next to them. You’ve been in train stations like that or any place airports and like 80 percent or I read the statistic is, you know, 90 percent of people go on the escalator and it’s a narrow escalator. So you can actually YouTube this and you can see and it’s a really wide stairway. So you think that more people would go up the stairs, but it’s one flight of stairs and it’s not like it’s, you know, ten flights, it’s one flight. But people just naturally gravitate toward the path of least resistance. It’s like normal human behavior. I do it. You do it. We all do it. So if there’s an escalator that’ll take us up those flights of stairs, we usually will opt for that unless people are making a conscious decision that, hey, I am going to take the stairs no matter where I go, because I want more exercise or whatever.  

John So Volkswagen got together and they said, hey, can we figure out how to kind of making exercise fun and try to almost, you know, dupe people, so to speak, into exercising or doing something physical by making it fun? So they decided to use these stairs in the old train station. That’s German. That’s not good. Anyway, so what they did was they took the stairs and they turned them into piano keys. They did this overnight, by the way. This was after like 11:00 at night. And they did this from like 11:00 a.m. till 5:00 in the morning. And they basically took this whole flight of stairs and they converted it into piano keys and they were working piano keys. So just like you see in the movie Big with Tom Hanks, as people would walk up these stairs, they had a full piano there and it would make this piano sound. It was really cool. So then they videotape the next day and sure enough, people came in. They’re like, wow, this looks really cool.  

John Didn’t matter the age or anything like that. You had like eighty-five-year-olds, you know, men and women as well as kids that wanted to take the stairs because they wanted to see how this worked and they heard other people doing it and they’re like, wow, that looks really neat. The bottom line is the numbers like shifted. So whereas eighty percent of people were taking the escalator before now. Eighty percent of the people were taking the stairs, which was really kind of a cool concept, you know when we are trying to do stuff. So just think about this. Anything that usually we are trying to do with delayed gratification, things like getting in better health. You know you go to the gym, you’re working out, you’re running. Whatever you’re doing, you’re dieting. These are all short-term, painful things that bring long-term rewards.  

John But that’s the reason why many people can’t do it because they have to go through the pain now and they’ve got to wait for the reward now. Yes, there’s, you know, the dopamine hit and stuff like that. You get from runner’s high and all that stuff that gives you, you know, a little bit of that reward right then. But for the most part, you’re going through the pain short term to get to the pleasure and the reward long term. So what they figured out is how can we change people’s behavior by adding a short-term reward, not just the long-term reward, but a short-term reward to a little bit of short-term pain.  

John And this theory kind of proved that that actually can work. So what it got me thinking about is how can you take as leaders of your own life and leaders of your organizations, how can you take different key activities that are hard to do or unpleasant to do? And how can you make them fun or at least a little less painful? And there are all different types of ways to do this. You know, I started my career in sales and, you know, in financial services and we would make cold calls like, you know, calling random people off his back in the day and phone books and call random people. And you’d get like, you know, whatever it was, 20 no’s before you got a yes. That was the ratio. And so I kind of made a little game out of it. OK, instead of setting my goals for the number of appointments, my goal was the number of no’s I could get for the night. And, you know, I was working with my sister and my great close friends and Jeff and Chris and a whole bunch of people was kind of a cool environment.  

John So we’d do some goofy things. You know, we throw out a word and you had to maneuver the word into the conversation somehow, like a platypus or something weird. You know, we had some fun with it, bottom line. And this was a task, you know, we’d be doing it at night till like nine o’clock at night. So it was something that was unpleasant, really unpleasant. But we needed to do it and we figured out how to make it fun or at least less painful. And it helped us do those key activities which brought the long-term rewards. And we had a lot of success. So it was really kind of a cool thing to think about all the different things you can do in your life, you know, that you want to do. And how do you figure out there’s a way to do it? And maybe, just maybe it’s brainstorming with other people.  

John But how do you have a key task become a little more fun? When I was running, I remember, you know, I love those goo packets. And for those of you that that run, you know what I’m talking about. It’s like a little, you know, a sweet packet of goo that gives you energy and this and that. It was a tiny little thing. Or sometimes they have jelly beans or whatever that marathoners will have for a little boost of energy and stuff. And I would time it out. I’d say, OK, I got to do three miles and then I get a good package or whatever it is. And that was my reward. That was something that I looked forward to, as small as it was to get to that next hurdle that gave me a little immediate reward. Even though I wasn’t done with that key task, they kind of kept me going and kept me fueled, you know, to the next level.  

