crowdsourcing | storytelling | citizenship

People’s Insights: Volume 1, Issue 34

Alpenliebe Kindness Movement

Alpenliebe Kindness Movement in China

In 2011, Alpenliebe launched a year-long initiative to catalyze a

kindness movement and inspire millions of Chinese youth to appreciate,

share stories about and engage in everyday acts of kindness.

page.renren.com/alpenliebekindness

Importance for Alpenliebe

Photo: keystothemagictravel.com/2012/08/epcots-mitsukoshi-department-store-or.html

The kindness movement coincided with Alpenliebe’s 15th anniversary in

China, and was the first step in reviving the brand and helping it stand

out in an increasingly competitive market.

Why kindness?

Kindness provided urban Chinese youth with a natural outlet for the

relentless pressures of China’s economic progress, and an opportunity

to connect with people in an increasingly solitary life.

“

“

Marketers should approach customers as whole human beings with mind,

hearts, and spirits, because consumers are looking for solutions to their

anxieties about making the globalized world a better place.

- Philip Kotler, Marketing 3.0

China Daily

Acts of kindness define people

“We might not have prominent status or earn less than others, but love makes

our life more dignified.”

Social standing and wealth are important aspects that define people in

China. People without these aspects shared that their actions served to

define them, and that acts of love and kindness increased their dignity.

Stories that inspire & shape the world

blog.sina.com.cn/lanyudesign

People shared stories that inspired them believe in positivity and love,

as well stories that inspired them to make a difference and shape the

world they live in.

“Thank you all for sharing the happiness and sweetness with me, and thank you

all for letting me witness love and believe in love.”

Rich collection of stories

By the end of the campaign, Alpenliebe had collected a rich database of

personal stories, stories that resembled old wives tales, and stories

picked up from the internet.

“A six year old American girl named Elena Desserich, was suffering from brain

cancer. During the last 9 months of her life, she left many notes with paintings

and words like I love you and hid them in her father's briefcase and mother's

handbag without their notice.”

Local stories, local pride

1) A friend in need is a friend indeed - Kind Wenzhou people

2) The city of love - Changchun: Traffic officer helps vegetable farmer sell green onions.

A theme of local pride emerged as people shared kindness stories from

smaller towns and cities, where local communities had rallied together

to make a difference.

Inspiration from animals

The people in the water found out a group of shark were closing to them after

seeing the dolphins' aggressive behavior. The kindness dolphins were protecting

human being in their own way at the desperate hours.

Several participants in the kindness movement shared inspiring stories

of kindness amongst animals. People from the greater online community

pointed out that humans should learn compassion from these stories.

The Kindness Bible

The most popular of the stories shared were compiled to create

Kindness Bibles. 300,000 copies of the book were distributed during

Alpenliebe’s seasonal sales promotion around the Chinese New year.

youtube.com/watch?v=r1CiQ6Ckysg

Candy and kindness

1) Photos of Alpenliebe candy shared at page.renren.com/alpenliebekindness

2) A small kindness during overtime

Alpenliebe encouraged people to share their “sweet moments” with

Alpenliebe during the movement, and also received stories in which

candy was used to spread kindness.

Impact

youtube.com/watch?v=r1CiQ6Ckysg

The emotional connect with kindness, and the campaign’s widespread

reach translated into a 16% increase in sales revenue. 151,000

kindness stories were shared, and 8.7 million people touched.

Trend: crowdsourcing kindness and cheer

Alpenliebe’s success with its Kindness Movement in China shows that

kindness is an attribute that is in demand globally, and one that can lead

to an increase in sales.

guardian.co.uk/money/2012/apr/13/better-business-acts-of-kindness

More People’s Insights Weekly reports

For more reports, visit: peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights/

Every week, we dive into one topic for discussion on the MSLGROUP

Insight’s Network and discuss insights and foresights, in three key

areas: crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship.

CrowdsourcingMahindra Spark the Rise

Storytelling:@MarsCuriosity

Citizenship#Kony2012

Read People’s Lab insights and foresights

For more, visit http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

The People’s Lab team shares the insights and foresights from the

MSLGROUP Insights Network on the People’s Insights weekly blog and

the People’s Insights Quarterly magazine.

MSLGROUP Insights

Network

50+ MSLGROUP planners

share and discuss inspiring

projects on corporate

citizenship, crowdsourcing and

storytelling.

People’s Insights

weekly blog

We deep dive into

conversations around one

project -- on the MSLGROUP

Insights Network itself but also

on the broader social web -- to

distill insights and foresights.

People’s Insights

Quarterly magazine

Every quarter, we will compile

the best insights from the

network and the blog in the

iPad-friendly magazine, as a

showcase of our capabilities.

Coming soon: People’s Insights Annual

Report

In early January 2013 we will publish the People’s Insights Annual

Report, in which we synthesize our insights from throughout 2012 and

provide foresights for business leaders and change-makers for 2013.

People’s Lab: Crowdsourcing Insights &

Innovation

For more, visit http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

People’s Lab is MSLGROUP’s proprietary crowdsourcing platform and

approach that helps organizations tap into people’s insight for

innovation, storytelling and change.

For People’s Lab

solutions, contactpascal.beucler@mslgroup.com