A 10 second animation about growth using one colour. Struggling a little to think more outside the box and less literally. This seems like a far to obvious representation to me. Although when I sit back and think whether someone on the other side (audience) would immediately interpret this short simple animation as ‘growth’ I’m not certain they would. It could be interpreted as ‘coming closer’ or being absorbed.

Much of the research I related to the last brief (thinking ‘outside the box’, left/right brain psychology etc.) I believe is just as important here. If anything this brief is again (so far anyway) more about sideways thinking, taking a holistic view and looking at the journey of design as spoken about in the book A Smile in the Mind:

If designers want to say ‘witch’, they may show a black cat. The audience has to create the association the other way round – see the black cat and immediately think ‘witch’. Designers need to check that the link ‘back’ is as obvious as the link ‘out’. For example, ‘witch’ suggests ‘broomstick’, but ‘broomstick’ may suggest Cinderella, ’sweep clean’ or even ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ (as in Disney’s Fantasia).

Obiously there is a lot more here relating to graphic communication/message, concepts and quick thinking.

Malcolm Gladwell has become something of a Rockstar Journalist. Back in November, I saw his lecture at the Lyceum Theatre timed with the release of his new book Outliers. It’s one of his two previous books that I find relevant again to this project, The Tipping Point. The following is from Wikipedia…

Tipping points are “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.”^[1] Gladwell defines a tipping point as a sociological term: “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.”^[2] The book seeks to explain and describe the “mysterious” sociological changes that mark everyday life. As Gladwell states, “Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do.”^[3] The examples of such changes in his book include the rise in popularity and sales of Hush Puppies shoes in the mid-1990s and the precipitous drop in the New York City crime rate after 1990.

The two following points described in detail in the book struck me as particularly relevant in developing a good idea…

The three rules of epidemics

Gladwell describes the “three rules of epidemics” (or the three “agents of change”) in the tipping points of epidemics.

• The Law of the Few, or as Gladwell states, “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social skills.”^[4] Also according to Gladwell, economists call this the “80/20 Principle, which is the idea that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the ‘work’ will be done by 20 percent of the participants.”^[5] These people are described in the following ways:

• Connectors are the people who “link us up with the world … people with a special gift for bringing the world together.”^[6] They are, in other words, “a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack [... for] making friends and acquaintances”. ^[7] He characterizes these individuals as possessing over one hundred individuals in their social network. To illustrate, Gladwell cites the following examples: midnight ride of Paul Revere, Milgram’s experiments in the small world problem, the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” trivia game, Dallas businessman Roger Horchow, and Chicagoan Lois Weisberg, a person who understands the concept of the weak tie. Gladwell attributes the social success of Connectors to “their ability to span many different worlds [... as] a function of something intrinsic to their personality, some combination of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability, and energy.”^[8]

• Mavens are “information specialists”, or “people we rely upon to connect us with new information.”^[9] They accumulate knowledge, especially about the marketplace, and know how to share it with others. Gladwell cites Mark Alpert as a prototypical Maven who is “almost pathologically helpful”, further adding, “he can’t help himself”.^[10] In this vein, Alpert himself concedes, “A Maven is someone who wants to solve other people’s problems, generally by solving his own”.^[11] According to Gladwell, Mavens start “word-of-mouth epidemics”^[12], due to their knowledge, social skills, and ability to communicate. As Gladwell states, “Mavens are really information brokers, sharing and trading what they know”.^[13]

• Salesmen are “persuaders”, charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills. They tend to have an indefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, that makes others want to agree with them. Gladwell’s examples include California businessman Tom Gau and news anchor Peter Jennings, and he cites several studies about the persuasive implications of non-verbal cues, including a headphone nod study, done by Gary Wells of the University of Alberta and Richard Petty of the University of Missouri and William Condon’s cultural microrhythms study.

• The Stickiness Factor: the specific content of a message that renders its impact memorable. Such popular children’s television programs as Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues pioneered the properties of the stickiness factor, thus enhancing the effective retention of the educational content in tandem with its entertainment value.

• The Power of Context: Human behavior is sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment. As Gladwell says, “Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur”.^[14] For example, “zero tolerance” efforts to combat minor crimes such as fare-beating and vandalism on the New York subway led to a decline in more violent crimes city-wide. Gladwell describes the bystander effect, and explains how Dunbar’s number plays into the tipping point, using Rebecca Wells’ novel Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, evangelist John Wesley, and the high-tech firm Gore Associates.

These points can be related the mediums we have used for our advertising. “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social skills.” Facebook effectively carries out this work for us and will link us sooner or later to the few who would hopefully spread the idea to its ‘Tipping Point’. Facebook is an incredibly powerful medium as it, using Gladwell’s theories as an example, allows the Connectors, Mavers and Salesmen to all be within easy reach.

Having a side interest in the subject I was interested in how psychology would relate to this project. The first thing to come to mind was the right-brain vs. left brain argument.

The current broad definition of each side of the brain is left-side: logic, fact, present/past, words/language detail and right side: feeling, holistic, imagination, present/future, meaning. I would argue that this project is a primarily right-sided.

Recently I have been reading the book “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel H. Pink. The book argues how and why right-brainers will rule the future…

The future belongs to a different kind of mind. Designers, innovators, teachers, storytellers – creative and emphatic “right brain” thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn’t.

Although a necessity to some extent, the Future Lions brief is (imo) less about technological profeciency (left-brain) but more about the bigger picture, looking at things from a holistic point of view. Non-linear thinking is important and combining product, brand, audience and media in not necessarily a complex manner but an innovative way. The technology is there, and as we only have to represent our ideas as opposed to physical creating what we have thought up I think this way of thinking is crucial.

What?

Our chosen brand is the global food company Nestle.