John So just think about that. My point of today is to think about what kinds of things in your life that you’re trying to do, what types of things in your organization, behaviors that you’re trying to drive, and how can you make it fun in all organizations, take, you know, have contests and stuff like that. A lot of that is driven around results. But how about trying it to more of the activity, more of the stuff that you have to do in order to generate the results and reward that activity? I’m not saying that’s the perfect way to do it, but that’s something to think about. You know, if I’m running an organization and, hey, I’ve got to have a certain number of prospecting appointments, each of my people needs to have a certain number of prospecting appointments booked each week, set each week.  

John Maybe that’s the thing that I’m tying a certain reward to, whatever the case may be, have a little fun, have some contests go, and stuff like that so that it’s not just the drudgery of doing this task. I’m really interested to hear your ideas and your feedback again. The purpose of these podcasts is just to get your wheels turning. And I love when I hear from you and you’re like, hey, you know what? This podcast made me think about this? I’ve been trying to write a book and believe me, I know how long that can take. You know, I’ve been trying to write a book I can’t get doing it. So I created this little reward system for myself. For every page that I write, I get this, you know, I get to reward myself with watching my favorite show. I get to reward myself with a cup of coffee or whatever it is.  

John That would kind of be interesting. You know, write ten pages, have ten, ten cups of coffee. That’s what I would do. But my point is there are all kinds of possibilities. Don’t just think about the standard, OK, short-term pain for long-term gain. Why can’t it be short-term pain and short-term gain and long-term gain? Why can’t it be that it can and Volkswagen figure that out? So check out that video, the YouTube video of the Odenplan in Stockholm, Sweden, something. But OK, I’ll work on my Swedish accent anyway.  

John As always, like subscribe, share, comment, all that kind of good stuff. Go down below, give a five-star review and I will see you next time. Thank you very much. My thanks for joining us on today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader for suggestions or inquiries about having me at your next event or personal coaching, reach me at [email protected]. Once again, that’s [email protected]. Thanks, lead on!

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Volkswagen’s viral success: the fun theory

Volkswagen, via ad agency DDB Stockholm, has become one of the few global brands to master the art of the viral ad campaign.

Its latest campaign, The Fun Theory , is based on the idea that people’s actions can be changed by something as simple as ‘fun’. Played out (and filmed) on an unsuspecting public, a set of subway stairs transformed into a walking piano and a ‘never-ending’ bin manage to dramatically change people’s typical behaviour for the better. And all of this with barely a reference to Volkswagen.

Entertaining, clever and subtle. Brilliant.

NB : many thanks to Anthill reader Doug Jacquier for bringing these to our attention.

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The Piano Stairs Experiment: Making Life More Fun

Introduction

Suppose you’ve just taken the subway, and you need to climb up to street level. To exit the station, you can either take the stairs or the escalator. Which one do you use? Although the extra bit of exercise is the healthier choice, many people choose the escalator because of its ease. 

Explanation

But what if the stairs aren’t your average stairs - instead, they look like piano keys and stepping on one causes a piano note to be heard. Would this change your decision? Would the novelty and entertainment of the stairs outweigh the comfort and convenience of the escalator? These are the questions Volkswagen’s “The Fun Theory” ad campaign hoped to answer with their piano stairs experiment. 

The Piano Stairs Experiment

The piano stairs experiment was part of The Fun Theory, an ad campaign run by the car company Volkswagen Sweden and the ad agency DDB Stockholm to promote Volkswagen’s new, more fuel-efficient brand. The groups turned a normal staircase at a subway station in Sweden into a “piano staircase,” where stepping on a stair produced a sound. Commuters were significantly more likely to choose the stairs over the escalator when the staircase was a piano than when it was a regular staircase. 

The Experiment

In 2009, Volkswagen wanted an innovative way to promote its new environmentally-friendly BlueMotion Technologies brand, which emphasized fuel efficiency. Volkswagen partnered with the ad agency DDB Stockholm to devise a creative ad campaign. “As traditional advertising is becoming less effective … we believed we needed a more innovative approach to draw attention to BlueMotion,” DDB Stockholm deputy manager Lars Axelsson explained. 

They dubbed their marketing campaign “The Fun Theory,” based on the idea that “fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better.” The Fun Theory consisted of a series of videotaped experiments investigating whether making somewhat undesirable activities more entertaining could persuade individuals to make better choices. The most-watched of these videos was the piano stairs experiment, which debuted in October 2009. 

