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Tag: behaviour change

Communicating change and tech disruption to citizens

A few months ago, I delivered a talk at the 2018 FWD50 Conference on the topic of “Communicating Change and Tech Disruption to Citizens”.  The official description was as follows:

“Your role as communications and policy professionals in the public sector is growing with the need to improve transparency and accessibility, promote new and expanded digital services, safeguard reputation, and maintain public confidence. This session will explore the current state of global trust in technology and provide participants with possible approaches towards better communicating the value and importance of change and technology disruption, especially if it can lead to improved service delivery. Participants will be introduced to a social marketing/ behaviour change framework, which aims to move beyond “awareness building” and into attitude and behaviour change.”

Gamification: Silly fad or important trend for marketers?

Gamification

Almost two years ago now I wrote a blog post entitled “Gamification can change behaviour. I have proof“. Since that time, I have become even more interested in this emerging trend and its potential applicability towards societal issues. Last spring,  I decided to do some additional research on the topic and create a visual presentation derived from various materials available publicly on the web (both academic and commercial). I ended up delivering the resulting presentation attached below at the 2013 MARCOM Annual Forum.

Information alone does not change behaviour

I recently came across this interesting anti-smoking advertisement (see video below) from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. What I love about it is that it clearly demonstrates that “outreach”/ “public education” / “communication” alone is often not enough to change behaviour.

What if the target audience already knows how bad smoking is? Specifically how bad it is for them. What if they can already recite all the symptoms and potential life-threatening implications?  The last thing they need is another message with yet another reason why they shouldn’t smoke.  What they need is a “mirror”…