One Month In: 5 Reflections and One Big Woe

I feel naked, but here goes...

I've decided to share a the unvarnished truth on how my mission to save the planet, one kids party at a time, is going.

You'll get insights into the thinking behind the campaign (marketing strategy, behavioural science and sustainability stuff) - and my learnings as I go.

And - I'm hoping it will trigger advice and ideas from YOU to help push this campaign further ??

The Campaign: The Kids Party Pact.

The goal is to make gifting at kids' parties more affordable and sustainable.

We are asking parents to pledge to give gift guidance on invites, cut the crap from party bags and give second-hand or sustainable gifts. They can pledge to one, two or three parts (we wanted it to be as inclusive as possible depending where you are on your journey.).

You can see all the details in this post - or find the link in the comments below.

5 Reflections - One Month In

1. Data is gold (duh)

I'm so glad we took the time to run a survey because it's helped us understand what parents think (not just what I think they think).

It's helped to shape how we position and message the Pact, given fodder for content and will (hopefully) be compelling from a PR pov.

The survey also gave us an initial list of people (those who opted in) to launch the Kids Party Pact to - and resulted in an initial flurry of sign-ups ??

2. Connections with aligned people.

I've spoken with some brilliant people over the past month who've given inspiration, advice and support.

Isabel Mack Mack from the Party Kit network is one example. Our missions are super aligned and already we've found ways to support each other's causes. We need more like this (intros please!).

3. Social norms

To reshape a social norm, people need to see other people doing the 'thing'.

Kids parties are great because they're visible within communities, the perfect spot for social diffusion. Other parents will SEE your request for no gifts/pre-loved items, they'll SEE you've chosen a plastic-free party bag.

This is EXCITING - but we need people to share beyond too.

4. People are reluctant to share ?? (the big woe!)

This is FRUSTRATING. People are SO positive in private to me, they sign the Pact but I'm not sure they're sharing (if everyone was I'd expect to see the number of people signing the Pact growing faster).

I have no visibility of whether they're discussing it with their friends (bloomin' dark social!).

A few people are sharing publicly on social, which brings me JOY!

We've put requests to share and easy links to do so on the thank you page and in the follow-up emails. There are also template emails and a flyer to send to your school/nursery for them to share with parents, which I know some have done.

Any ideas/feedback for how to encourage sharing? ??

5. We need to go local

This advice from Katie Patrick came at the perfect time, a good reminder that one viral reel isn't going to change the world and we'll be better able to drive action if we focus on change closer to home.

Next steps

• Make sure we are nailing every step of Katie Patrick's 7 pillars of behavioural science for climate action!
• Local events in collaboration with the Kendal Parents Network and Future Fixers CIC (toy swap anyone?!). The aim is to get parents talking, overcome pluralistic ignorance (people thinking they're the only one who cares), and encourage people to sign up to all/part of the pact.
• Identify other local groups and organisations that are aligned and reach out to find a way to collaborate.
• Find and activate champions/ambassadors around the country who are up for building the conversation in their areas.
• Explore funding options to help cover some of my time, and promote the campaign further.

Feedback and ideas?

Advice, feedback, ideas, introductions all welcome - share in the comments or DM me :)