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Case StudiesSelected for Euclid Network

London: February 2013

Case Study: Global Zero

http://www.globalzero.org/map

BackgroundPurpose helped create and launch Global Zero, a global movement for the elimination of nuclear weapons led by Queen Noor, Richard Branson, and hundreds of civil, political and business leaders. Global Zero's objective was to use people power to bring the issue of nuclear weapons back to the top of the political agenda.

StrategyGlobal Zero partnered with the makers of An Inconvenient Truth to make "Countdown to Zero," a documentary about the Global Zero solution. Our successful engagement strategy around the release of the film included producing a road tour, screening the film at colleges around the country. We also launched cutnukes.org, an innovative interactive website which allows users to compare the cost of nukes in their country to essential services neglected by their governments, thereby rendering the narrative in a culturally sensitive and relatable.

SuccessesBy taking the nuclear weapons issue out of its Cold War frame and introducing it to a new generation, Global Zero succeeded in building the largest public movement against nuclear weapons since the 1980s.

Nearly 300 Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and defense experts have signed the petition to reduce nuclear arsenals. More than 400,000 members of the public have signed up around the world to support the cause. In April 2010, President Medvedev and President Obama pledge to reduce their nuclear arsenals.

Project: Global Zero

Project Specifics

Case Study: The Rules

BackgroundThe Rules is a new citizen-led global movement that aims to tackle the root causes of poverty. For the first time in history, power is shifting to ordinary citizens who can now affect the rules that create inequality. Seizing on these dramatic changes in access to technology and mass civic participation, The Rules aims to create the 21st century anti-poverty movement, driving south-to-south and south-to-north collaboration, enabled by the emerging tools of activism.

StrategyThe Rules will focus on 7 areas of debate around global inequality, including tax, trade and food. By partnering with global experts in each of these fields The Rules will draw on the best minds and networks to vocalise the campaign, re-animate the anti-poverty movement and shift the discourse to reframe poverty.

The Rules will use compelling video content and personal stories in order to draw on emotions of solidarity, hope, and anger at injustice, which are able to sustain long-term engagement. We will also use innovative online, mobile and offline organizing techniques to motivate action. This will allow us to better engage with campaigners in the global south to make the movement truly global.

SuccessesThe Rules will launch formally in March 2013. It already has thousands of members.

Case Study: The Rules

Case Study: Walk Free

Case Study: Meu Rio

BackgroundRio de Janeiro will host the United Nations in 2012, the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. These huge international events will bring a massive influx of investment into Rio and represent a major development opportunity. However, if locals are not involved in the process and decisions, this moment could exacerbate existing inequalities.

StrategyPurpose members decided to build a movement that would catalyse a new political culture, empowering locals with the tools to effectively participate in the construction of public policies and decision-making, mobilise Rio society and use this moment to collectively build a better city. We incubated Meu Rio as a laboratory for new interfaces of civic participation that combine technology and mobilization to introduce the citizens of Rio to politics. Meu Rio invites citizens of Brasil to launch their own campaigns that are locally relevant. These have included campaigns from tackling local deforestation, to exposing political corruption, to keeping schools open. Rio citizens can invite others to support their causes, and can then communicate directly with members of their campaigns. The site supports people to build petitions and target the relevant decision makers. Meu Rio uses the Purpose Platform. This multi-lingual platform was built by Purpose to allow movements to easily create campaign sites, customising them to their own brand identity and political focus.

SuccessesIn 2012 Meu Rio saved a public school from demolition. A campaign was started by a 10-year-old student at the school and taken up on Meu Rio’s campaigners, who launched a campaign to collect signatures and raise money to pay for the school children to attend a public hearing. They also set up a 24/7 webcam outside the school and a system for alerting people if and when bulldozers arrived.

Case Study: Meu Rio

Case Study: Mission Electric

BackgroundPurpose worked with the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program, the City of New York, the City of Philadelphia, the City of Boston, and OpenPlans.org to build a public engagement initiative around electric vehicles. Purpose engaged the US public to achieve real results in achieving greater presence of electric fleets in their cities.

StrategyAfter an intensive strategy phase, our key strategic insight was to engage the public in decision-making around electric vehicle deployment in their cities by creating a ‘game for change’ – i.e. a compelling, game-like experience inspiring social action – or in the world of Mission Electric, “missions”. Purpose developed the visual brand and name for the initiative – Mission Electric – and did the visual and user experience design for its public-facing website. Finally, we managed the development process of OpenPlans.org, our tech partner for building the website.

Mission Electric works by partnering with EV fleet owners and infrastructure builders to offer the public innovative, game-like ways to participate in their investment decisions. Our solution goes beyond raising awareness, creating meaningful participatory experiences that have real-world impact.

SuccessesNew York city has stepped up its drive for electric, including building 50 new EV-friendly garages in the city.

Hertz, one of the project’s corporate fleet partners, is renting electric vehicle in New York.

Case Study: Mission Electric

Case Study: I Ride For Livestrong

BackgroundPurpose partnered with the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) to build a movement that connected and activated the millions of LIVESTRONG wristband supporters beyond simply buying the band. LIVESTRONG wanted to engage with these supporters to build up awareness about cancer and generate more funding into their campaign in innovative ways.

StrategyInspired by Lance Armstrong’s tradition of dedicating his ride in a major race to an individual affected by cancer, Purpose designed a digital campaign called “I Ride For,” a virtual Tour of California bike race. Users created their own virtual rider and encouraged their friends to “cheer” for them; the more cheers that a user received, the farther in the race their rider would progress. The game gave both LAF partners, such as Trek and Radioshack, and LIVESTRONG supporters a way to plug in, building a community of LIVESTRONG support.

SuccessTrek pledged to donate a $100,000 after 100,000 cheers, and Lance dedicated his race in the Tour to the top 3 virtual riders. After just 48 hours, 10,000 riders joined the race and 100,000 cheers were made, triggering the $100,000 donation from Trek.

Overall, the 12-day game inspired more than 19,000 people to join and over 162,000 to cheer, and grew LAF’s community by 80,000 new members.

Case Study: I Ride For Livestrong

Project Specifics