World Malaria Day 2010

Today is World Malaria Day. It seemed appropriate to share this interview I had with Adi Galokopoto, health worker with UNICEF Pacific Islands and member of the Solomon Islands Emergency Response team. Here Adi talks frankly about living with malaria, putting into context the nature of the disease, effective treatment, and how together we can help eradicate it. Please buy a net today via the UNDERCOVER widget on my blog (below). Funds go direct to UNICEF to buy nets. This simple action will save at least four children’s lives.

Some Facts About Malaria…

Malaria is a deadly mosquito-born disease, which takes almost one million lives each year and afflicts as many as half a billion people in 109 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Malaria plagued Europe and North America as recently as 60 years ago. Simple public health measures were crucial to eliminating the disease and helping those regions achieve growth, prosperity and stability.

Today, for the first time in 50 years, the international community is poised to win the fight against malaria worldwide.

Effective, low-cost tools exist to prevent and treat the disease and new and improved tools are currently being developed and tested. A consensus global action plan has been put forth to guide a coordinated international effort to control, eliminate and eventually eradicate malaria. A robust Partnership, uniting all key actors and stakeholders in malaria control, is in place to respond to challenges that no organization or government can face alone.

The next year presents a rare window of opportunity to save a million lives by rapidly delivering malaria interventions – protective nets, diagnostic tests, antimalarial drugs and indoors spraying – to all people at risk of the disease and to pave the way towards virtually ending deaths by 2015.

Each 30 seconds, a child dies from malaria. Each of these deaths is avoidable. Join the world’s largest international effort to end malaria deaths. The countdown to 2010 continues.

Social Media Altitude, New Order & Chicago Nights

A few weeks ago I made the trans-hemispheric haul from Melbourne’s sultry beginnings of summer to Chicago’s sub-zero emerging winter. A brisk minus 17 degrees Celsius to chill your bones and for the uninitiated (like me) a chance to test whether or not one’s ears do in fact ‘burn off from frostbite’ if walking more than three blocks without a hat! (please, don’t ask).

Chicago is an enchanting city and ‘must see’ destination. As I was only in town for eight days I had little opportunity to really explore, nonetheless I was determined to make the most of it.  I managed to steal away from the office for a few hours to visit The Chicago Art Institute and with snow everywhere on the street, decided it made more sense to lose myself amongst the warmth and inspiration of the windy city’s amazing art collection.

Prior to leaving Melbourne I connected with internet entrepreneur Bradley Will, having seen an Unstrappd interview he did recently with Gary Vaynerchuck. Knowing he was based in Chicago it made sense to look him up, however what unfolded was a totally spontaneous series of events which I could never have predicted and to say the least, was totally awesome!

I met Bradley and his business partner Gabe Strom on the night I arrived in Chicago and there was instant rapport and lot’s of ‘aha’s’. Over dinner we talked about the future, the challenge to businesses to become more social (and I don’t just mean managing a Twitter persona but genuine, real-person dialogue and connection online); and the notion of ‘trusted influence’ and all this entails as businesses learn to leverage new digital economics beyond social media… to be more transparent, authentic participants with the online community.

We decided to meet again at the end of the week in the lobby of the James Hotel, where I was staying. I was invited to guest present on their show which led to a Ustream internet broadcast of Social Media Altitude live from my hotel room. All in a day, I say…

The guys are awesome and the videos below are well worth viewing, at times funny, and you may even learn something. I sure did! Oh, and following the show I embraced Chicago’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ with friend David Armano who we joined for some die-hard popstar antics. But that’s a whole other story.

Kiss FM UNDER COVER is the new Black!

This week I was a guest on 87.8 Kiss FM ‘The Morning After Brekky Show’ – Australia’s DJ elite playing the latest in contemporary music culture. It was awesome… so awesome in fact that despite being 8am in the morning and my body saying, ‘Stephen it’s waaaaaay too early to be having this much fun!’ – I was in there mixing it up with the infamous Al Black and co-host Ben Acott!

