Could Volkswagen’s Fun Theory Transform Influencer Marketing in 2020?

In 2009, Volkswagen made marketing history with its Fun Theory campaign, designed to encourage positive behavior in a fun way. In this article, we discuss:

• What is Fun Theory
•  Fun Theory’s role in marketing
•  Three ideas to apply Fun Theory to your influencer campaign in 2020
•  How Fun Theory could transform digital marketing
   

Marketers are constantly looking for ways to expand the experience factor for their customers, exploring new facets of collaboration and engagement.

The ‘Fun TheoryOpens a new window ’ offers an innovative way to study and understand human behavior. By applying Fun Theory principles to marketing, you can influence customer sentiment and increase the possibility of conversion. That’s because campaigns based on Fun Theory speak to customers on an emotional level, urging them to participate. Let’s explore how this happens, and how you could apply Fun Theory in influencer marketing in 2020.

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What Is the Fun Theory? And Why Is It Relevant to Marketers?

Fun Theory suggests that it is easier to bring about behavioral change if the targeted behavior is positioned as ‘fun’. For example, throwing garbage in a dustbin is desirable behavior – a school might adopt Fun Theory, redesigning dustbins as basketball hoops. As a result, the act of throwing garbage becomes ‘fun,’ encouraging students to change their behavioral patterns.

For marketers, this might take the shape of gamified product reviews, where customers can assign cupcakes or rotten eggs (represented as icons) to rate their experience with your brand. As you can imagine, the applications of Fun Theory in marketing are endless, and it’s an exciting space to apply your creativity.  

Fun Theory was first popularized by Volkswagen in 2009Opens a new window , with a campaign that wanted to change people’s behavior to bring about a positive impact. It started with small experiments, such as designing a staircase that looked (and sounded like) a piano every time someone climbed it. Volkswagen recorded videos of people choosing to climb the stairs, which is a healthy habit, instead of taking the escalator positioned right next to it.

Volkswagen’s goal was to find out how customers felt about driving environment-friendly cars – just before launching its Blue Motion Technologies brand in Sweden, breaking into the country’s eco-car market.

By applying Fun Theory, you can make customer interactions and other stakeholder experiences more engaging. Let’s see how this plays out in the context of influencer marketing.

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How to Use Fun Theory in Influencer Marketing: 3 Ideas

Influencer marketing sits high on most brands’ priority lists for 2020. A global survey of approximately 3500+ consumersOpens a new window found that 61% interact with an influencer every day. The numbers are slightly higher for men (65%) than for women (60%). And these influencers are spread across channels – Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

The ROI of influencer marketing is also pretty high. 74% were ready to spend up to $629 on a single influencer-led purchase. Consumers regularly recommend their favorite influencers to friends and family, and 61% would click on a sponsored link if it came from an influencer.

So, it makes sense to combine Fun Theory with influencer marketing in 2020. By following these tips, you can reach out to a large audience and encourage behavioral change that increases your brand’s reach and ‘influence’.

1. Include ‘Fun’ content in your products to generate UGC

At its core, Fun Theory is built on a consumer’s interactions with the physical world around them. For example, Volkswagen’s campaign depended on the sense of fun derived from climbing up musical stairs. You can bring this same feeling into your product by including “fun content” such as a secret greeting during the holiday season, personalized scratch cards, an infographic depicting how the product was made, etc.

Also mention that the buyer can record a video or take a picture of this content to share on social media using your hashtag. This turns every customer into an influencer, likely to impact their immediate circle and inspire interest in your brand. It will also give you a large repository of user-generated content (UGC)Opens a new window that further demonstrates the fun quality of your brand.

2. Design Instagram/Facebook stories that incorporate Fun Theory principles

The success of Fun Theory lies in its visual and experiential quality, conveyed without the use of too many words. That’s why Instagram/Facebook stories are the perfect platform for sharing campaigns designed around Fun Theory. If you have an influencer outreach strategy already in place, ask them to record small, “fun” moments they enjoyed with your product.

You can also crowdsource influencers with a “become an ambassador” program. That’s what Volkswagen did with its Fun Theory contest, where it invited others to contribute their ideas for using Fun Theory for positive behavioral change. Ask audiences on social media to send in their experiences with your brand or product, and why it inspired them to rethink existing behavioral patterns. These can be featured on Facebook/Instagram stories Opens a new window to garner interest in the campaign.

3. Invite influencers to write posts on the product experience

Fun Theory does not need explicit mention when designing a campaign. You can incorporate its principles and highlight how your products are fun to use while also being socially/environmentally conscious.

For example, consider product packaging that doubles up as wrapping paper during the holiday season in order to reduce waste. You can invite influencers to mention these details on posts and product reviews, to pique readers’ curiosity and interest.

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Looking Beyond Influencer Marketing

Apart from influencer marketing, there are several ways you can take inspiration from Fun Theory when outlining a digital marketing plan. It can be something as simple as a pop-up animation that appears when customers answer a net promoter score (NPS) survey. Through these subtle cues, you can bring about behavioral changes, driving customers to act at the right moment. Here are a few prime candidates for Fun Theory in 2020:

•  Marketing emailsOpens a new window that open up like a work of origami
• Wishlisting that curates products into personalized, sharable collections
• SMS feedback that sends customers a joke once a response is received
• A small (and interesting) data nugget/factoid shared via email/text after every purchase

At the heart of Fun Theory lies a sense of whimsy and empathy in designing the customer experince, and discovering ‘fun’ in the seemingly ordinary.

By taking inspiration from Volkswagen’s seminal Fun Theory campaign, you can reimagine how your audience connects with your brand. Over time, this will translate into increased loyalty, as influencers, as well as buyers, share their experiences with the widest possible audience – establishing your brand firmly in your target audiences’ consciousness.

Do you think Fun Theory could rewire how customers interact with your brand? Tell us on LinkedInOpens a new window , FacebookOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!