Hello and
welcome to “Strategically Yours”, an
open discussion of Dr. Everett Roger's theory on the Diffusion of
Innovations. This theory is a general
model which has demonstrated usability for a multitude of applications. At the theory's heart is Roger's definition
of diffusion, "...the process by which an innovation is communicated through
certain channels over time among the members of a societal system"
(Rogers, 2003, p.5). In his definition
he readily points out the four main elements of the theory: innovation,
communication channels, time, and societal system. A look closer at each of these four elements
help us better understand their modality.
For this discussion I was able to apply the theory framework to a recent
work event and gain some insight into the lack of adoption to a recent
communication plan with which I had involvement.
The above-mentioned
event was a commute challenge on a local, two county level. The challenge lasted for a 90-day
period. The primary goal of the
challenge was to have local employers support and encourage commuters to: 1)
register for the challenge, and 2) track/log their alternative commutes for a
minimum of 30 workdays during the 90-day period. There were weekly prize drawings for any
logged commute alternatives. Some of
these weekly drawings were for as much as a $100 Macy’s gift card, a $50
Cheesecake Factory gift card, and more.
Additionally, for those commuters who tracked/logged their 30-day
alternative commutes there were guaranteed $50 gas or grocery cards (commuters
choice). Sounds easy enough right? The key message was “Go Green – Win
Green”.
One
shortcoming I am already aware of is that we really didn’t tailor our
communications differently for each group in the Innovation Adoption
Curve. Maybe if we had researched our
markets more and identified the Innovators (2.5%), Early Adaptors (13.5%),
Early Majority (34%), Late Majority (34%), and Laggards (16%) we could have
developed a much more successful and strategic communication plan. I share this story because I was having a really
hard time understanding where the communications went wrong. I honestly couldn’t believe more people were
not jumping up and down to get involved and “adopt” this challenge.
I’ve read
all of the assigned articles for this week’s requirements and I’ve watched the
videos that I’ve also shared on this blog, one from Dr. Rogers himself on his
own theory and one from Simon Sinek’s viral TEDTalk. From these I’ve been able to understand a bit
more about where it went wrong and possible ways to improve for next year’s
challenge. I shared the TEDTalk of the Golden Circle by
Simon Sinek not because it went viral, but because it was a) very
inspirational, and b) it refers to the Diffusion of Innovations theory as he discusses
the Golden Circle pattern and getting to the “Why” of it all.
In
reviewing the Commute Challenge initiative and the results I had to ask, “had
we conveyed the Why”? I can honestly say that yes we had conveyed why the event was so important to participants we were hoping would "adopt" the challenge. What we failed to do was “inspire believers”
(Sinek, YouTube). I don’t think we effectively
gained the believers we needed to get to a tipping point. We never hit that magical critical mass, the
one that can by sheer numbers cause an exponential growth upswing on the
diffusion S-shaped curve.
After
studying the results of the challenge there was some good news. Our challenge enrollment was up 350% and our
numbers of tracked/logged 30-day commute participants was up 175% from the 2015
numbers for our organization. Though
these numbers probably look good on paper to most, to me they just aren’t
satisfactory. So I’m looking ahead, I’m
planning ahead for next year’s challenge.
I hope to research and recruit our organization’s opinion leaders next year in the
early development phase of the challenge outreach. When I find them, my focus
will be on inspiring them to support the “why” of the challenge's participation
importance. Wish me luck, I’ve got my
work cut out for me.
Strategically Yours,
Autumn
No comments:
Post a Comment