Volkswagen chose a staircase at the Odenplan subway station in Stockholm, Sweden. The staircase was right next to an escalator. First, they tallied how many random subway commuters took the stairs versus the escalator on a typical day. Then, they made each step of the staircase produce a different sound when it was stepped on, like a piano. They found that 66% more commuters than normal opted to take the stairs when they were piano stairs. 

A video of the experiment was put on YouTube and had over 23 million views as of July 2020, a little over ten years later. The brand advertising is light; the only mention of Volkswagen is the company’s logo at the end. Axelsson explained that this creates a positive association between Volkswagen and a better, more fun world. 

Though far from a definitive experiment, the piano stairs experiment showed that making a task more fun can change people’s behavior for the better. Although walking up the stairs takes more effort than merely standing on an escalator, a significant number of commuters found that the enjoyment gained offset that cost. They made the healthier choice because it was presented in a new, entertaining way. This theory could be applied to other areas of life to help people make more sustainable choices, like going for runs, eating healthier, or picking up litter. The right thing to do and the fun thing to do don't have to be two different options. 

Think Further

• What are some other tasks that could be made more fun in a similar way to the piano stairs experiment?
• Do you agree that people can be incentivized to make better decisions by making those decisions fun? Are there limits on this hypothesis? Are there tasks that could not be made fun?
• What are some possible confounding factors in this experiment? In other words, are there other possible reasons more people took the stairs in the second part of the experiment besides the fact that they were piano stairs?

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• Cashmore, Pete. “The Fun Theory: Volkswagen Masters the Viral Video.” Mashable , Mashable, 11 Oct. 2009, mashable.com/2009/10/11/the-fun-theory/.
• Ramos, Kelsey. “Volkswagen Brings the Fun: Giant Piano Stairs and Other ‘Fun Theory’ Marketing.” Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2009, latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/10/volkswagen-brings-the-fun-giant-piano-stairs-and-other-fun-theory-marketing.html.
• “SiOWfa15: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy.” Sites at Penn State , sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/09/16/the-fun-theory/#:~:text=The%20concept%20was%20for%20each,Sweden%2C%20next%20to%20an%20escalator.

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Volkswagen brings the fun: Giant piano stairs and other ‘Fun Theory’ marketing

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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts .

If stairs played musical notes when you walked on them, would you be more likely to take them?

The video of people skipping the escalator in favor of composing music on the piano stairs of Odenplan subway station in Stockholm, Sweden, has been viewed more than 2.5 million times on YouTube. (Watch it above in the embedded player.)

The video is part of a new viral marketing campaign called “The Fun Theory.” The concept, created by Volkswagen Sweden and ad agency DDB Stockholm, is based on the idea that “fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better.”

Another campaign video shows people picking up trash off the ground in a park just to hear “The World’s Deepest Bin,” a regular trash can wired with motion-activated depth sound effects.

The goal with these fun, do-good videos is to promote VW’s new environmentally friendly BlueMotionTechnologies brand in an increasingly more competitive eco-car market.

“As traditional advertising is becoming less effective, and the competition in the market for environmentally sound cars is becoming more fierce, we believed we needed a more innovative approach to draw attention to BlueMotion,” DDB Stockholm deputy manager Lars Axelsson said in an e-mail.

The video of the giant piano stairs reports that the number of commuters who chose the stairs over the escalator increased 66% when the stairs were musical black-and-white piano keys.

The first of the campaign’s three phases started with the release of the three viral videos, which aims to inspire the public to enter the campaign’s contest, the second phase, by submitting their best video experiment of ‘The Fun Theory’ to the website.

The winner gets a prize of €2500 (about $3,700), and once the competition finishes ‘The Fun Theory’ is “proven” by the video submissions, linking to VW and its new thoughtful technology: Its cars are good for the environment and fun for the driver.

I personally can’t wait to see viral marketing extend its roots from promoting suffrage for fictional vampires to encouraging the world to pick up other people’s trash.

Next on the campaign: a glass recycling game machine, says DDB Stockholm. “By making driving and the world more fun, we turn the VW brand into a hero,” Axelsson said. “Our experiments and our Fun Theory films make the world a better and more fun place to live.”

-- Kelsey Ramos, Los Angeles Times

Video: Giant piano stairs for the VW “Fun Theory” campaign. Credit: YouTube

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The Fun Theory of Behavioral Change

A vw initiative, thefuntheory.com, shows the positive potential of media.

