Tag: Behavioral Change

Coca-Cola: Slurp and Crunch Cinema Spots

Cinema etiquette, packaged as entertainment

Coca-Cola, with the help of Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark and M2Film, created a two-spot public service campaign that highlighted the annoyance of noisy slurps and crunching of refreshments during public viewing at the cinema.

Coca-Cola Gangster

Coca-Cola Stableboy

The move: make the sound the villain

Everyone knows the noise. The spots take that tiny irritation and push it to the foreground, so the whole room shares the same reaction at the same time.

Why it works where it plays

Because it runs in the cinema. The reminder lands in the exact environment where people can immediately correct themselves. It feels like a social cue, not a rule.

The behavioral job

Highlight how slurps and crunching can ruin public cinema viewing, and nudge people toward better behavior without preaching.

Steal the nudge

  • Pick a universal micro-irritation and dramatize it fast.
  • Deliver the message in-context, where relevance is unavoidable.
  • Use story and character so behavior change stays watchable.

A few fast answers before you act

What was this Coca-Cola cinema campaign?

A two-spot campaign designed to highlight how loud slurping and crunchy snacking can annoy other people during a movie.

Who created the campaign?

The post credits Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark and M2Film alongside Coca-Cola.

How many spots were there and what were they called?

Two spots. “Coca-Cola Gangster” and “Coca-Cola Stableboy.”

Where was this intended to run?

In a cinema context, aimed at audiences during public film viewing.

Durex: Baby App

Making the consequence tangible, not the lecture louder

In consumer health marketing, the hardest problems are rarely about information. They are about motivation in the moment. This Durex idea is a clean example of turning a behavior barrier into an experience.

Condoms are a downer. So how does one convince guys to put it on, and make Durex the favored choice.

Using the iPhone, Nicolai Villads, Peter Ammentorp and Raul Montenegro created what is called the Durex Baby application for the iPhone.

How the Durex Baby app worked as a behavioral nudge

The mechanism was simple. If the barrier is that protection feels like a mood killer, shift attention to what happens without it.

The app simulated the realities of having a baby, using the phone as a constant companion device. It turned an abstract risk into a persistent, personal experience that could be felt rather than explained.

Why simulation can change decisions faster than persuasion

Most messaging about safe sex competes with optimism bias. People assume consequences happen to someone else.

A simulation reduces that distance. It makes “later” feel like “now,” and it reframes the trade-off. Short-term inconvenience versus long-term responsibility. When the consequence feels immediate and specific, the decision calculus changes.

The intent behind building it for Future Lions

The app was created for the Future Lions 2010 competition organized by digital agency AKQA and the Cannes Lions Advertising festival.

The business intent is clear. Use mobile to translate a sensitive topic into a playful but pointed interaction that can travel socially and be discussed without heavy moralizing, while keeping the brand associated with the responsible choice.

What to steal from this idea

  • Turn abstract risk into felt experience. Simulation can outperform warnings when the audience tunes out lectures.
  • Use the device people always carry. Mobile is effective when the behavior change depends on everyday moments.
  • Reframe the trade-off. Move attention from short-term friction to long-term consequence in a way people can grasp instantly.
  • Make it discussable. Playful interaction can open conversation on topics people avoid in direct language.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Durex Baby app?

An iPhone app concept that simulates the realities of having a baby to encourage safer choices and reduce resistance to using condoms.

What was the core mechanism?

Behavioral reframing through simulation. The phone delivers an ongoing experience that makes the consequence of not using protection feel immediate.

Why does this approach work better than a warning for some audiences?

Because it reduces optimism bias. People are more likely to change behavior when the consequence feels personal and present, not distant and theoretical.

What business goal does it serve for Durex?

Positioning the brand as the responsible default choice by shifting the decision from mood-based resistance to consequence-based clarity.

What is the main takeaway for marketers?

If persuasion is failing, design an experience that makes the outcome feel real, then let the audience reach the conclusion themselves.

Road Safety: The Bleeding Billboard

A roadside warning that reacts to rain

An impressive device was concocted by Colenso BBDO to demonstrate to drivers that vigilance is needed when it rains. The special billboards were installed on the roadsides in Papakura District, New Zealand.

When it began to rain these billboards started bleeding profusely.

How the device works as a message, not just a stunt

The mechanism is environmental trigger plus instant consequence. Rain does not just “set the scene”. It activates the medium, turning weather into the switch that makes the warning unavoidable.

In public-safety communication, linking a message to the exact moment of risk can outperform awareness-style reminders, because it removes the gap between knowing and doing.

Why it lands: it makes the danger feel present

The effect is deliberately uncomfortable. Blood signals harm, urgency, and the possibility of impact. It forces a driver to confront “what could happen” precisely when conditions are deteriorating.

A fairly violent but successful approach to drive home the message. “Rain changes everything. Adjust speed to conditions on the road”.

The business intent: behaviour change at the point of decision

This is less about recall and more about compliance. The goal is to interrupt automatic driving habits and create a micro-moment of self-correction: slow down because the road has changed.

What to steal for safety, infrastructure, and behaviour-change briefs

  • Trigger the message when the risk is real. Tie the communication to a condition the audience can see and feel.
  • Make the medium part of the proof. The environment becomes the “reason” the message is credible.
  • Choose a signal that reads instantly. Drivers have seconds, so the cue must be immediate and universal.
  • Design for instinct, not analysis. Behaviour change often happens through emotion and interruption, not persuasion.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the “bleeding billboard” campaign?

It is a road-safety outdoor installation where special billboards appear to bleed when it rains, warning drivers to adjust speed to conditions.

What is the core mechanism?

An environmental trigger plus instant consequence. Rain activates the medium, turning the weather into the switch that makes the warning unavoidable.

Why is the timing of the message so important here?

Because it collapses the distance between “knowing” and “doing”. The warning appears precisely when risk increases, at the point of decision.

Why use an uncomfortable visual like blood?

It reads instantly and signals harm without explanation. Drivers have seconds, so the cue must be immediate and universal.

What is the most transferable takeaway?

If you can trigger a behaviour-change message when the risk is real, the environment itself becomes the proof, and compliance becomes more likely than with generic reminders.