A Derby creative communications agency says it is a step closer to achieving its aim of harnessing behavioural science right throughout the creative process after it delivered its latest hard-hitting campaign video to its clients.
MacMartin, based in Agard Street, described the video, called Don’t Be The One, as a landmark piece of work whose creative decision-making was heavily influenced by psychological insights and research rather than instinctive creativity.
Commissioned by city homeless organisation Derventio Housing Trust, the video is designed to alert its residents about the dangers posed by storing e-scooters and e-bikes inside its properties.
It follows a serious fire at one of the Trust’s properties in Swindon, which was caused by a faulty battery on an e-scooter bursting into flames.
The trust wants to remind its residents that e-scooters and e-bikes are banned from its properties and, after it received funding from the Electrical Safety Fund for an awareness project, turned to MacMartin to help it to get the message across.
MacMartin specialises in behaviour-change campaigns and, led by its director, Anna Hutton, it turned to the power of psychology for inspiration.
MacMartin director Anna Hutton planning the campaign.
In particular, it harnessed two psychological principles, peer influence and anticipated regret, to create a narrative which sought to appeal to people’s consciences, encouraging them to reflect on the effect of their actions on others.
Anna said: “We’re really proud of this video because it is a perfect example, from start to finish, of how we are driving forward the application of behaviour-change models within the creative process.
“The traditional way to approach this video would be to show something like a dramatic house fire combined with a straightforward message warning about the threat from lithium batteries bursting into flames.
“However shocking or arresting those videos are, research shows that they aren’t very effective at changing behaviour because the stark, authoritarian tone causes people to shut down.”
Instead, the video, which was shot by Derby firm AV IT Media, focusses on a resident who defies the ban and plugs his e-scooter in his room, with the action interspersed with soundbites from his housemates.
The scooter then bursts into flames, which leads on to scenes featuring its owner reflecting on his fateful actions, interspersed with real images showing the extent of the damage in Swindon.
The tagline for the video is “Protect Your Housemates. Protect Your Home”.
Anna continued: “The message was simple – if you bring an e-scooter into the property then you are potentially going to damage or destroy the only place your housemates, and you, are able to call home.
“Backed by research and our own experience, we all agreed that this peer-influenced intervention approach would have the greater impact, and we took this approach into writing the script and storyboarding the video.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve used this approach, but it is another step forward in applying scientific principles throughout the creative process and we believe it represents a landmark campaign for the social housing sector.”
The video was delivered to Derventio Housing Trust last month, and staff at the trust will conduct a series of feedback sessions to see the impact on residents’ perspectives.
Last year, MacMartin won Innovate UK funding to develop the first evidence-based framework for translating behavioural science recommendations into creative decisions in a bid to replace gut instinct with informed decision-making.
This will build on its current approach, which involves drawing on established frameworks including the COM-B model, the Behaviour Change Wheel and the Behaviour Change Techniques Taxonomy as a starting point for the eventual campaign.
To find out more visit www.macmartin.co.uk
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Picture shows: To be confirmed.
For further information please contact Simon Burch at Penguin PR on 07735 397888 or email [email protected]