Amidst wicked beats and ‘Out There Al’s’ borderline certifiable news flash – I was invited onto the show to talk about UNDER COVER – an online groundswell movement which raises awareness of the global malaria endemic and funds for purchase and distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

Here’s a few pics of my time in the studio and the audio stream split into two parts…

Kiss FM ‘Morning After Brekky Show’ Interview Part 1
Kiss FM ‘Morning After Brekky Show’ Interview Part 2

Read more

Malaria Nets, UNICEF & Going Under Cover

Since my trip to the Solomon Islands earlier this year I’ve been developing a social media strategy with UNICEF’s malaria task force. The realisation of this collaboration is the UNDER COVER Movement – an online groundswell project supporting the UNITED NATIONS international target to distribute 25 million nets to malaria endemic countries by end 2010.

UNDER COVER takes a different approach to traditional fundraising in that anyone with an Internet connection can make a difference, by direct donation or by getting a net fundraising widget for their blog or social network profile. Over the coming weeks we’ll be inviting people to get involved in this awesome initiative. Our target is 35,000 nets which will see 140,000 children protected from malaria.

To put some scale around a very complex problem, malaria (a preventable disease) is endemic in 91 countries and infects between 350-500 million people each year. More than one million people die (a person every 30 seconds) and most are young children living in Africa. Insecticide treated nets are a cheap solution and save lives by protecting children from malaria-carrying mosquitoes. By going UNDER COVER you become part of a life-saving solution.

One of the highlights of my Solomon Islands experience was Iringila – a 2000+ village community on Vella la Vella Island in the Western Province. Iringila is a remote paradise situated approximately three hours (by boat) from Gizo Island. Here I met with UNICEF Health & Nutrition Officer Winston Pitakomoki, who shared with me several malaria prevention strategies including the new insecticide treated bed nets.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

The UNDER COVER widget can be installed onto any website or social network profile which accepts cut-paste HTML. Get your widget code here and instructions for installation, then if you’re interested in pimping avatars and social profile pics download a .zip archive containing UNDER COVER skins.

We’re also on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr so please subscribe to these profiles and get involved in the conversation.

Titiana – Gizo, Solomon Islands

On the 2nd of April 2007, the men of Titiana, a coastal community on Gizo Island in the Solomon Islands Western Province, woke and set off in their canoes for an early catch. Upon their return a few hours later they approached their village, just as they had done almost every day of their lives. Within a few hundred metres of the shore, bemused at not seeing their village they returned to the open sea to correct their mistake. This they repeated several times until finally they realised that in fact they were not mistaken. They came ashore to the sight of utter destruction. Almost every structure had disappeared into the sea; nine people had been killed, including three young children from the same family. The survivors, terrified, had fled deep into the bush fearful that the men who had gone fishing would not come back.

It’s been just over a week since I arrived home from the Solomon Islands where I traveled with UNICEF ambassadors to see community rehabilitation projects which have been active since the 2007 earthquake tsunami. Many people don’t realize that the earthquake and tsunami that hit Western and Choisel Provinces in the Solomon Islands two years ago killed 53, directly affected 36,000, damaging or completely destroying 6000 sleeping shelters, 60 schools and 50 health clinics. To compound this utter destruction food security was undermined either by those fleeing to the higher ground of their gardens, or by landslides triggered by the 8.1 quake. On the island of Ranongga, 40 x 15km in size, the earthquake was so violent the island has been lifted permanently by three metres, exposing the fringe reef above the high water mark and making access to the sea incredibly difficult.

Please donate to UNICEF’s work in the Solomon Islands and share this story with your friends.

Emergency Architects (EAA) has been present in the Solomon’s since the disaster. Initially providing support to the National Disaster Management Organisation, UNDP and other NGO’s. EAA works very closely with UNICEF’s Rehabilitation Action Reconstruction Project (RARP) providing additional technical capacity (and supporting communities within the UNICEF agenda in the Solomon Islands). Following the tsunami EAA quickly moved to providing in-the- field technical support, on shelter, to communities on Simbo, Ranongga, and in the shortlands. This comprised training workshops in villages, focused toward construction of earthquake resistant houses, repair of damaged and leaning houses, training over 300 village carpenters, but more importantly, empowering communities to rebuild their lives.

