This week, we distill insights around 365 Days of Positive Power - the second phase of the Alpenliebe Kindness Movement which inspires Chinese youth to actively live a life of kindness. 100+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects on social data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship on the MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every week, we pick up one project and do a deep dive into conversations around it -- on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web -- to distill insights and foresights. We share these insights and foresights with you on our People’s Insights blog and compile the best insights from the network and the blog in the iPad-friendly People’s Lab Quarterly Magazine, as a showcase of our capabilities. For more, see: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

1. crowdsourcing | storytelling | citizenship | social data
People’s Insights Volume 2, Issue 13
Alpenliebe 365 Days of
Positive Power

2. People’s Insights
100+ thinkers and planners within MSL- In 2013, we continue to track inspiring
GROUP share and discuss inspiring proj- projects at the intersection of social data,
ects on social data, crowdsourcing, story- crowdsourcing and storytelling, with a fo-
telling and citizenship on the MSLGROUP cus on projects that are shaping the Future
Insights Network. Every week, we pick up of Citizenship.
one project and curate the conversations
Do subscribe to receive our weekly insights
around it — on the MSLGROUP Insights
reports, quarterly magazines, and annual
Network itself but also on the broader
reports, and do share your tips and com-
social web — into a weekly insights report.
ments with us at @PeoplesLab on Twitter.
Every quarter, we compile these insights,
along with original research and insights
from the MSLGROUP global network, into
the People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine.
We have synthesized the insights from our
year-long endeavor throughout 2012 to
provide foresights for business leaders and
changemakers — in the ten-part People’s
Insights Annual Report titled Now & Next:
Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engage-
ment.
People’s Insights People’s Insights People’s Insights
weekly report quarterly magazines Annual Report
Volume 2, Issue 13, Future of Alpenliebe 365 Days of
January - March, 2013 Citizenship Positive Power

3. What is 365 Days of Positive
Power?
365 Days of Positive Power, a part of the larger Alpenliebe created a new infographic every day
Alpenliebe Kindness Movement, aims to inspire with a specific call to action, to inspire fans to
Chinese youth to actively live a life of kindness. spread positive power through acts of kindness.
Source: e.weibo.com
Since 2011, MSLGROUP has helped Alpenliebe convert kindness into a shared purpose or social
heartbeat, and catalyze a movement to inspire, organize and energize millions of Chinese youth to
share, appreciate and engage in everyday acts of kindness. In 2011, an engaged community of 150,000+
members shared 151,000+ kindness stories and 3,270,000+ shares and comments across social
networks, and the success of the campaign led to 330+ print articles and TV reports.
In 2012, the community grew to more than 600,000 members and engaged in 3.1 million shares and
comments across social networks, making Alpenliebe the third most influential brand on Sina Weibo.
3

4. Year 1: Building an emotional
connection
In the first year of the movement, Alpenliebe MSL China’s Owen Wang explained that the
established the brand purpose “Sweeten China content plan incorporated both trending topics
with Small Acts of Kindness.” and relevant news to capture people’s attention,
Scott Goodson, author of the movement and specific call-to-actions to inspire action. The
marketing book Uprising, summarizes how positive theme of the campaign also helped rally
movement marketing works: support:
“You start by identifying a powerful idea on the rise “I think it’s the Daily call-to-action mechanism
in culture. You then join, fuel and add real tangible which encourages people to share kindness and
value to the idea through innovative marketing and love when the weibo environment (or even the
social media. People who share the passion for the overall on-line environment of China) is filled with
idea join the cause. And rally others to get involved negative message and complains.”
too. And so, a movement is born, which smart For instance, a single post from Alpenliebe
brands can profit from.” inviting people to share photos of their smiles
Alpenliebe created a series of kindness videos on on World Smile Day inspired 1,000 people to
Tudou and a TV series with its celebrity kindness participate.
ambassador, crowdsourced kindness stories on As co-founder of Purpose and movement maven
a Renren minisite, partnered with key opinion Jeremy Heimans, pointed out:
leaders, created conversations across the social
web, organized kindness trips with non-profit “Participation requires infrastructure - and
partners, compiled the most inspiring stories into strategy”
a kindness bible, and honored them on the world To be successful, movements also require a base
kindness day. of energized and passionate people. Susannah
Vila, co-founder of social advocacy think-tank the
engine room, explains how to attract and manage
influencers:
“To move others in your direction you have to
understand them, work within their behavior
instead of trying to change it, and adapt your
tactics and messages to them. Figure out the
types of people that will be most receptive to your
campaign and get to know them. Then approach
them where they are already getting and sharing
Source: Alpenliebe Perfetti Kindness Movement
information.”
Year one also served as period of gathering
insights. Alpenliebe tracked people’s interests, Alpenliebe introduced badges to encourage
response to posts and preference of social social actions such as commenting, re-posting
actions, and used this knowledge to create the and responding to call-to-actions. Upon
strategy for year two. interacting with the 365 Days of Positive Power
application, people would receive a badge on
(See our People’s Insights weekly report on the their Sina Weibo profile page.
Alpenliebe Kindness Movement)
Gamification elements like badges are an
Year 2: Building brand re-call effective incentive, can be addicting and help
maintain enthusiasm and participation over
Alpenliebe leveraged learning from Year 1 to time - especially where there are a wide range of
select Sina Weibo as the primary platform for badges people can earn (see 4SquareBadges List
driving viral change, tailor a content strategy and Nike+ Trophy Collection).
around the preferences of its community and
identify super fans and grassroots influencers. In our Future of Engagement essay on Behavior
The brand then focused on energizing people Change Games, we explain the role of incentives
to participate regularly with daily compelling - like badges, points and prizes – in shaping
content and badges as rewards. actions:
Volume 2, Issue 13, Future of Alpenliebe 365 Days of
January - March, 2013 Citizenship Positive Power

