The Campaign

Our key objective was to generate social discussion both online and offline around the launch of the 6th edition of the Macquarie Dictionary. Awareness of dictionaries is universal. Relevance was severely lacking. Our challenge was to get people talking about something they thought was a thing of the past. Advertising wouldn’t work for us in this space. Our best course of action was to trigger public interest, discourse and discussion around a new word… and then tie the entire discussion back to the continuous evolution of language. Our idea was to find a global problem so recent, it didn’t have a word for it yet. Then invent that word, and show that a single word has the power to change everything. The problem was poor smartphone manners. The word we created was ‘Phubbing: ignoring the person in front of you in favour of your smartphone.’ We launched the word, then used the it to spark a social movement. And then with media and public discussion of Phubbing at its peak, we released a branded short film about the origin of the word, in time for the launch the 6th edition of the Macquarie Dictionary. The entire campaign was designed to trigger, feed and ultimately leverage public discussion.

The Brief

In many ways, this was seen as a bit of lost cause. All the publishers wanted, was to generate social buzz around their upcoming edition, and create a story that mainstream media (and not just the literary media) may be interested enough in, to give the Macquarie some oxygen. A secondary goal was to remind their parent-publishing house that dictionaries aren’t dead just yet, and prove that they may have a place in the modern world. And based on recent entries to English-language dictionaries, a tech-orientated word that tackled a so far name-less global problem was clearly our best bet.

Results

‘Phubbing: A Word is Born’ was a living, breathing demonstration of the power, beauty and importance of words. Dictionaries appeal to people who love language, and this campaign was tailor-made to appeal directly to these people. Additionally, the campaign: • Was discussed in 180 countries via social media and covered by 750+ news outlets in 50 countries • Earned 435 million PR impressions • Attracted over 27,000 fans on Facebook • 3.6 million Australians could link the word to its definition • Was covered by news outlets such as the USA’s ABC network, Time magazine, the BBC, China Daily, Grazia, and every major Australian outlet. The editor of the dictionary even spent 10 minutes on breakfast television.

Execution

1: Create a word that the world needs but doesn’t have. Working with language experts and Macquarie Dictionary staff at Sydney University, we filmed the workshop that created the word – phubbing. For the first time the deliberate birth of a word was captured on film. 2. Global acceptance of the word. Following the workshop, our challenge was to leverage our network and digital assets, to seed the word into general usage around the world, and generate a general acceptance and genuine usage of the word ‘phubbing’ as the word that describes the anti-social use of a mobile phone in the company of others. 3. Reveal the truth behind the word to launch Macquarie’s new dictionary. Following the creation and acceptance of the word, we needed to link the campaign back to the dictionary, and prove to the buying public that dictionary’s still have a place because language is always changing.

The Situation

Dictionaries have largely become invisible in a world where Google has become the default source of all collective human wisdom. So when the Macquarie Dictionary planned to launch their 6th edition, they did so knowing that reportage and public interest would be minimal. Dictionaries just aren’t really part of the social discussion.

The Strategy

This campaign was 12 months in the making. The strategy was thus: identify a modern, negative behaviour yet to be named. Assemble a team of language experts to name the behavior. Create a movement and a social cause around the new word to attempt to modify that behavior. Film and track everything. If the movement achieved its aim, and created a public discussion around the behavior, then release a branded film about how a single new word can change the world. Release the film 10 days prior to launch, and use the media interest around the new word to open the door for the Macquarie to be a part of the conversation. We all thought it was a bit of a long-shot, but we hoped it would work.