Department of Communication Chair David Domke recently blogged about 2009 Distinguished Alumnus Peter Clarke, and a particular a piece on health communication research that Clarke co-authored with USC colleague Suzanne Evans in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Their story, “Disseminating Orphan Innovation,” traces the challenges of recreating successful social innovations from one distinct location to another, and how this requires customization, not merely replication.
Clarke and Evans illustrate their case through the project From Wholesaler to the Hungry, an initiative that links established food vendors with institutions who feed and support citizens at the margins of society. At the end of their piece Clarke and Evans offer “Eight Lessons for Customizing Innovations,” and after reading them I was struck by how the conclusions that Clarke and Evans draw mirror the kinds of lessons learned regarding new media adoption in emerging markets: taking time to build relationships of trust, anticipating barriers to adoption, and identifying local champions, to name just three.
As we have discussed in this fall’s MCDM Emerging Markets in Digital Media course, new media innovations in Beijing, Buenos Aires, and Bombay all require unique adaptations given cultural contexts–exactly the customization Clarke and Evans address. Tune in to the MCDM livestream channel on December 4 between 8:45 AM and 3:30 PM PST for student presentations that highlight topics of innovation in emerging markets, or join us in person in CMU 302.
It’s such an entrenched idea in the U.S., isn’t it? Create something successful and make a carbon copy (lots of ’em if you can) in an attempt to to be even more successful. Think McDonald’s, big box stores, or reality TV shows. In certain cases and settings it works. In others, not as much, especially when it requires changes in human behavior. Thankfully, Clarke and Evans show us that the painstaking work of tailoring an original idea to a specific location, organization, or people renders more success than a cookie-cutter approach does. I was particularly struck by their fourth lesson learned in Disseminating Orphan Innovation: “Customizers must identify barriers to adoption and sympathize with people’s psychological mind-sets that prevent new ideas from taking root.” Isn’t this essential in any kind of behavior change, whether it’s losing 10 pounds or motivating Americans to do more to prevent climate change? There’s simply no substitute for listening to the needs of the people you’re trying to reach. Clarke and Evans could easily have railed against the food banks that weren’t successfully adopting the orphan innovation of getting produce daily to impoverished children and adults. Instead of imposing a one-size-fits-all solution, they listened to the concerns of every adopter (food bank directors, in this case) and tackled each of their objections one at at a time. As a result, adopters had a sense that they owned their success and were more likely to sustain their innovative practices. Simple concept, lots of work, and worth it.