O2 THINK BIG: ‘WHY DO?’

Generations united… in a love of online quizzes

PROBLEM: How do you use the web to bridge the generation gap?

SOLUTION: Everyone loves wasting time online.

MEDIA: DIGITAL

O2’s Think Big programme provides funding and support to help bring young people’s innovative pro-social ideas to life, whether they want to help people code or tackle bullying.

22-year-old Londoner Sabian Muhammad wanted to use the web to help reduce the generation gap, by allowing people to quiz young volunteers about their life and attitudes. Visitors to the specially created ‘Why Do?’ site could ask the volunteers for their perspective on anything, from serious issues like drug use or self-harming to translations of slang.

To drive traffic to the initiative, we took the idea of closing the generation gap through technology and created an interactive video, with the help of acclaimed filmmaker Mat Whitecross.

The choose-your-own-adventure-style film allowed you to spend a morning in the life of a young person, helping you bone up on your text abbreviations and musical genres, before being given a ‘Street Age’ score at the end and invited to improve your understanding of young people at the Why Do? site. The campaign picked up a second-place gong, care of the IAB’s Creative Showcase.