Get 11 million people to stop using their money.
It was 1966.
40 years before the Mac vs PC ads, and Australia had a problem.
The government had to get the entire population to change from imperial pounds and shillings, to decimal dollars and cents.
Here’s some of how they did it.
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Stigmatising the status quo
The campaign was headed by two simple characters. Mr Pound was old and stuffy. Dollar Bill was fresh and confident.
Decades before Mac vs PC, Australia did the same intellectual and emotional work of explaining the upsides of changing and the downsides of staying the same. This is key to building an appetite for change.
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Normalising change
Loyalty to the imperial way of doing things was a real obstacle. So the campaign showed that 95% of the world’s population was already using decimal currency.
Close neighbours New Zealand were changing the following year, too! Australia, the campaign cried, we’re being left behind!
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Using the old to bridge the new
New coins matched the old ones in size and equivalent value. People didn’t have to change their mental model of money, or its physical dimensions. One shilling was 10 cents. Two shillings was 20 cents.
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Making change feel like a gain
Five shillings became 50 cents, 10 shillings became one dollar. The numbers went up, even though nothing was actually worth more. This defused the fear of losing value.
Notable, isn’t it, that the techniques to drive change 60 years ago are as relevant today?
Our wiring hasn’t changed. Our behaviour has.
What’s your Dollar Bill?
Check out the campaign here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtyNLwqljzI
P.P.S. Shhh...this is only for introverts
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