SocioLOLgical Experiment at Work

[AFK]

So I'm starting to put together a little social marketing campaign in my community.  It essentially is going to entail postering the community and local schools with a mystery number.  The mystery number is actually a percentage of kids in the community who DON'T use drugs. 

(Background: the premise is that kids and adults alike seem to have an inflated perception of just how many kids are using.  It ends up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy and so some kids will do drugs out of a passive form of peer pressure.  That is, they think they need to do drugs to fit in because they assume every other kid is using.)

Anyway, it's a kernel of an idea right now and I'm just starting to pull it together.  But, I have taken the liberty of printing out a couple of the mystery numbers and taping them to my office door.  We also have a weekly staff meeting at which I will have a full sheet printout of the number in 600pt font, right next to my notebook. 

Anyone want to place a wager on how many days before someone on the staff asks me about the number?  No one on staff has heard a word about this campaign, and they will be left in the dark with the rest of the community until it is time to reveal what the number represents. 

Of course, it may turn out that nobody cares and never asks me.  That would be a bit of a bummer.   

[LMNO]

I'm curious-- what's the number?

[AFK]

87 and 86.  I work in two, adjacent school districts. 

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

WOW, that's actually awesome numbers.  Less than 20% is well below the national average right?  Or do you think the national average makes itself?  Does that make sense?

[AFK]

I'm not sure, but these numbers come from a locally produced survey instrument only administered in this community.  I probably can't compare it apples to apples to national statistics.  I can say, however, that according to our survey use is going down since the grant started.  Which means either I'm doing something right or the survey sucks. 

[Jenne]

RWHN, we have started to use www.kidsdata.org.  Great little tool, though not always specific.  Still has some fine data in it.  It's CA-only, but there's gotta be a similar system set up for national data stats.

[Cramulus]

That's really interesting!

Are your posters just a number? "87" I don't think that in of itself invites investigation or discussion. Maybe if the phrase was "87% of kids..." or "What do 87% of kids have in common?" and the there was a link to some local info?

[AFK]

Well, our tech support with the Feds mentioned some other school district did something like this and it was very successful in generating some buzz.  Everyone was wondering what the number was, what it meant, etc., etc., and then there was some big event with the big reveal.

I'm still waiting for them to send me some samples of their materials which is why I still have this in the very beginning phases.  So I'm not exactly sure yet how I'm going to frame it. 

[Cramulus]

ahh gotcha -- then yeah, a big reveal is good. It creates a moment where the info is very valuable and is therefore likely to become a conversation topic. Even if kids don't talk to each other about drugs, they'll be interested in sharing what those confusing posters were.


My college campus did some marketing like that for the TV station (p-tv) they were launching. They put up probably a hundred posters that just had the letter P on them. Then a full month later, they put up posters that just said "TV".

Then, a full month later, they put up signs that said "P-TV. It's about fucking time."

[AFK]

Two days.  The Director was the first one to ask.