The best of humanity is revealed by social experiments, and we at the6.in attempted something unique on the occasion of ‘World Happiness Day’. We embarked on this with one question: How do we spread happiness randomly? To bring smiles on the faces of unknown people is the biggest gift to mankind, and we decided to do something that would make the day of shoppers at the Sri Venkateswara Supermarket.
It was a joint initiative by folks at the supermarket and our team from the6.in. Special thanks to the ever-smiling, friendly, Mr. Navin who participated in this experiment and chose to do sponsor his bit when he heard about our idea. This would not have been possible without the cooperation from the entire supermarket team. The experiment was such: We chose the hours when the supermarket would be busy with shoppers. We had a small child stand in the billing queue with a chocolate bar that cost around 50 rupees. When the billers at the counter asked the child for the money, he would regretfully say that he does not have the entire amount, and fell short-changed by less than 10 rupees.
Anyone from the crowd behind him who intervened, noticing that the child wanted the chocolate for his sister, and offered to pay the extra amount of the child’s chocolate got the entire groceries they had billed for themselves for free. This experiment was a test on the generosity of human nature, and we wanted to see how many people actively participated and offered to help the child. MYTH #6 GUERRILLA MARKETING CANNOT USE THE SURPRISE ELEMENT 43 Our experiment bore fruit soon enough. While a few people were too busy to notice, or simply chose to move ahead without intervening, some paused, noticed the child, and offered to pay for the chocolate.
When this happened, the team from the supermarket informed them about the social experiment project and bagged their groceries for free. And for those who genuinely wanted to pay for the child to be a reason for his happiness instead were pleasantly surprised when their own groceries were packed for free. The simple experiment was actually an outlier marketing idea that worked in favour of the6.in, with the entire team from the supermarket joining in and the video going viral on social media. The concept of spreading happiness is something we give little thought to, on a day to day basis. But as a social experiment, those who wanted to bring a smile on the little child’s face instead found themselves on the receiving end of a wonderful surprise that brought smiles to their faces.
A couple in particular, who were out on their first shopping evening together after their wedding, expressed their happiness at the surprise from the supermarket. It would be a memorable occasion for them, and a belated wedding gift. Small acts of kindness spread better smiles than we imagine, and the results of the social experiment proved that people of all ages, young and old found joy when being surprised with a bag of free groceries. Kindness is always paid forward, and this social experiment proved that fact.
We at the6.in found ourselves appreciating the power of guerrilla marketing which was more about the brains behind the operation and the coordination between individuals to get a project to execute instead of spending much money on marketing. In this particular instance, we would thank the people from the supermarket who chose to give away the groceries for the people who offered to pay, and the entire team who got this done without glitches. Perfection is a result of team work, and the6.in loved this chance to spread the message of happiness on the occasion of World Happiness Day