Posted October 19, 2009

Just when you despair for humanity (or perhaps the media version of ourselves), someone reminds us of the creative, uplifting, and inspirational potential of media technologies. If you haven't seen it, check out http://thefuntheory.com sponsored by Volkswagen. It's brilliant in its simplicity. The introduction to the site says:

"This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as 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."

TheFunTheory.com site is even hosting a contest to encourage people to find their own evidence to support the theory that fun is best way to make positive behavioral changes . (You don't have to make a video to qualify, in case you're a positive and creative person with no camera skills.)

Think of it as applied positive psychology. See how they tackle issues like exercise, recycling and littering by making them fun. I guarantee you'll want to take the stairs and recycle your bottles, too.

Pamela Rutledge, Ph.D., M.B.A. , is the Director of the Media Psychology Research Center and a professor of media psychology at Fielding Graduate University.

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What if you could change people's behavior for the better by doing something fun? It doesn't sound plausible, right? Yet, that's what Volkswagen achieved by creating something they called the fun theory.

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After the success of the fun theory, what was the name of the project Volkswagen was promoting?

How many ideas were submitted to the fun theory awards after its campaign success?

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Goal of the Fun Theory

In the early 2000s, Volkswagen saw great potential in green innovation and founded BlueMotion to create technologies that would improve fuel efficiency and electric cars. However, at that time, the efficiency and autonomy of those early models were not excellent, and people were reluctant to buy energy-efficient and electric vehicles.

That's why Volkswagen started an ambitious project to create a marketing campaign that would promote Volkswagen BlueMotion technologies. Instead of launching a traditional car marketing campaign to promote the performance of the vehicles, they decided to test a theory. Their idea was to change people's behavior by making an activity more fun to do. They wanted to advertise that people could continue driving and positively impact the environment by reducing their gas emissions without compromising the joy and pleasure of driving.

Volkswagen Fun Theory Campaign

The Volkswagen Fun Theory campaign was designed in partnership with Nord DDB STO. It launched in 2009 as a series of three short videos that were live experiments of this theory in action to positively change people's behavior by doing something fun. Those videos quickly became viral and were spread all over the Internet, giving Volkswagen unexpected popularity. 1

Volkswagen Fun Theory Piano Stairs

For their first experiment, they tried to motivate people to take the stairs instead of the escalator in a metro station. To achieve this, Volkswagen's team installed censoring stairs in the shape and form of piano keys next to an escalator. Then, whenever people were walking on the stairs, it made the exact sound of the piano. Soon many people were having fun walking the stairs, and the experience was quite successful, as 66% more people were using the stairs instead of the escalators. 2

By implementing a creative marketing strategy and gamifying walking on stairs, Volkswagen managed to change people's behavior while promoting its brand and creativity.

Volkswagen Fun Theory Talking Bin

For their second experience, Volkswagen tried getting more people to throw rubbish in bins. They devised a creative idea to achieve that goal by installing a sensor and a speaker in a bin. As a result, whenever people threw something in the trash, a loud falling and crashing cartooning sound came from it. Quickly, people gathered around the bin to determine where the sound came from; they even collected rubbish on the ground around the bin to hear the sound again. Thanks to that engaging trash can, they collected 72 kg of trash in one day, 41 kg more than the standard bin close by. 3

With this campaign, Volkswagen was able to connect some principles of sustainable marketing to its brand by motivating people to discard their waste correctly. Simply by creating a fun sound, they have encouraged people to use that bin and even collect trash lying around to hear that sound again.

Volkswagen Fun Theory Bottle Bank

In this campaign, Volkswagen's goal was to get people to recycle more. Volkswagen created an arcade bottle bank machine with flashing lights, music, and a scoreboard to do so. The device was like an arcade game: people had to press start, then put bottles in the machine's holes, which would play music and give them points on the scoreboard. The result was great as one hundred people used the device in one evening, while a nearby machine was only used twice. 4 By making a game out of recycling, people were motivated to come and recycle their bottles, promoting the brand's creativity and eco-friendly approach.

Fun Theory Examples

After the success of the Fun Theory campaign, Volkswagen decided to continue the experience with a slight twist. The concept was unchanged, but they tried associating their brand with speed by motivating people to choose Volkswagen's fun solution.

