London 2012 – a nudge in the right direction?

Much has been made of how the London 2012 Olympics have felt different to previous ones. By putting volunteers front and centre, celebrating their generosity and sacrifice alongside those of the athletes, the Games were built as much on fun and participation as they were sporting excellence. This was something new, something refreshing, and something that seemed to perfectly capture the elusive ‘Olympic spirit’.

But this isn’t all. Generous applause has also been reserved for the London 2012 communications team. If Beijing 2012 was the model of an authoritarian approach to organisation, London was the epitome of a ‘nudge’ Olympics, it was argued, with participants subtly pushed towards engagement rather than cajoled or coerced.

The Economist in particular seized on this concept, suggesting for example that free bus passes for those attending events persuaded them to use public transport rather than their cars. But while this may be true, it fails to tell us why this approach proved so successful, or the principles that underpinned it.

There are several principles that seem to be at work here. First, provision of bus passes presented visitors with an explicit choice to make (bus or car) that encouraged them to think more carefully about the implications of their transport choices. Normally, the choice would be implicit and people would automatically go by car without any further consideration. Nudging people towards explicit decision making increases the likelihood that they will break their usual habits. This nudge also increases the likelihood that they will take account of relevant external information, in this case travel advice from the organisers.

Second, the herding instinct means that people have a strong tendency to do what others do and not be seen to be different. They are particularly concerned not to act differently when this may lead to a relatively worse outcome than experienced by the majority.  Communications outlining what most were doing during the Games, and how much they were enjoying themselves, was a powerful nudge inducing others to follow.

What London did so well was to focus on changing people’s behaviours. But it will be interesting to see whether this leads to longer term behavioural change now that these nudges are no longer present.

John Hood

Consultant

john@linstockcommunications.com