BBC - Change
How can the BBC encourage 16-34 year olds to make sustainable lifestyle choices in an engaging and informed manner by harnessing the power of their data?
BBC- change is a Whatssap bot service that engages younger audience to make sustainable lifestyle choices and allows a call to action based on BBC data while being guided by the world's best environmentalists.
In Collaboration with
Type
Service Design
User Research
Speculative Design
Business Design
Strategy
Duration
5 Weeks
Team
5 People
Type
Designing with Data
Sustainability
Lifestyle Design
Future of media
How to stay relevant?
The BBC is the world's leading public service broadcaster. Throughout its long history, the BBC has served the public by adapting to changes in culture and technology. A particular challenge at the moment is that of competing for the attention of younger people aged 16 - 34. And currently, almost all of the BBC's online services are based on a model in which individual items of contents, articles, videos and so on before being published. In this project, we'd like to explore possible new BBC service that is based on data aiming at a mass-market with its core audience aged 16 to 34 rather than manual content crafting.
The BBC has a strong legacy of public trust. The user has given the BBC permission to access much, if not all, of their personal data. This could potentially extend to items such as location, purchase history, health monitors, social media posts, etc. Also worth considering is that this data could be held in a personal data store, on top of which new services could be built and data from other external sources.
Small Actions, Big Impact
Engagement
Imagine you have just seen ‘Climate Change: The Facts with Sir David Attenborough’ on BBC iPlayer, and you are all riled up by his ‘call to arms’.
There is only a fleeting period of time where you will be charged enough to act.
You hear about BBC Change as the show is ending, and go on the website where you sign up.
You introduce yourself to the service to the extent you are comfortable with. Let's say you sign up, and tell the service that you are vegetarian 5 days a week, are a social smoker and cycle to work.
Introduction
Now that the service knows you, you will be recommended small challenges which are achievable, feasible and harmonious with your lifestyle.
In this case, out of the big topics you have shown interest in, you select your favourite - to become more of a sustainable eater, and start with the small challenge of switching the milk in your coffee 3 times a week to a non-dairy alternative. You now choose your favourite coach to help you along this journey. You choose Sir David.
Different Users, Different Journeys
We see them being used by a wide range of young users across the country in different capacities. For example,
- 26 years old Sam, just start his journey by trying the diary milk challenge
- Laura is a college student, using BBC change help her to become a vegetarian.
- For Ann as a mother, she need a flexible challenge on cutting plastics
Making impact Visible : Individual and collective
One person making a small difference can make a small impact, but collectively imagine the impact of a whole community. We found that food was an inclusive area which caused a lot of decision fatigue but was an area people were willing to change habits for. There are a whole host of micro-decisions which could become challenges.
For example, there are a whole host of micro-decisions which could become challenges :-
Switching bacon for eggs on Sunday Brunch,Ordering a Margherita pizza rather than the ones with pepperoni, Choosing the Hummus rather than the Caesar wrap at Pret for lunch on a Tuesday
Data Flow
Data will be key to this BBC service functioning well and uniquely to others. Data would flow from the user into the system at the beginning as well as during the challenge. At the same time throughout the journey, the BBC would select information from existing platforms to feed back to the user to keep them engaged and stimulated. The feedback from the challenge at the end also would be key for the system to learn the user’s behavioural patterns. As the user gets more comfortable with the service, they may choose to share more granular and personal data which would help us tailor the challenges better e.g. number of steps walked, photos of meals eaten
Positioning within BBC and Long term vision for the service
Mapping media implications & future trends
Understanding the current behavior patterns of the target users in terms of their media usage. This included how they consume media and trends across the industry
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Decreasing Attention span
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Data Privacy
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Instant Gratification
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Decentralising content Creation
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Fake News & Trust
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Technology Changes
Using future wheel to understand implications
Mapping existing BBC services
To create a new service or a new strategy, we mapped existing services that BBC offers and put them as per 3 main categories. This was done to either avoid repetition of service and to understand gaps as opportunities for new services.
How do millennials make decisions?
Broad themes explored
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We struggle with the privilege and burden of choice
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We are bombarded with information and opinions from an endless stream of sources
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We think so much about decisions that sometimes we tend not to make them, and procrastinate
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We want things personalised
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We consider if we even make a difference
Discovery workshop
To make sustainability a norm, we had to first understand what drives this generation to live in the way that they do. We explored how they make decisions on daily basis and in the long term, what or who drives and influences them and where they go for understanding its implications.
Aim was to understand :
> how to create behavioural change by identifying points of intervention
> how they make decisions in all spheres of their life
> Understanding triggers, influences & mental disposition in different contexts
> Exploring concepts of analysis/paralysis, decision fatigue