Ideas that make me jealous

I recently hosted a meeting with a bunch of my clients and agency industry partners. We spent a good part of the meeting talking about general business, but we always like to devote some time to "inspirational learning" as well. It's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, and miss the things that may be happening around us that could have a tremendously positive impact on the way that we think and ultimately the business decisions we make. (True of life as much as it is of business, actually!)

One of our inspirational learning agenda topics was 'Ideas that make you jealous.' Each team was tasked with sharing an example of advertising that made them think: "damn, I wish I'd thought of that!" My team shared some Cannes-award-winning work from IBM.

IBM's purpose is "to use our technological smarts to help the planet work better." They carried this purpose over into their advertising where they turned a would-have-been billboard campaign into:

A ramp for bikes, suitcases, strollers.

A shelter from the rain.

A bench to chill out on.

Brilliant.

HOWEVER, if I'd read about this before our meeting, I would have shared it instead. Two social scientists are out to try to change the behavior of the American food shopper by incredibly interesting means - it's being termed 'Nudge Marketing.'

Imagine getting your grocery cart, throwing in a bag of cheez doodles and then seeing your own reflection as well as the bag staring right back at you? 

You'd think twice. (This guy is clearly smiling because he sees lettuce, a pineapple and a tomato.) It would also give you pause to throw in a loaf of Wonder Bread and a jar of mayo into the section of your cart marked "produce." And it would be tough to ignore enormous green arrows on the grocery floor leading to the fruit and vegetable aisle.

These are just some of the marketing experiments taking place around the country to increase healthy food consumption. Perhaps they are a little 'Big Brother'-esque, and therefore they might attract some criticism, but no one is being forced to do anything. The control, and ultimately the decision, still lies with the consumer. Early signs suggest the approach is working. 

Sorry IBM. While getting caught in the rain can be a bummer, it's not the end of the world. What could be the end of the world (or the end of America as we know it) is if we keep up our addiction to food that eventually kills. Any idea that can help us curb that addiction gets my vote.