Published: January 18, 2009 in articles » branding by Thomas Baekdal
You might have heard about the "Atheist Bus Campaign" by the British Humanist Association. They have placed banners on 800 buses and subway stations in England, saying "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life".
Here is what it looks like:
Obviously, a campaign like this is going to bring along a bit of controversy, and it has. The religious movements are, not surprisingly, up in arms. They are even trying to get the government to block the ads on the basis that there is not "a shred of supporting evidence" that there is probably no god. A statement that was received with quite a bit of laughter by the humanists.
They responded by saying "I'm afraid all I've got out of them [the other humanists] so far is peals of laughter. I am sure that Stephen Green [the religious leader behind the protest] really does think there is a great deal of evidence for a god (though presumably only the one that he believes in) but I pity the ASA [Advertising Standards Authority] if they are going to be expected to rule on the probability of god's existence."
BUT, I am not going to talk about religion, or the message in the ad. I believe in the right for people to freely choose what they want to believe in - or not to believe in. What I am going to talk about is how they have created a very good campaign, and completely failed to take advantage of the social web.
The "Atheist Bus Campaign" has all the elements you need to create a very effective online movement.
It has all the elements you need for a social movement. This is an exceptional good example of something that has a high potential to "go viral".
While The Humanist Association has created an amazing campaign, they have completely failed to deliver it to the social communities. The entire campaign is focused around a physical localized object - namely a number of buses. So the campaign is not about the message, it is about the ad.
One very good example is that they did create a Facebook page (obviously), but the page is not about the message. It is not about if you believe or want to follow the idea that "there's probably no god". Instead it is about the ad. Because the Facebook page is called the "Atheist Bus Campaign" - not "There's is probably no god".
What they are asking you to do is be a fan of the "bus campaign", not the message or the identity of being one who believes in something different than god.
They are focusing, and promoting the campaign, instead of the part the people care about - the message, the identity, the emotion, and the part that makes people think.
Instead of making the buses the primary element, they should do the complete opposite.
They should have made the message the primary element, as opposed to simply a campaign. Then they should try to find out how to make people identify themselves with this message in the most effective way possible.
The use of the buses is still a great idea, because it creates a lot of awareness, and reaches a huge amount of people. But once you get people's attention, you need to allow people to act on it.
First of all you need to give people the ability to share the message. Make it easy for people to tell others of this very controversial message that they have just seen.
Then you need to allow people to express their opinions, to interact with the message. Using Facebook is good idea. But instead of making a page about the ad, you should make a page about the message. You should allow people to say, "Yes, I believe in this message".
You might even consider creating an anti-message page, where people could say, "No, I do not believe in this message".
Finally, you should give people a lot of ways to express their opinion to their friends and the public at large. The Humanist Association has started to sell t-shirts, but that is a very low-tech form of expression. Make a widget for people's Facebook page, their blogs, give them interactive web badges, iPhone wallpapers etc. Give them every single tool you can think of.
You should also encourage people to make their own version of the campaign - using your campaign elements. Allow people to express their own opinions in new and personalized ways. Allow them to be creative and to get involved.
Allow people to update their status with a targeted personal message. Instead of simply allowing people to post a link on Twitter, make it a personal statement "I think there's probably no god, and I am really enjoying myself (http://tinyurl/xxxx)". Or you could make fun of the opposition and allow people to post "I DO think there is a god, but I am not enjoying myself right now".
Focus exclusively on how you can empower people to express themselves, to find their identities, and to share their version of it with the world.
...and finally. Create a website that works like a hub for all these activities across all forms of media, social websites, blogs etc. Not a portal, but a hub where people can find where other people are and how they have responded.
This website is also be where you could supply updates of how the campaign is going, provide background information, and supplemential details. Not to mention where you host the high-quality press material for journalists and professional bloggers, who demands more than the low-resolution content.
The effect of this would be explosive, instead of "just a message on a bus".
Please note: The topic of this article is not to debate the existence of God. It is to illustrate how we can use a social movement to amplify a campaign to a much higher level. Please keep your comments within that topic, and refrain from advocating your personal religious beliefs.
Update: Jon Worth has posted a comment, pointing out that I 'missed' a big part of the campaign. I'm sorry about that. I still think that the bus part should have been the secondary message, and the message itself to be the primary focus. Having it on a bus is a good way to get exposure, but people don't connect to a bus, they connect to the message. But read Jon's comment below.
Writer, Project Manager and Interaction Designer
follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or visit my website
He he - sorry for that :)
The point of the headline was also intended to show the power of the words (besides being a very effective way to get people's attention). I did, however, consider to use "How to run a campaign", but in the end decided it was too boring.
Great post. I've been reading for a while but had nothing to say so far. i agree with you on most points but just wanted to add one thing.
they could have also used the mobile. they could have had a number on the bus campaign that said something like "send you friends number\email to *0000 and we will send him this message". this way, all the many many people that see the ad on the buses make it viral and don't need to remember it when they get home to their computer... i am aware of the spam potential so you can make it a little bit more complicated with some sort of prevention. but still i think it can add to the campaign. the option to make the static interactive is very appealing.
