Change world have fun

One of the best things about my job at the moment has been spending lots of time with people who work in consumer branding and marketing. No, wait, really... hear me out. Yes, I work in the internet, and specifically how to use it to achieve social change through grassroots campaigning and providing better services. I've also been part of the social enterprise sector for a few years, and written a few bits of policy advice, and between all these worlds I've met a lot of amazing people who want to use the power of business and media to change the world.

What's striking though is how little awareness there is in the social sector of the tools and techniques that are used every day to launch and grow international brands. It's almost as if, just because it's good for you, it has to be boring. Or, if it's commercial, it can't be changing the world.

But why can't a better world be fashionable, or aspirational, just like a new bar or a great pair of trainers? Why can't social enterprise be as fun as www.springwise.com? And more to the point, why can't we harness the awesome skills and powers of big brand marketeers to sell things that heal the sick, help the poor, or make our society work better for all of us?

I used to look down from my worthy pedestal on my friends in advertising, lifestyle magazines and brand management. Now I'm asking for their help. With Mindapples, we're asking everyone to choose a 5-a-day for their minds, with the ultimate aim of making looking after our minds as natural as brushing our teeth. It isn't a social project, it's cultural: we're building a new social trend, starting conversations, influencing culture and habits to change the way people live. Looked at from the right angle, Mindapples is actually a rebranding project: we're taking the concept of "mental health" and turning it from something frightening and depressing into something everyone wants to buy.

As we get closer to another election, someone said to me recently that the Government like to think they run the country, but really they're just the janitors. They make sure the heating's turned on, and the bins are emptied. If you want to influence the hearts and minds of people, speak to Nike, Ikea, or Pepsico. Just imagine what might happen if all those channels for influence were being used to build the world we all want to live in?

Growing up in public

So, 2008 is upon us and we're all a year older and a little wiser. As things start to wind up again (slowly) after the Christmas and New Year break, one thing has struck me: it's nice to be back in these conversations again. In 2008 I intend to have more interesting conversations, online and offline. I hope you'll all join me. I'm particularly happy to be spending more time this year on School of Everything, which has really kicked up a gear since Christmas. We've just launched a new, tidier version of our alpha site, so all feedback very welcome. It's not the finished article yet though - far from it - and this has left me pondering the implications of releasing our early versions into the public eye in such a bold way.

The "release early, release often" motto is a good one, and I'm discovering something important at the moment: it's okay not to get things right first time. The work we've been doing with the RSA recently is a great example of that: we produced a prototype which does one thing well, and from that we've grown a community and justified spending more time refining it and adding requested features. It's a very healthy way to grow a system: grow the technology alongside the community, and it certainly brings down those pesky barriers between community facilitators and the members themselves.

But openness comes at a price. By showing our users something which isn't finished, we risk leaving them frustrated, possibly so much so that they never coming back, or bad-mouth us to their friends. We're not exactly following the standard cautious processes for online brand-building (closed alpha, restricted beta, invitation only etc.). But if we don't trust our users, how can they trust us? And surely if we trust them, they'll see what we're aiming at and help us get there with them. Sometimes it takes that naked honesty to really convince people you're worth helping.

Fingers crossed anyway. Here's to a hopeful, collaborative, honest 2008, to more interesting conversations, and to the School of Everything - growing up in public.