Fun Theory: Slide Stairs

In this video, Volkswagen's team returned to the first metro station they had visited the year before and installed a slide on the stairs next to the elevator. The people who wanted to go faster could take the slide and enjoy a fast ride to the bottom without taking the stairs or the elevator. 5

Fun Theory: The Elevator

This time, Volkswagen went to a mall to help people who wanted to go faster to use their specially designed elevator. Volkswagen customized an elevator and gave it a rocket launcher style. Instead of having to stop at every floor, the elevator would go from the ground floor directly to the top floor. When people got inside and pressed the button, a countdown started while the doors were sliding closed, and red flashing lights began to light on. When the elevator started ascending, people heard the sound of a rocket ship launching; meanwhile, they could enjoy the ride directly to the top. 6

Fun Theory: The Shopping Carts

Volkswagen's team went to a grocery store and modified the mall's carts to integrate a skateboard. People had the choice between regular shopping carts or using the ones with a skateboard to slide with speed in the supermarket. Volkswagen was able to change consumer behavior by showing a faster lane. 7

Volkswagen Fun Theory

The Fun Theory Award was established shortly after the first Volkswagen videos came out, thanks to the campaign's success. This award inspired people to discuss and develop new ideas around this theory. People submitted more than 700 ideas using the 'fun theory' in hopes of changing people's behavior positively.

The award winner in 2009 found a creative way for people to respect the driving speed limit by organizing a lottery using speed cameras. Every person who exceeded the speed limit would be flashed and pay a fine like usual, but the money would be collected in a common pot. Each person who respected the speed limit would be recorded on camera as a participant in this lottery and get a chance to win the prize. 8

The fun theory is an excellent source of inspiration for many entrepreneurs who implement these ideas in their products to make boring activities more interactive:

It can be tedious for parents to teach their children how to brush their teeth, as kids' attention span is very short. However, we can now see kids' electric toothbrushes playing music to reward them once they have finished cleaning their teeth.

Pizza Hut came up with an innovative way to select and order pizza, rather than the boring way of having to read through a menu. They have designed an interactive table where people can make their selection and clearly see the pizza's size while choosing it. 9

People have found an alternative to the sound trashcan by installing a basketball hoop on top of a bin. With that addition, people could have fun throwing trash in the bin.

Fun Theory - Key takeaways

• Volkswagen used the Fun Theory campaign to promote BlueMotion technology and advertise that people could drive and reduce their carbon emissions without compromising the joy and pleasure of driving.
• The Fun Theory is simple: people are more likely to do something if it is fun. You can apply this principle by making an activity more fun to do to influence people's behavior.
• Entrepreneurs and marketers can use the Fun Theory to create and promote new and innovative products.
• Adforum. "The Fun Theory (Film)". https://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34460328/the-fun-theory-film/volkswagen
• Volkswagen. The Fun Theory 1 – Piano Staircase Initiative | Volkswagen. 26/10/2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SByymar3bds&t=1s
• Volkswagen. The Fun Theory 2 – an initiative of Volkswagen: The World's Deepest Bin. 26/10/2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRgWttqFKu8
• Rolighetsteroin.se. Bottle Bank Arcade - TheFunTheory.com - Rolighetsteorin.se. 15/10/2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSiHjMU-MUo
• Volkswagen. Speed up your life - Take the slide! | Volkswagen. 11/10/2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4o0ZVeixYU
• Volkswagen. Fast Lane - The Elevator | Volkswagen. 11/06/2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPztb-c16as
• Volkswagen. Fast Lane - The Shopping Carts | Volkswagen. 11/06/2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEcbkusXUlo
• Rolighetsteroin.se. The Fun Theory award winner - The Speed Camera Lottery. 29/03/2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcaKocRXCB4
• Ellie Zolfagharifard. Pizza Hut reveals interactive table concept that lets you design your perfect pie. 04/03/2014. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2573164/Pizza-Hut-reveals-interactive-table-concept-lets-design-perfect-pie.html

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Frequently Asked Questions about Fun Theory

What is the fun theory Volkswagen? 

The fun theory was a marketing campaign launched by Volkswagen in 2009 to promote the sales of eco-friendly cars by stating that they were just as much fun to drive as regular cars.

How does the Fun Theory work?

The fun theory is simple: people are more likely to do something if it is fun. You can apply this principle by making an activity more fun to do to influence people’s behavior. 

What is the fun theory connected to?

The Fun Theory is connected to behavioral change.

Who came up with the fun theory?

Volkswagen and ad agency DDB Stockholm came up with the Fun Theory campaign.