Writer, Project Manager and Interaction Designer
follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or visit my website
Nadav, You you are right. Using mobile phones is also an important tool. However, I think that SMS based services is going to become obsolete very soon, since the new generation phones all has built in web capabilities as well as email.
So instead of sending your friends number, you would simply update your twitter, facebook etc. directly from your mobile.
Another very interesting development, in terms of mobile phones, is all those near-field ID tags. Where you can interact with a physical object (like a bus ad) simply by standing close to it.
(could also be done using QR codes, or other rich-content barcodes).
You could also turn to "reversed" augmented reality, where you simple take a picture (with your mobile) and that picture then turn into a interactive experience, complete with social networking connections.
But I agree, mobile interaction is definitely worth adding to the mix.
I would feel more comfortable with:
There is probably a God
So Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life
I believe in creator(s) but not the God as described in the Bible - an ancient version of Harry Potter.
No matter who we are and what each of our social status position, our only purpose in this existence is to procreate and to keep the system going until we are no longer needed. That's what we are designed for. Sorry.
The atheists must be getting desperate! If they really believe there is no God or gods, why would they spend money trying to convince others of their "belief"? I don't believe in Santa Claus but I wouldn't spend a penny trying to convince others of my unbelief.
Fred
is prayer relevant to the attributes of god?
@Fred - Santa Claus hasn't been responsible for any wars. Yet.
Thanks for writing about the campaign, but it's quite remarkable how you have managed to make statements as smug as this one:
"What I am going to talk about is how they have created a very good campaign, and completely failed to take advantage of the social web."
...yet in the research for your entry you have completely ignored half of the stuff that has developed around the campaign, some of it from the people running the campaign and some of it from others.
First of all, the campaign started among bloggers in June 2008. The campaign was not started by the British Humanist Association. Ariane Sherine, a journalist, had the idea, and then I developed it - made a bus mockup, put it on my blog, got others writing about it, set up a pledge at pledgebank.com.
The campaign only reached the mainstream media, and indeed only reached the British Humanist Association, much later. If that is not making use of social media to drive a campaign I do not know what is.
Secondly, when the fundraising for the campaign was launched, a dedicated website was established - Atheist Bus - which received thousands of visits and hundreds of comments. It is via that route that we managed to raise £154000 rather than the original starting target of just £5500.
The website was the scene of much of the social interaction - people commenting with ideas, us linking to the amusing work that others had produced, people sending us pictures of buses, mockups of bus shelters etc. - it was online community action at its very best.
Then in the final stage of the campaign - when the buses were actually on the streets - we made major use of Twitter to further promote the message, using the quirky approach of writing as if it were a bus Tweeting.
Yes, OK, our use of Facebook could have been better as you mention, but frankly your article is very wide of the mark...
You can find loads more resources about the campaign, inc. a presentation I gave about it here.
Writer, Project Manager and Interaction Designer
follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or visit my website
Hi Jon, Thanks for the heads up!
And yes, this does put a different view on it. I did research the campaign, but apparently I failed to find the things you mention. I am sorry about that!
But I have to say. I still think you should have focused on the message instead of a bus. People don't connect to a bus. They connect the message itself. A message never stops, but a campaign does. It could have been much stronger, and lasted much longer (in my opinion).
If the campaign had been about the message 'There's probably no God', then people could connect to it forever. But with a bus campaign, it switches to past tense, once the buses are no longer around.
But again, thank you for the heads up. I have edited the article to point people to your comment.
Thanks! :-)
I do wonder about what you say though. The idea was to make a campaign that was concrete, measurable - essentially the definition of a SMART objective. Also the idea of ads on buses is simple and easy to grasp.
There's also one additional point I failed to mention - the campaign has also now been replicated in Germany, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Switzerland, Canada and a number of US cities. So it replicates quite well.
Thanks again for another fascinating article. Not only for great material for months of philosophical debate alone, but also for condensing social media methodologies into bite-sized, tasty pieces. Just as it should be done. Yum!
Writer, Project Manager and Interaction Designer
follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or visit my website
Thanks :)
Is there a God?
No. But there should be.
Baekdal.com is (nearly) everywhere. Check out our social profiles:
FaceBook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
FriendFeed
Delicious
Jan 18
2009
Yousef
visit my website
Wow, when I read the title= I admit I got a little worried to what would happen to the number of people who regularly read your posts. Fortunately the post was about the faults in the campaign and nothing else; the title= is one heck of an attention grabber though.
Your absolutely right though, they could have done a way better job when it comes to trying to bring their message through to the people. I mean, personally, I wouldn't find the FaceBook group "Atheist Bus Campaign" really attractive but I would definitely click "There's is probably no god" to see what kind of justification they have for such a statement.