Behavior Change for Life not Life-Style
We all think through the filter of our experiences, and as a communications designer deeply invested in branding, I see life through the lens of these two design tools. With the devastating onset of the COVID pandemic, after the initial knee-jerk reaction, some of us in communications, advertising, and marketing felt the urgent need to address behavior change. As like-minded people came together, we concluded — ‘Let’s crowdsource communications’. The result of our joint efforts is Creative Collective of India (CCI), a platform/initiative for creating creative communications that speak to people of every region of India to drive positive behavior change. CCI was launched formally in July 2020, and since then we have been featured in Campaigns of the World, Instaa PR, Startup Reporter, and TVW News as well as all social media channels.
“Given India’s vast diversity across society, culture and geography, clearly one size does not fit all. We need empathetic and persuasive communication that’s based on a community’s traditions, to connect and spread the message effectively. The CCI hopes to fill this need.”
— Anthony Lopez
How We Started
Lloyd Mathias, who is working together with me closely on the campaign looks back on his involvement. “Sometime toward the end of March, Anthony called me to say that the Corona Virus situation was getting out of hand — At that time we clearly felt that the pandemic would be a long battle and the government and the medical fraternity would have their hands full — the creative fraternity along with the corporate world needed to get together to take on some of the challenges the pandemic posed.
The first phase saw two groups — one that was working at a tech solution — using the ubiquity of mobile phones to help people keep safe. But soon the Government’s Arogya Setu app made that project superfluous. The second group aimed to help with communication that would drive behavioral change — realizing early that the best way to slow the spread of the pandemic was individual safety-driven by responsible behavior.”
Designer Hemant Suthar, President of ADI, based in Mumbai got involved in getting the right mix of people together and promoting it within the creative community of designers. UI/UX Product Designer Sridhar Dhulipala based out of Bangalore was deeply involved in the technical creation of the platform. He recalls, “My first conversation with Anthony was about identifying a tech partner to build an ‘authentic, behavioural-change influencing media platform for creatives.’ As everyone at CCI was anxiously coping with the ‘new normal’, I worked on the prioritization and roadmap of what CCI’s platform should be. CCI being a volunteer-driven initiative, I realized that translating the vision into a platform requires a well-articulated product management approach. Given the diversity of participants and a need to pick up any of the hundreds of tasks to build CCI, I chose to anchor the product management. This entailed translating the vision into a set of functional units that could translate into a digital platform.”
Why CCI Is Important
Sridhar Dhulipala notes how the COVID cases are skyrocketing and time is our enemy. There is an urgency for the CCI mission to be acknowledged for it to gain traction to successfully change the course of the pandemic. Dhulipala is convinced that it eventually will cover ground.
Lloyd Mathias recalls how many felt helpless when the lockdown was first announced. “We heard horror stories of migrants risking everything and heading back to their villages. Many felt there was nothing they could do about it. In such times, a platform where people can contribute to help others empowers citizens to become active participants in change.”
Hemant Suthar says, “I feel that messaging in vernacular languages, especially spoken language, is really important as most people who can’t read, will be able to understand the messages clearly and help in bringing out the behavioral change which is required to beat this virus.”
What We Would Like To Achieve
“I would like to see CCI have a collection of diverse, fact checked, and validated content. This would be created by the people for the people, in their own context, and in their own language to have a clear impact in creating The Safe Normal,” sums up Suthar.
Behavioral consultant Deepak Mehra sees CCI as a trustworthy site that shares technically accurate, multi-platform COVID content from diverse regions, audiences, and languages of India. “It will evolve into a global health/social content collective. Possibly also a unique platform for youth seeking apprenticeship from top media professionals in the business.”
Mathias wants to see the CCI providing a channel for clear and objective communications to drive behavioral change. These would be empathetic and high-quality communications that can reach the interiors by originating from the smaller markets. He adds, “Secondly, I want to see participation come from beyond the creative community, by regular people who want to join the fight against COVID-19. It would be great to have the Government use CCI’s creative output for spreading the right messages.” Eventually, he hopes CCI will become a ready-available crowd-sourced platform that can drive positive behaviors on larger social issues from spitting in public, respecting personal space, queuing up, and behaving in a civil manner.
The unique thing about the CCI initiative for Dhulipala is its attempt to bring together a very diverse set of creatives, who are not just graduates of best design schools, but also artists and performers; to capture the imagination of not just urban or hip. “This is what inspires me. Eventually, I hope to see CCI as a go to place for the diverse creative spirits in India to use as a platform to influence society at large — creatives as influencers beyond the commercial confines, and towards nation building.”
Our Learnings
Mathias points out, “I have learned the importance of a dedicated team — individuals who are empowered and have some financial resources, who can clearly assign roles and responsibilities and drive the project 24x7. Also, even in a voluntary cause people want recognition and positions of ‘importance’.” In other words, every contributor feels they need a sense of acknowledgment.
We also learned that there would be solutions that worked beyond the guidelines we set. Deepak Mehra recalls, “Our team discussions about creative content on gender, cultural, technical appropriateness was insightful. Especially when the content broke all evaluation parameters and was yet very sticky.”
Dhulipala notes that the creative challenge is to pick the best insight and transform it into a highly memorable, accessible piece of content. He feels the need for the CCI board to create the same relatability and impact as the evergreen Amul girl campaigns. “If design can manage to create the Whatsapp moment to help combat Covid19 or distill it down to the key influencing behaviour to prevent its spread; that will be a measure of CCI’s success!”
Behavioral Specialist Deepak Mehra says, “People want to volunteer for a cause they believe in, but often they lack the impetus. Committed creative people like Anthony and Llyod make this path easier. The Creative Collective is currently being nurtured through “nudges” from like-minded personalities but shall soon evolve into a sustainable long-term model.”
Written by Anthony Lopez
Illustrations by Era Namjoshi
Edited by Sujatha Shankar Kumar