Which company sponsored the Fun Theory project?

Volkswagen sponsored the Fun Theory project.

Who created the piano stairs experiment?

Volkswagen and ad agency DDB Stockholm created the piano stars experiment.

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SiOWfa15: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy

The course website and blog for the fall 2015 instance of penn state's sc200 course.

The Fun Theory

Taking the stairs instead of the escalator is something we always heard from our doctor, or seen in a magazine. But most of us don’t heed the warnings. This is just one of the obstacles that The Fun Theory took on.  “The Fun Theory”  was created by Volkswagen Sweden and ad agency DDB Stockholm as a competition to recognized that “fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better.” One of Volkswagen’s fun theories included was the Piano Staircase . The theory was that people would take the stairs more often instead of the escalator or elevator by making the staircase “fun.” The hypothesis propositioned that by making a staircase more fun to do, people would stop using easier ways of transportation, such as escalators. By promoting the use of stairs, we could eventually improve the health of others by promoting an active lifestyle and a good well-being.

In the concluding video you can see that more commuters became interested in the musical staircase. The resulting video showed that the interactive staircase persuaded 66% more people than normal chose to use the staircase instead of the escalator.

Although there could have been a third variable involved, such as more active people commuting on one day instead of the other, or the role of chance coming into play, the statistics are strong and would be very interesting to see in a more controlled experiment.

The goal with these fun theories are to promote Volkswagen’s new environmentally friendly  BlueMotionTechnologies brand. DDB Stockholm quotes that “as traditional advertising is becoming less effective, and the competition in the market for environmentally sound cars is becoming more fierce, we believed we needed a more innovative approach to draw attention to BlueMotion.” Although Volkswagen’s main goal is to promote their new car, they bring up a very goo theory. That making this fun can promote and teach the world. He also goes on to say that “[Volkswagen’s] experiments and our Fun Theory films make the world a better and more fun place to live.”

Watch the video to see how fun can transform people’s way of thinking and doing.

6 thoughts on “ The Fun Theory ”

I loved your post and definitely think it’s a great idea in hopes of getting people to become more active. In NYC there used to be a huge toy store (it just recently closed) and there was a huge floor piano that customers could try. So I imagine this experiment was something like that. I also did some research and discovered that there were multiple experiments performed based off of this “Fun Theory”. One of them which I found interested was a speed detector which took pictures of the cars driving the proper speed rather than the wrong one. These drivers were later awarded with free lottery tickets. Based on the results I believe that these experiments have been overwhelmingly successful and should start to be applied to other aspects of our lives. What about applying the “Fun Theory” to encourage people to walk places rather than taking public transportation or their own vehicles?

Pretty cool idea! I would definitely take those steps in a heartbeat. It is an interesting study and I feel as though we can do a lot more with it. You can have musical panels to step on in airports instead of standing on that moving runway that goes like .5 mile an hour. It is kind of ironic that Volkswagen is doing these fun tests in order to promote their cars, instead of for the sake of improving healthy lifestyles. But at least their cars are environmentally friendly and efficient.

Wow-this is so cool! I have never seen fun stairs but if I did, I think I would definitely opt to take them instead of an escalator. That is such a good idea! However, if these “fun” stairs were to become a trend, would people still take them as much? Or are there different types of “fun” stairs being introduced, so that people don’t grow tired of them. Either way, implementing this alternative is a great way to get people to take the healthier route upstairs!

This post was even fun to read about and watching the video was very interesting. I am very happy that someone has finally decided to promote exercise to citizens in a fun and easy way. I think that they could apply this technique to all parts of life and it would be very effective. People would not even realize that they are exercising because the fun element takes away the negative thought of moving.

This was an extremely interesting post because I had never heard of the Fun Theory. It is a very interesting concept, one that could have many positive impacts in this world. I can definitely see how people would be more interested in taking a piano staircase than a regular one. However, I am curious as to whether they looked to see if it was consistently successful. After using the piano staircase several times, would the novelty wear off? People may get tired of the noise or lose their interest and revert back to taking the escalator. This was a very creative post, and it was also very relatable to the daily debate whether to take the elevator or the stairs.

The piano stairs was a perfect example to support your claim. It is a really interesting thing that we all do but never really notice, I would have never thought of this idea on my own. Good job!

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Thoughts on the ‘fun theory’.

