How Christmas lights helped fight war (Emergence Creative Festival)

Last week I went to the 2016 Emergence Creative Festival which brings together a diverse range of Perth creatives … musicians, artists, writers, singers, graphic designers and advertising execs. Held over four days in idyllic Margaret River, maybe you can imagine how much my mind is now spinning with things to ponder. First up the most powerful talk of the festival, Operation Christmas by Jose Miguel Sokoloff, who urged us to use our creativity skills to ‘make the world right’.

Jose Miguel Sokoloff © The Ponder Room

As President of Lowe Global Creative Council, Jose was tasked by the Columbian Ministry of Defence to encourage guerrillas to put down their guns and go home. In other words use advertising and communications to create peace … no biggy. Having worked on accounts like Red Bull no doubt Jose was used to adrenaline but surely this was different.

As Jose sat on the grassy bank at Willy Bay Resort , with the sun setting on a day of creativity and networking, the scene couldn’t have been more removed from what he’d shared with us earlier that morning.

Willy Bay Resort © The Ponder Room

In 2012 Operation Christmas was born out of the knowledge that Christmas is a difficult time for the estimated 6,000 FARC guerrillas hiding deep in the jungle. Capitalising on this basic human need for love and belonging, the agency turned to the signature Christmas tree, as a linchpin for behavioural change.

Under military guidance agency personnel identified a huge (75 feet tall) tree in the jungle that would later be wrapped in 2,000 LED fairy lights. For anyone who’s ever decorated their house with Christmas lights, can you imagine doing it in secret, in the middle of the jungle, under the threat of gunfire and wearing a bulletproof vest? And you thought keeping the dog out of the way was hard.

One of the logistical problems was how to power the lights. There wouldn’t be enough power to have them on all day and they only needed to be on when the guerrillas were nearby. Enter a trip wire.

© The Ponder Room

But this is war remember.

Imagine a troupe of young nervous guerrilla soldiers moving through the jungle in the dead of night, tripping a wire only to have the whole area suddenly light up. Itching trigger fingers could result in carnage.

Consequently, the trip wire was placed some distance from the trees so as not to startle the guerrillas. When the lights came on they saw the tree in the distance and when they got closer a message that read ‘If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilise at Christmas, anything is possible.’

‘War is not winnable by force, a peaceful solution is better than a bloodier one’ explained Jose, ‘we wanted to remind them that people love them and are waiting for them back home.’

And the result …

The strategy received immense international coverage including more than 2 million links on Google, and over 60,000 hits in two days which led to a prime time television commercial. More importantly 331 guerrillas who demobilized said they were motivated by the message. The strategy was replicated all over the country with nine more trees.

Jose Miguel Solokoff © The Ponder Room

Jose explained two elements that helped with the campaigns success. Firstly, ‘the military are more willing to take a risk’ than other clients because ‘they’re used to working in a risky environment’. Secondly the client realised that behavioural change takes time, they were happy to sign a three-year contract instead of trying to measure success after just twelve months.

What a great way to start the Festival with a room full of creative people most of them either moved to silence, tears or both. A perfect time for Jose to remind us that …

‘Soft power changes things, hard sell sells something. We have the power to tell a story in 30 seconds, the ability to change minds, use it responsibly to change the world.’

I feel so incredibly fortunate to have spent time with Jose, to have heard about Operation Christmas and in such a beautiful, intimate, peaceful setting. The experience has left me pondering …

1. While I don’t profess to knowing anything about the conflict in Columbia, I do have firsthand experience of the hole left when a family member is no longer around. Added to this, my time working at the Australian Red Cross alongside the Tracing Bureau, highlighted the importance of reuniting families separated through conflict and disaster. With this in mind surely any attempt to reunite young men with their families must be a good thing.
2. What a great example of how we can use our creativity to make a difference. Sure we’re all time poor but how great would it be if we could spend just 30 minutes a day pondering ways to use our creativity to make a dent in some of life’s other critical issues.
3. Given the last week of attacks I do ponder whether a similar strategy couldn’t be used to help de-radicalize some of the youth fighting overseas.

Many thanks to the Emergence Festival organisers for such a terrific festival and in particular for inviting Jose. I’ve already told this story many times (usually to stunned silence then admiration for Jose and his team) and know it’ll stay with me for years to come, particularly at Christmas time, reminding me to think bigger and give something back to this wonderful life we get.

Here is a short video summary of Operation Christmas, I defy you not to have a tear in your eye.

If that wasn’t enough there was a second Operation which I’ll talk about in another post.

I’ll be posting more about the festival however if you would like more information now click Emergence Festival.