We briefed a several different Mobile App Developers to create a life-like, virtual tree that could give kids a real-life experience.

What they didn’t know is that we had a secret intention: To get them to admit the limits of technology and, if possible, get them to agree that nothing beats the real thing.

We did this by challenging the experts with questions about the kinds of experiences we could achieve within a Tree App.

The questions became increasingly specific and, within the confines of a mobile application, ridiculous.

This led to some funny, confused responses and ultimately led them to the point where the experts acknowledged the limits of technology and made suggestions that only a real tree could provide the experiences we were asking about, thereby re-enforcing our Dirt Is Good philosophy.

We launched the experiment as an online piece to be a key digital awareness driver.

We targetted mums-to-be and new mums specifically as they have a distinct behaviour online and also offline.

Key opinion leaders such as ‘mommy bloggers’ were key to driving credibility.

Our existing facebook pages featured the experiment reaching mothers as well.

Through this experiment we have managed to convince mums the importance of real experiences for the development of their young children.

KOLs and third party support and advocacy have maximised credibility of the product amongst the target audience.

We also have managed to convey clear product functionalities and we are now in the consideration set of young mothers.

Although the campaign was launched recently, we are convinced that mothers would understand the benefits of even the youngest children getting dirty… just as 100% of the technology experts did during the experiment.