The ‘Piano Staircase’ from Volkswagen’s thefuntheory.com

The Fun Theory ( Rolighetsteorin ), a competition / campaign / initiative from Volkswagen Sweden – created by DDB Stockholm – has been getting a lot of attention in the last couple of weeks from both design-related people and other commentators with an interest in influencing behaviour : it presents a series of clever ‘design interventions’ aimed at influencing behaviour through making things “fun to do” – taking the stairs instead of the escalator , recycling glass via a bottle bank and using a litter bin . The stairs are turned into a giant piano keyboard, with audio accompaniment; the bottle bank is turned into an arcade game, with sound effects and scores prominently displayed; and the litter bin has a “deep pit” effect created through sound effects played as items are dropped into it. It’s exciting to see that exploring design for behaviour change is being so enthusiastically pursued and explored, especially by ad agencies, since – if we’re honest – advertisers have long been the most successful at influencing human behaviour effectively (in the contexts intended). There’s an awful lot designers can learn from this, but I digress…

As a provocation and inspiration to enter the competition , these are great projects. The competition itself is interesting because it encourages entrants to “find [their] own evidence for the theory that fun is best way to change behaviour for the better”, suggesting that entries with some kind of demonstrated / tested element are preferred over purely conceptual submissions (however clever they might be) which have often been a hallmark of creative design competitions in the past. While the examples created and tested for the campaign are by no means “controlled experiments” (e.g. the stats in the videos about the extra amount of rubbish or glass deposited give little context about the background levels of waste deposition in that area, whether people have gone out of their way to use the ‘special’ bins, and so on), they do demonstrate very well the (perhaps obvious) effect that making something fun, or engaging, is a way to get people interested in using it.

Going a bit deeper, though, into what “the theory of fun” might really mean, it’s clear there are a few different effects going on here. To use concepts from B J Fogg’s Behaviour Model , assuming the ability to use the stairs, bottle bank or bin is already there, the remaining factors are motivation and triggers . Motivation is, on some level, presumably also present in each case, in the sense that someone carrying bottles to be recycled already wants to get rid of them, someone standing at the bottom of the stairs or escalator wants to get to the top, and someone with a piece of litter in her hand wants to discard it somehow (even if that’s just on the ground).

(But note that if, for example, people start picking up litter from elsewhere in order to use the bin because they’re excited by it, or if – as in the video – kids run up and down the stairs to enjoy the effect, this is something slightly different: the motivation has changed from “I’m motivated to get rid of the litter in my hand” to “I’m motivated to keep playing with this thing.” While no doubt useful results, these are slightly different target behaviours to the ones expressed at the start of the videos. “Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do?” is not quite the same as “Can we get people so interested in running up and down the stairs that they want to do it repeatedly?”)

So the triggers are what the interventions are really about redesigning: adding some feature or cue which causes people who already have the ability and the motivation to choose this particular way of getting out of the railway station to the street above, or disposing of litter, or recycling glass. All three examples deliberately, prominently , attract the interest of passers-by (“World’s deepest bin” graphics, otherwise incongruous black steps, illuminated 7-segment displays above the bottle bank) quite apart from the effect of seeing lots of other people gathered around, or using something in an unusual way.

And once they’ve triggered someone to get involved, to use them, there are different elements that come into play in each example. For example, the bottle bank – by using a game metaphor – effectively challenges the user into continuing (perhaps even entering a flow state , though this is surely more likely with the stairs) and gives feedback on how well you’re doing as well as a kind of reward . The reward element is present in all three examples, in fact.

Perhaps the most relevant pattern in all these examples, and the “fun theory” concept itself, is that of emotional or affective engagement . The user experience of each is designed to evoke an emotional response, to motivate engagement through enjoyment or delight – and this is an area of design where a lot of great (and commercially applicable) research work has been done, by people such as Pieter Desmet (whose doctoral dissertation is a model for this kind of design research), Pat Jordan , Marco van Hout , Trevor van Gorp , Don Norman and MIT’s Affective Computing group . Taking a slightly different slant, David Gargiulo’s work on creating drama through interaction design (found via Harry Brignull ‘s Twitter ) is also pertinent here, as is Daniel Pink’s collection of ’emotionally intelligent signage’ (thanks to Larry Cheng for bringing this to my attention).

What sort of behaviour change, though?

