Experience Matters

3 Quick Questions: Giving the gift of XO

At this time of year, agencies everywhere like to thank clients for their patronage. Critical Mass is no different. What’s different this year is how we’re doing it.

We decided to take the money normally dedicated to the usual stuff and donate it to the One Laptop Per Child Project on the behalf of our clients. It will go to purchasing XO Laptops for 100 children in developing nations. Instead of the bottle of wine or the chocolates, our clients will receive their own XO under the Buy One Get One Free Program.

Dan Evans, our President of Experience Design and long time CM’er, agreed to answer three quick questions about the importance of the XO Laptop, the idea of supporting the project and whether we’ll be seeing one at Critical Mass soon.

EM: What inspired you to give XO Laptops as gifts to our clients this year?

Dan: The idea actually came from one of our employees. But we’re really not giving Laptops to our clients - we’re giving 100 of them to children in the developing world.

It’s true we’re sending one of the laptops to each of our clients as well, but that’s to inspire them to join us in support the One Laptop per Child program. We thought the opportunity to see the laptop, along with a message about the program, would help raise awareness and support.

When you hear about what the project is trying to accomplish, it’s pretty inspiring.

EM: The XO is a project with a lot of reach. Does it present implications for us in the digital marketing space?

Dan: It brings us back to first principles – that the Internet is about connectivity. We throw a lot of buzzwords around like social networking and virtual communities, but all too often they are reduced to marketing tactics. A project like One Laptop per Child should remind all of us that the real power we’re trying to harness is in our need as humans to reach out and connect, create and interact with each other.

EM: There’s also some controversy surrounding the XO. What do you make of the criticism?

Dan: Listening to critics is what makes projects not happen. Tell me what you’re going to do to make it better, or stay quiet. There are 2 billion kids that need our help and they’re not getting anything out of that criticism.

EM: Are you getting one? What are you doing with it? Are you bringing it to the office? Can I play with it?

Dan: We’re getting one at each of our offices so that our staff can see it and play with it. But we have all sorts of toys in the office the likes of XBox and Wii and Slingbox – but this isn’t in that category. It’s about showing our staff the kind of influence a single idea can have on our world, and to remind them to think big. The project is not only inspiring because of the hope it provides to kids starving for an education, it’s also inspiring to think about how a huge idea can actually be brought to life.

EM: Thanks for this, Dan.

Experience Matters will be on hiatus until the New Year. Look for new posts starting in the first week of January. Happy holidays to you, your colleagues and your families from Experience Matters and Critical Mass!