Our brain is ill equipped to correctly estimate speed of large objects. This error of underestimation leads to large number of trespassing deaths on rail tracks in Mumbai. We found this error and solved it with the Yellow Lines.

Interesting how Economist was able to draw the connection with our work,  in pointing out the errors that economists commit while predicting the growth of large economies.

PEOPLE are bad at judging the speed of large objects, especially those coming towards them. That is one reason why so many Indians die crossing Mumbai’s railway tracks. What is true of locomotives is also true of the world’s large, fast-moving countries. People struggle to wrap their heads around the size and speed of populous emerging economies so are taken aback by the impact as those countries come thundering on.

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Picture Source: Economist

(Screenshot from The Boston Globe)

Our work to minimize deaths due to trespassing on Mumbai’s railway tracks, called the Wadala Experiment, has been featured by Boston Globe in their Ideas section. The online version is out, and the paper version will be featured in this Sunday’s (May 7) Ideas Section.

The article details the Wadala Experiment and what we did. It also explains how we apply scientific principles into all our assignments thereby developing a fresher perspective on observing and explaining behaviour, and modifying it in a desired manner.

Take a read; how does this new perspective alter the way you’ve been approaching behaviour change all along?

Earlier this month, we presented the Wadala Experiment Case Study at the World Social Marketing Conference in Dublin, Ireland. The 2nd World conference brought together an audience of 600 behavioural change experts from 40 different countries.

The Wadala Experiment was the only case study presented at WSMConference that drew on learnings from Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavioural Economics to tackle social problems (trespassing in Mumbai). Behaviour change in larger societal problems, including healthcare, savings, and road safety can benefit greatly if we change our thinking and approach these issues in a more fundamental manner.

With the success of the Wadala Experiment Case Study, we have demonstrated how Behaviour Architecture™ can be used effectively to bridge the gap between AWARENESS and ACTION, a point which most social marketers, and even consumer marketers, are grappling with today.

If you missed the event, the presentations should be uploaded shortly on the wsmconference website. If you were there and missed the opportunity to speak with one of us, feel free to ask us questions here.

So, how are you bridging the awareness-action gap?

Times of India, today, reported how sustained efforts by Central Railway and FinalMile has been successful in minimizing death rates due to trespassing.

Source Data: Times of India

Our interventions along with the Central Railway efforts have managed to bring down death rates by as much as 70% in some sections.

The success of this approach hinges on two important factors. Big behavioural problems don’t need fancy solutions with large budgets and huge resources, but a fundamentally different approach that is designed on the unconscious. That is your big idea.

And secondly, the biggest success of this approach hinges on the fact that it is possible to change behaviour of people without them even being aware of the fact that we are changing their behaviour.

Our neuroscience approach to minimize trespassing deaths has met with even more success. After the success of this experiment at Wadala, Rs. 50 Crore is being earmarked to be spent on these innovative measures across the Mumbai suburban network – erecting warning signboards, painting tracks to help people judge the speed of trains and calling for motormen to horn twice while approaching risky stretches. Read more..

Our work to minimize deaths due to trespassing hinged on two key behaviour changes:
- break overconfidence of trespassers as they enter the tracks.
- make them alert, give them better judgement as they cross the tracks.

While researching what types of stimuli help in making the brain more alert, we uncovered one research done by Stanford University on music and alertness. Read more..

Earlier this month, we wrote a column for Point-Of-Purchase, a Shopper Marketing Magazine. This article details what we learnt from our recent experiment to halt trespassing deaths while crossing the tracks, and how these can be translated into the retail space.
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“Consumers claim 70% of their final purchase decisions are made at the store shelf, but we don’t know as much as we would like to about how these purchase decisions are really made. So we’re in the process of closing this knowledge and understanding gap” - AG Lafley, P&G

The retail scene in India is starting to churn. It is altering the very way Indians shop today. We’ve come a long way, from our local kirana stores, to the newest hypermart in the neighbourhood. Marketers have taken note of these new dynamics and are starting to vie for a share of this consumer at the final moment of truth – the purchase.

Look around, and you’ll get an idea of what’s going on. We get accosted by nothing but offers!, promotions!, and discounts! Even if some brands do decide to build their brand in-store, branding is nothing but a rehash of the mainline advertising, scaled to fit retail spaces.

Overbranding exists on a huge scale at retail, where every marketer wants to achieve large levels of saliency. Read more..

Our unconventional ways of working and researching behaviour – observation based research, using principles of cognitive neurology and behavioural economics into our interventions, and behavioural design – is starting to get noticed not only by the marketing and corporate fraternity, but also world media.

Read more..

Just this morning, Mint-WSJ carried an article that details the work that FinalMile does in the area of behaviour change.

Read more..