I suppose the biggest and most obvious criticism of projects such as the Rolighetsteorin examples is that they are merely one-time gimmicks, that a novelty effect is the most (maybe only ) significant thing at work here. It’s not possible to say whether this is true or not without carrying out a longitudinal study of the members of the public involved over a period of time, or of the actual installations themselves. Does having fun using the stairs once (when they’re a giant piano) translate into taking the (boring) normal stairs in preference to an escalator on other occasions? (i.e. does it lead to attitude or preference change?) Or does the effect go away when the fun stairs do?

It may be, of course, that interventions with explicitly pro-social rhetoric embedded in them (such as the bottle bank) have an effect which bleeds over into other areas of people’s lives: do they think more about the environment, or being less wasteful, in other contexts? Have attitudes been changed beyond simply the specific context of recycling glass bottles using this particular bottle bank?

How others have done it

This campaign isn’t the first to have tried to address these problems through design, of course. Without researching too thoroughly, a few pieces of work spring to mind, and I’m sure there are many more. Stephen Intille, Ron MacNeil, Jason Nawyn and Jacob Hyman in MIT’s House_n group have done work using a sign with the ‘ just-in-time ‘ message “Your heart needs exercise – here’s your chance” ( shown above ) positioned over the stairs in a subway, flashing in people’s line-of-sight as they approach the decision point (between taking stairs or escalator) linked to a system which can record the effects in terms of people actually making one choice or the other, and hence compare the effect the intervention actually has. As cited in this paper [PDF], previous research by K D Brownell, A J Stunkard, and J M Albaum , using the same message, in a similar situation, but statically displayed for three weeks before being removed, demonstrated that some effect remains on people’s choice of the stairs for the next couple of months. (That is, the effect didn’t go away immediately when the sign did – though we can’t say whether that’s necessarily applicable to the piano stairs too.)

Work on the design of recycling bins is, I think, worthy of a post of its own, since it starts to touch more on perceived affordances (the shape of different kinds of slots, and so on) so I’ll get round to that at some point.

Many thanks to everyone who sent me the Fun Theory links, including Kimberley Crofts , Brian Cugelman and Dan Jenkins (apologies if I’ve missed anyone out).

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The fun theory

• November 13, 2009
• _ minute read
• Bespoke learning content

Volkswagen recently launched a website, www.thefuntheory.com , built around the idea that by adding fun into the equation it’s easier to change people’s behaviour for the better. In their own words…

“This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as 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.”

To back up this idea, VW decided to re-think three everyday tasks and inject their own brand of fun into the situation to see if they could achieve a positive change. The projects they decided to undertake were to change a bottle bank into an arcade machine, a subway staircase into a musical instrument and a public bin into “the world’s deepest bin”. The results of each project have been documented on video and can been seen on the Fun Theory website. Having seen the videos and knowing how the projects turned out for VW it’s clear to see that an element of fun really can help achieve a change in behaviour. (Although I think that the novelty of the musical staircase would probably be outweighed by the rise in complaints about the noise and injuries cased during rush hour!)

For VW, the Fun Theory website acts as a positive influence on their brand name even though it doesn’t have any real relevance to the world of automobiles or their day-to-day business. This is not always the case when you are trying to change behaviours in other lines of business, but that is not to say that it cannot be achieved! The same technique can be seen in many other businesses. For instance lots of energy companies are now trying to push the use of real-time energy monitors to help their customers see how much energy they use. This type of interaction allows the customer to see the impact they can have by making small adjustments, turning the whole process of reducing their consumption into a challenge that the customer can track and monitor.

Another example of introducing fun can be seen in www.smart.fm , which claims to take the hard work out of learning. The service aims keep people motivated to hit their goals by creating personalised learning programmes for them. The programmes are designed to harness the powers of a learning technique called graduated interval recall, guiding the learner to revisit their learning at key points to aid the retention of the knowledge. The fun factor in this service is that you are able to monitor your progress in a variety of formats, from tracking personal goals to testing long-term retention or item memory strength, and many other formats. The whole service is also available on the move via the iPhone which again buys into the fun factor of making the service available without the need to be in front of a PC.

There are probably many other engaging examples of fun being used to change behaviours and this seems like an opportunity that’s too good for the e-learning industry to miss.

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The Millennial Man

This blog is for my fellow millennials who plan on going into the great big world of marketing and business. In this blog you'll find posts about the what you need to be successful in the grown up world of baby boomers and Gen X'ers as well as the proper attire and technology needed and the advancements of today's business world. This blog is also for anyone who is looking for some refreshing tips on topics that you might've forgotten since your 8AM Marketing/ Business classes.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Vw- the fun theory case study and emergance of gameification.

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