“From the outset, Nestlé was an international company, assuming the multicultural traditions of its parent country. Almost its first undertaking was to set up factories and distribution centres in other countries.

Nestlé has always had a policy of decentralisation, believing each country knows its own market and is best able to adapt the Nestlé brands to local preferences, backed by the strengths of a multinational group.”

The product we have chosen is Nesquik ‘Ready to Drink’. Made with fresh milk as opposed to powdered milk.

“Ingredients
PARTLY SKIMMED MILK, SUGAR, FLAVOUR AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOUR, POTASSIUM CITRATE, CARRAGEENAN, COLOUR, SALT, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D3.

Good to Know

Made with Fresh Milk partly skimmed.
An Excellent Source of Calcium.”

Who?

Our oncept is aimed at getting younger teenagers, both males and females. We are looking at the ‘Facebook/MySpace generation’. Those who have grown up with computers and socialising digitally.

How?

Our idea is to use the medium of facebook as the fundamental part of our advertising. This would not have been possible 5 years ago not only because Facebook was founded on February 4, 2004 but since then it has had to grow into the global communication network it is today. It has needed the time for people to register and connect to each other. As well as that, apps for Facebook and other social networking sites have been developed extending the advertising possibilities within the sites themselves.

Our concepts takes are Nesquik product and attaches a peel off tab to it, similar to the McDonalds Prize tabs. On the tab a weblink and name is written. The consumer then takes this tab to a computer and enters the weblink to reach a portal where they subsequently enter the name. They are then given links to a selection of social networking profiles for the cow which they can then make friends with and network with their friends.

Why?

The idea is to get young teenagers involved in drinking milk. It’s important to get the next generation involved in the importance of healthy eating and caring about where their food comes from. It may also trigger an interest in teenagers that would otherwise be left unnoticed.

We would use social networking sites because these sites, as well as just computers, are where todays teenagers are hooked and most likely to be influenced. To get them involved with something positive by merging it into something that they already enjoy, spend hours using and know how to use inside out is an effective combination.

When?

Teenagers may buy Nesquik ‘Ready to Drink’ during their school lunches, it may be given to them as part of their breakfast, may be provided for them by their parents for lunch at school or may be bought when out with friends. The original packaging is aimed at this age range so our site and social networking pages would have to continue in this style. Throughout the day the consumers may access the internet at school during breaks or at home after school or on weekends. Our idea would add anticipation as they may not be able to access the internet while consuming the drink, so may compare their tabs with friends and later return to discuss which cow they have made friends with! Hopefully it would work as a craze for teenagers so they could network socially digitally and in person.

Men will be able to use their mobile phones or handheld computers as “sat navs” into which they can key in what they are looking for and how much they want to spend and be guided immediately to the right store.

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=8418265094

Creating a mock profile for a cow on Bebo.

From the Nestlé website…

Highlighted are the sections of Nestlé’s values believed to be particularly relevant to our idea.

About Nestlé

Good Food, Good Life is the very essence of Nestlé and this philosophy can be traced back to our beginnings.

The Nestlé Company was founded in 1867 by Henri Nestlé, who developed the first milk-based baby formula in order to save the life of a neighbour’s baby. His Farine Lactée formula went on to nourish many babies who were unable to feed from their mothers or unable to accept the usual substitutes. Since this beginning, nutrition has been the heart of the Nestlé business.

Today, over a century later, nutrition is more than ever the key to our Company’s future. While we remain true to the principles that inspired Henri Nestlé, we’re also adapting to meet the changing needs of consumers.

At Nestlé, we believe that every food has a role to play in achieving a balanced diet. This is why we produce and market a wide range of foods and beverages which satisfy many consumer needs – nutrient content, variety, pleasure and convenience – which all contribute to achieving a balanced diet and overall well-being. We continue to use our extensive scientific knowledge to develop new products to help consumers manage their health, well-being and body weight and to improve the nutritional profiles of existing products.

This extensive nutrition research is also the foundation of our understanding of how food nurtures people and helps them to live well. As a result, our business is about helping you achieve health and well-being throughout your life.

Nestlé Worldwide

All over the planet, people know Nestlé. It’s the world’s largest food company, and among the world’s 40 largest corporations. To bring you the best products each and every day, we operate over 500 factories in 83 countries and employ over 230,000 people. We’re truly international.

In spite of our global reach, what makes Nestlé special is that each of our national companies has the flexibility to make their own decisions – in order to best meet the needs of their own people and communities.

Each region can choose to sell the brands that satisfy their own consumers’ unique needs. And yet, as part of the larger organization, all benefit from access to global resources, decades of experience and our large chain of research and development centres.

Having thrown ideas about in our group for a while we’ve come to a final idea.

Our idea is to take the Nestle product ‘Nesquik: Ready to Drink’ (http://www.nestle.ca/en/products/brands/Nesquik/fat_free_cho_milk_shake.htm) and to attach a peelable tab to the bottle. On the tab is a web link/code and prompts the consumer to enter the code at the web link online. The link will inform the consumer of exactly which cow the milk came from. It then also acts as a portal between the user and a series of links to social networking sites where profiles have been set up for the cows with networks between them and the consumers.

Similar to the way meat labels are now packaged in supermarkets such as Waitrose where the consumer is provided with more information about how its prepared and where it’s come from, our idea would be to get teens involved in drinking milk and taking more care about what they consume. It brings the way supermarkets and society are taking more care with food produce to the next generation by utilizing up-to-date networking technology (i.e. Facebook, Bebo, MySpace) that teenages are already using extensively.

This is my rough representation of the webcam in the fridge idea. Using facial recognition technology the webcam would recognise when the user is particularly hungry, bored etc and activate an automated phone call from Pizza Hut offering them a particular deal.