... says Co-Owner and Strategy Partner at Harbour Collective and Co-Author of The Creative Nudge, Kevin Chesters
But so many of us – people, brands, businesses – don’t exactly grab a flag & rush headlong for the barricades. It’s easy enough to get people to stick up a Twibbon, but how do we properly inspire or enrage people to stand up & take proper action.
To DO something.
The first thing to say is that it isn’t an easy or natural thing for us humans to do. When it comes to active activism it really comes down to some simple things human beings that they’re not naturally very good at. You are trying to get people to get off the couch (or Twitter) and actually do something. Fundamentally you are trying to get people to stand up for something. Individually or as a brand. That means getting people to potentially stand apart or stand out from their fellow humans too. Or to tell another set of people that we fundamentally disagree with their values or belief systems.
So, you are trying to get people to step away from the herd. To stick their head above the parapet; to be prepared to be disliked, shunned, possibly even ostracised. This is difficult for us humans. In fact, from an evolutionary perspective it is nearly impossible. All of our evolutionary programming is screaming at us to fit in, to go with the flow, to follow the consensus. It tells us from 50,000 years of collective learning to be a ’team player’ and not to rock the boat. We often want to stand up for what is right, but all those herding instincts tell us not to. But it is not just biology that gets in the way. Sociology does the same too. And often it can be more powerful.
Societal conditioning tells us also not to stand out, not to make “a public show ourselves”. So, we need a bit of help. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently and working with some smart people to work out how to get people to do it. To break that natural programming to want to fit in and do what everyone else is doing.
Mick and I started writing “The Creative Nudge” to investigate why people in our field always say that they are ‘creative’ yet mostly do the same things in the same ways that everyone else does. In writing it and working with some super smart evolutionary psychologists and behavioural experts, we came to see that this is a much wider issue than Marketing & Advertising. And it applies wider to getting humans to do ANYTHING different. At home, at work, in the world.
Before I get accused of a shameless book plug, I think this can apply equally to activism because you are trying to persuade people to step out and step up – which means being prepared to be seen as different. To maybe even be prepared to stand apart from our peers or colleagues or families, which is very hard to do as humans.
but especially not to stand out. If you look at the dictionary definition of “Creative” you will see it simply says that it is about original thinking or doing things in new ways. But we are driven by evolutionary programming and societal conditioning to not do that.
But Edward de Bono said that “Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting” (and who wouldn’t want a more fun and interesting life after the year we’ve just had.)
But I think that the simple ways we can break our natural programming to be more creative can be applied wider and more effectively to also apply to the topic of activism.
If we think of the best examples like Nike and Colin Kaepernick or the recent IKEA boycott of GBNews then brands must also be prepared to be ‘cancelled’. And consumers are increasingly demanding of the brands they choose – expecting them to stand for the values that they stand for. But to be authentic and follow through on what they say they believe in. ‘Greenwashing’, ‘pinkwashing’ or ‘wokewashing’ just won’t cut it. But this means that brands and their customers must actually BE what they believe, rather than just SAY it. This goes against a natural commercial instinct as much as standing out from the crowd goes against our natural human programming to ‘fit in”. This is because it means we have to be prepared to say that we are not for everyone, maybe even to turn some customers away (Shock! Horror!) But if we are to be brands that people buy into (not just from) or businesses that stand up for things (not just sell things) then we will need to break from what our brains and biological biases are telling us to do.
All it takes, like with anything in life, is a few nudges to start. For starters, you have to be prepared to be seen as different. This is scary, but it might be time to feel ‘good fear’ about it. You have to be prepared to not follow consensus, but this is the key to standing out and being noticed. You have to be prepared to be scared, but that’s OK. You have to learn to feel good fear and use it to your advantage.
Politicians have always been disappointing, but this current crop are really the worst I’ve ever experienced or seen. And in our FPTP system we are often unable to demonstrate any opposition or impact through our political system. Therefore, often the brands we choose (or choose not) to use are a simple way we can express our views or values. But to do so we need to break the normal human traits and societal conventions to do so. But as many of the urgent issues show – from within our industry (See Zoe Scaman’s latest article) or outside (from climate action to BLM) – it is vital that we as individuals or as brands step up and do so.
Time to take action. As uncomfortable as it’ll feel. And help is out there. All it takes is a few simple nudges.