5. “Incentives are effective in attracting first-time Alpenliebe target fans’ passion and energy
players, helping them get started and creating fun around popular interests like football and
and excitement. After they are hooked and begin important events and news, creating content that
to successfully complete missions, players receive inspires people to respond or share it on.
the ultimate incentive to keep playing – they see a
change in their behavior and experience a sense of
pride and self-empowerment.”
Real-time campaigns
Increasingly, we are seeing brands embrace the
real-time nature of social networks like Twitter
and Sina Weibo. Joel Lunenfeld, Twitter’s VP of
Global Brand Strategy succinctly summarizes
this shift:
“We’re moving from a world where we plan
campaigns for the future, to one where we adapt
campaigns to the moment.”
Source: mediapost.com This message encourages fans to recall sweet moments and wishes for British
footballer Michael Owen when he announced his retirement.
A play on words in reference to the new social term “Beijing Cough”
5

6. Real-time posts have higher chances of
spreading across the social world, and
sometimes reach more people and create more
buzz than paid communications – a phenomenon
we witnessed with Oreo’s tweet during the recent
Super Bowl blackout in the U.S.
Source: guardian.co.uk
As Henry Mason, head of research and analytics
Source: wired.com at independent firm Trendwatching commented:
“For brands, it’s never been easier to surprise
Purpose-inspired movements and delight audiences; whether sending gifts,
The Alpenliebe Kindness Movement is one of the responding to publicly-expressed moods or just
best examples of purpose-inspired movement showing that they care. Via social networks,
marketing from China because of how it inspired brands can now access consumers’ moods,
behavioral change in Chinese youth through a intentions, desires or frustrations as they happen,
sustained integrated marketing program across and can therefore address them in a much more
three years. personalised and timely fashion.”
The Alpenliebe Kindness Movement has helped
Alpenliebe increase sales and stand out in the
crowded confectionary category. MSL China’s
Owen Wang noted:
“Alpenliebe is regarded as a brand with strong
sense of social responsibility on-line, according to
our fans survey.”
Volume 2, Issue 13, Future of Alpenliebe 365 Days of
January - March, 2013 Citizenship Positive Power

7. People’s Lab:
Crowdsourcing Innovation & Insights
People’s Lab is MSLGROUP’s proprietary comment on other people’s content and
crowdsourcing platform and approach that collaborate to find innovative solutions.
helps organizations tap into people’s insights for
innovation, storytelling and change. The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform
and approach forms the core of our distinctive
The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform insights and foresight approach, which consists
helps organizations build and nurture public of four elements: organic conversation analysis,
or private, web or mobile, hosted or white MSLGROUP’s own insight communities, client-
label communities around four pre-configured specific insights communities, and ethnographic
application areas: Expertise Request Network, deep dives into these communities. The People’s
Innovation Challenge Network, Research & Insights Quarterly Magazines showcase our
Insights Network and Contest & Activation capability in crowdsourcing and analyzing
Network. Our community and gaming features insights from conversations and communities.
encourage people to share rich content, vote/
Learn more about us at:
peopleslab.mslgroup.com | twitter.com/peopleslab

8. For People’s Lab solutions, contact
pascal.beucler@mslgroup.com