Thinking for change

Couple of examples and noodlings after our conversation.

First up, this is a cracker. The video is waaaaay too long but worth five mins to watch through once. They made it SO simple to change the world - all you had to do was flick a light switch. And this has rolled out to city after city around the world since.




By contrast, this video is arguably too short. But again, awesome simple thinking - give a dollar for a glass of tap water at restaurants.



It's not all 'new' thinking of course.

Your old mate Dave Trott worked out a cheap and simple way to raise a hell of a stink about the third world debt and hurt the Bank Of England while he did it. To refresh your memory with his write up click here.

And here's an example I remember from when I was a nipper. David Bellamy (yes, that David Bellamy) went round the USA with a backpack full of bricks. Whenever he went to the loo, he'd put two bricks in the cistern - thus reducing the amount of water used with every flush. Still wemarkably welevant. There's a tiny article about it if you click here.

I love this. Sick of X Factor finalists dominating the Christmas No1, a couple on Facebook just put up a post and said - hey, why don't we all get together and stick it to Simon Cowell by buying something else? These were just ordinary people, with nothing to gain. But by identifying a simple way to make a point (let's all pay 79p for a song with a chorus that goes "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me") they really struck a nerve. And the whole thing snowballed...



I reckon the key to all this is making things as simple as possible for the average punter to participate. Ask me to flick a light switch, sure no prob. Ask me to go out searching for this, spend time doing that and collect ten bin bags full of the other and you can stick yer cause.

So maybe a good way to think is about how simple a mechanic can be.

These examples aren't charity based, but by thunder they make it easy for me to get involved.

This example is for Tango, where you could get a Tango doll through the post and pay with the phone call to order it.

Here's one by my old agency Elvis. It's just a beer promo, but very clever - to tie in with the election, they branded London Pride pump handles. Same beer, but do you want it from the Tory, Labour or Liberal barrel? Getting me to register my opinions simply by drinking beer... now that's thinking.