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Thanks a Million, Droga5
[Tue 02/09/2008 01:43:38]
Zona Marie Tan looks at the talking point of the 55th International Advertising Awards in Cannes this year – a groundbreaking interactive campaign that put students back in schools through a mobile rewards system.
 The concept of the electronic leash has taken on new meaning for New York City public school kids under the Million campaign. A breakthrough idea devised by award-winning agency Droga5, Million re-brands scholastic achievement for NYC’s 1.1 million public school students by giving them each a mobile phone.
When coming up with its pitch to the NYC Department of Education for a student motivational campaign, the creative team of Ben Nott and Duncan Marshall at Droga5 decided that they wanted to come up with an out of the box campaign that lived in the students’ minds, and also beyond its marketing budget.
“We knew that the other competing agencies would come up with the usual posters, TV and radio ads. But we wanted something different and compatible to today’s information exchange,” explains Droga5’s creative director Ben Nott. “And with kids today, the medium is the mobile phone.”
The Million campaign is an interactive rewards program that gives free mobile phones to students who then have to earn free talk time and text-messaging rewards through measured performance in school attendance, behaviour, classroom participation, homework and grades.
When the campaign went public, critics were harsh with the NYC Department of Education (DOE) questioning why money was being spent on giving the kids “bling instead of books.”
“There were a lot of articles [in the press] about that problem. And it’s a valid problem because no one wants the kids to be mucking around when they’re supposed to be studying,” Nott concedes. . “But what many people didn't know is that when we came up with the concept, we devised a ‘School’s in’ and ‘School’s out’ mode on the phone. So when they’re in school, the calling and text functions are deactivated. Only the phone’s educational functions can be used. So, it can’t distract students.”
The biggest hurdle for Droga5 wasn’t in creating the concept or the execution of such a massive project, but explaining how it worked.
 “Coming up with the concept wasn’t the hardest bit,” says Nott, who is also a founding partner at Droga5 and an Australian. “The hardest bit was getting buy in across so many stakeholders. The students, the teachers, the parents, the unions, the politicians, the public and of course, the press. The task was educating everyone about how the Million actually works. Plus learning ourselves and improving the Million to address new and realistic issues. It was a big, all-round effort. Our CEO, Andrew Essex and our account service team worked long and hard defeating the many barriers that stop new ideas.”
After all those hurdles were crossed, Million took off in a US$2m pilot program in late February by handing out 2,500 Samsung phones to students in seven New York City public schools. After a mere two weeks, sceptical principals and teachers ate their words.
“After the pilot began, the teachers were really impressed,” says a relieved Nott, who got involved in filming the before and after feedback video of the program.
But the real proof in the pudding for Nott was watching students’ point scores improve based on attendance and grades. In addition, Million had produced a by-product that effectively tracked the students’ performances in school on a short-term basis instead of awaiting results from half yearly or yearly exams.
The icing on the cake for Droga5 was a Titanium Lion for the campaign at the Cannes Lion Awards in June this year.
Nott says of the win, “Hopefully this recognises the fact that the traditional methods of education aren’t working, that change is essential and to always think beyond the current plan. And that this Titanium award is proof that this fresh thinking is the way to go.”
The agency’s focus now is to provide content and continually build the program.
“We also have responsible sponsorship of school programmes that appear on the Million website and possibly on the phone after hours, and that provides funding that goes directly back to the school. So it’s a self-sustaining project, which I think a lot of people doesn’t realise.”
Nott illustrates that, besides Samsung and Verizon’s support of providing phones and airtime, sponsorship deals could be made with stationery supply companies like Kinko’s or Staples who could, for example, provide back-to-school promotions which especially benefits under privileged kids in inner-city schools.
 And why the ‘Million’? Nott says “There’s approximately a million public school students in New York. And we thought it had a nice ring to it and that the kids might even be motivated to think ‘Yeah, I’m one in a million’ – and realise that they are all individuals. Or that if you get a million people together even if they’re a group of students, they can be a powerful organisation and resource. We also wanted to give these underprivileged New York students an improved sense of social worth and let them know they are not alone. The Million name reminds them they are part of a club of one million similar kids in similar situations in New York.”
The word has certainly spread – after the successful pilot in New York the Million program is now rapidly expanding across other schools in the city, with the next stage of the Million program to be rolled out in Washington DC, Chicago and New Orleans for the 2008/09 school year. Droga5 is also hoping to expand the program to other school systems worldwide.
Quick history
Droga5 is an award winning advertising agency founded and owned by Australian marketing genius David Droga. The agency, which has its headquarters in New York, also has an office in Los Angeles and Sydney (opened in January 2008). Droga5 Australia has been involved with creating the opening titles of upcoming film Dying Breed and will also be in-charge of the film’s A&P.
View the Million case study video at:
www.droga5.com
www.millionnyc.com
www.tapproject.org
This article appeared in IF #113 September 2008
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