October 2009

Volkswagen’s new viral video campaign, The Fun Theory caught my eye this week.

“The Fun Theory” is a series of experiments, captured on video, to find out if making the world more fun can improve people’s behavior.

Among the experiments: does turning a set of subway stairs into a real-life piano encourage people to use them (answer: yes, 66% more). Another experiment asks whether making a trash can sound like a 50ft-deep well will make people pick up their trash. An upcoming experiment, meanwhile, will turn a bottle recycling center into an arcade game.

Seeing it immediately got the ITP grad + Experience Designer in me all excited. Viral video + ad campaign blather aside, these videos can stand alone as great studies in how injecting a little playfulness can not only create a profound, memorable experience but it can also change human behavior. Pretty powerful stuff. I highly recommend you go watch them all.

{ 6 comments }