Organisations such as UNICEF and Emergency Architects Australia are making a real difference in the Solomon’s. Even the smallest donation helps to fund this effort, which is largely focused toward rebuilding essential shelter, schools and medical facilities to village communities worst hit by the earthquake and tsunami. You can support this effort in a number of ways. Firstly, please tell everyone about it. Secondly, if you can then please donate to UNICEF’s ‘Build Back Better’ program. Your support will assist to rebuild lives, especially those of young children and their families. During this coming week I look forward to sharing with you more of my experience in the Solomon Islands. In the meantime, please take the time to connect and join in the conversation.

Special thanks to David Kaunitz and Will Harvey-Jones – Emergency Architects Australia; Samantha Cooper – UNICEF Pacific; and Tarie Benedetti of the Titiana Community. Photo and video credit: Joseph Hing – UNICEF Pacific; David Kaunitz EEA; and Stephen Johnson

Arrival in the Solomon Islands

Yesterday I arrived in Honiara, the capital of Quadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. This remote destination in the Pacific has a fascinating history with over 990 islands that form the Solomon’s archipelago. Sounds like a dream doesn’t it? It is kind of.

A myriad of ship wrecks lie dormant along the coast, only metres from the beach and dating back to World War II conflict between Japan and Alliance forces. I’d heard about this before I arrived as the Solomon’s are a renowned divers paradise, however nothing quite prepares you for the surreal sense and awe they create.

I am in the Solomon Islands on behalf of UNICEF New Zealand, who invited me to travel here with a small group of United Nations ambassadors to see emergency relief aid and community development projects here. Many of these inspiring projects are part of UNICEF’s ‘Build Back Better’ scheme, implemented following the 2007 earthquake tsunami which devastated many islands in the Pacific, including the Solomon’s. I’d heard about the tsunami and seen its effects via mainstream news at the time it happened, but like many of us living in urban cities I remained emotionally detached from the reality of life here.

With no ability to comprehend the scale of the disaster or effort involved to rebuild peoples lives and communities in the wake of such an event, we just go back to ‘life as usual’ after a few months. I’m not saying this to make anyone feel bad, it’s just how it is, but I’ll be providing coverage of UNICEF’s work here on my blog in the hope of connecting you to what’s really happening.

I’m also here to scope how we can use social media to create awareness and help with the rebuilding process. Whilst connectivity may be a problem over the next few days given some of the remote places I’ll be travelling to, I’ll attempt to publish a daily account of the trip so please share this with all of your friends and stop by each day for updates. And for all my foodie friends, the picture below is what I had for dinner

Ubiquity Never Looked So Sweet!

I met up with a good friend this week who works for one of Australia’s large food manufacturers. Our conversations always inadvertently resolve into a heated debate about the pro’s and cons of new marketing and Monday was no different. Our focus was on co-creation systems this time, which just so happens to be one of my key areas of interest.

My friend, let’s call him Joe, is experiencing the challenges associated with a campaign that calls upon consumers to participate in the evolution of an existing product. Whilst the co-creation approach he’s adopted isn’t new, it demands a level of commitment and transparency it seems his organisation wasn’t prepared for. Unlike many of his peers, Joe has bravely entered into ubiquitous territory; a place where he no longer has control. When I questioned the approach his answer was simple and direct. “In a connected economy success and transparency are intertwined. Australian’s own this brand, not our company, so it makes sense to get their buy in.” This totally surprised me, not because I disagree but because in the same breath Joe likened the experience to ’stepping out onto the ledge of a 30 story building without a harness’. Let’s pause for a moment and focus on that.

