BBH Barn interns launch Social Rehab campaign to fight against poor smartphone etiquette

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Social Rehab at Loof 4 Aug.jpgWhilst one half of the BBH Barn 2012 intern program has been running into Linkedin problems, what have the other half been up to?

The team has gained quite a bit of traction worldwide, organically in fashion/lifestyle blogs for their campaign for Social Rehab.

Social Rehab was created to try and re-engage people with their friends without the constant presence of a smartphone. According to a recent survey, 24% of people have missed out on experiencing important moments because they were too busy documenting it with their smartphones for online sharing. Social Rehab aims to get people to log off their social networks when they are out with friends, and get back into real life friendships.

“We have realised so many people today seem to have a smartphone attached to their hand and ignore their friends for their facebook feeds or instagram uploads,” said intern Sarah Chan. “The art of conversation is dying and I can honestly, one day, see us talking to each other in 140 characters. Its not too far from the truth already, since it seems to be socially acceptable to tweet people who are sitting directly across the table from you!”

The team quickly realised that they couldn’t pontificate or come across as nagging so they decided to do something different and simple. They created a toolkit comprised of everyday digital characteristics and made them tangible. Instagram filter glasses, ‘Twitter’ notecards, Draw Something doodle pads and ‘Like’ stickers. Their message is simple: Connect with life outside of your phone.  They want to spark real life social interactions and create enough fun and conversation that people don’t feel the need to awkwardly scroll through their Twitter feeds.

“Our campaign is then rounding off by going one step further and asking people to lock up their phones for an evening at a popular Singapore nightspot. In exchange for doing so, people will receive drinks promotions. An extra 10% for every hour they have their phone locked away, up to 40%. This is a model that organisations in both London and Australia have shown great interest in rolling out in their own markets.