Some typically smart thinking from RSA Chief Executive Matthew Taylor about the best way for government institutions to influence consumer behaviour. Rather than lecture people about what they should or should not be doing, smart communicators (people we would label ‘crowd surfers’) achieve behavioural change by leveraging people’s existing enthusiasms. Taylor describes this as ‘voluntary mobilisation.’
Here’s an example of how it could work in the area of health and fitness. If you want to increase levels of sports participation among teenage girls, you would be more successful if you tapped into their existing enthusiasm for music and dance, than trying to persuade them that netball, hockey or lacrosse are cool. I am pleased to see that Sport England (an organisation I am involved with in a non exec capacity) has been smart enough to recognise this, giving the dance industry £750k in its recent funding round to develop a dance-based fitness programme.