Being a champion of such behaviour I am often met with the argument that it’s a risky business to be fully transparent, that losing control of your message is the next best thing to committing brand suicide. Perhaps? But equally I’d pose the question – are we ever really in control? In a poignant post titled ‘On Falling and Flying‘ Chris Brogan highlights what many of us feel but never talk about, that for every win there is almost always failure and that ‘there are no blueprints’ for success. We are all making them up. We will fall. But then, we will fly.’

Having had my share of professional failures I can attest to this. Learning to navigate the ever shifting landscape of new media has taught me some invaluable life lessons, so much so that I’d go as far as saying that it’s no longer about control anymore, the learning is in knowing ‘when to let go’. Instead of expending valuable energy on being ‘controllers’ of communication, the full measure of success can be realised via the collective if we become ‘facilitators’ of it. It’s a subtle shift but one that creates a dynamic interplay and ongoing cycle of open innovation between brand and consumer, enabling a brand to move from being a static entity to an active participant with the potential to shape the conversations and interactions around it.

Like most industries impacted by the global recession, Joe understands that his company needs to evolve to survive. This is no small feat for an organisation of his calibre but he’s bravely taken the first step by acknowledging the need for authenticity and transparency with consumers. He also recognises the old systems and processes for marketing his brand no longer work and that a whole gamut of opportunities for value-based engagement and shared ownership exist. Whilst some people may think he’s crazy being out on the ledge – Joe is absolutely committed to redefining the brand-consumer relationship by involving consumers in the evolution of his product.

In an article which I wrote earlier this year for a DRAFTFCB thought leadership publication I discussed the ‘connected agency’, a hypothesis first presented by Forrester’s Mary Beth Kemp in 2008. It suggests that in the future agencies will evolve to nurture communities and then ‘match make’ them with brands. I elaborated on the strength of weak ties, drawing upon the notion that the influence of strangers plays a crucial role in forming a bridge between clusters of strong ties (our close friends). My intent was to reinforce the relevance and power of social networks to connect people, resources and ideas, to drive creativity and innovation forward.

In the context of Joe and his campaign one could argue there’s a paradigm shift taking place, toward a community whereby everyone participates, everyone contributes, to foster the best possible outcome. He understands this and respectfully so, has called upon consumers to become a voice for his brand and to make a difference. Does this make him crazy? I think not. But whilst he may not have all the answers (and the community is still reeling in shock at being asked) I commend him for his courage to step out onto the ledge into a situation where his peers would otherwise shrink back into a typical, known campaign trajectory. I wanted to share his story with you because I think there are some valuable lessons to be learned from Joe’s experience.

Thankyou Water

I’d like to introduce you to a fabulous movement called Thankyou Water. I first heard about this inspiring cause via my partner Nanette who profiled them recently on her blog Gourmet Worrier.

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to meet founders Daniel Flynn, Jarryd Burns and Morgan Ranieri. We talked about the impetus behind Thankyou Water and ways social media can be leveraged to support communities affected by the world water crisis. It was an inspiring discussion and one which opened my eyes to the challenges as well as the opportunities.

Thankyou Water are making a real difference with 100% of profits from their bottled water sales directed to the development of wells and water sanitisation projects in Uganda. I’ll be profiling them regularly on ArcaneLogik and wanted to share this video of our meeting as it provides insight into their movement and ways you can be involved. If you’re interested in donating to Thankyou Water or learning more about their cause you can connect with them via Facebook.

MFNZ interviews @Huxley at Marketing Now!

At the Marketing Now! conference in New Zealand I had the pleasure of meeting a guy called James Stewart. James is the video production and community manager at Made from New Zealand. He’s also one of those inspiring people you meet who’s sense of purpose in life and enthusiasm is absolutely contagious! For the most part we talked about social media analysis and the environmentally focused influencer projects I’ve been working on this year, but I walked away from our exchange with a sense that we’d be hearing more from him. The following video goes for approximately 12 minutes.

Chris Brogan talks social media at Marketing Now! NZ

In April at the Marketing Now! social media conference in New Zealand I had the opportunity of having a quiet chat with Chris Brogan. We talked about a lot of interesting stuff, such as how social media is redefining commerce, society, and culture. It went like this…