Indulge Yourself, Take the (Piano) Stairs

Is not often these days we see a carmaker doing something as simple as thinking up ways to encourage people into changing their behavior patterns. We too must admit, caught up in reporting just about everything that happens in the automotive industry as we are, we sometime forget what a simple, yet ingenious endeavor can do for the mind and soul.

Volkswagen on the other hand does not. And even as busy as they are rolling out model after model and taking over Porsche, VW still has fun. And perhaps more importantly, makes us have fun...OK, actually not Volkswagen itself, but its DBB ad agency.

Take your everyday escalator, for instance, be it at a subway station, in a mall or where ever. As it usually happens, right next to the escalator, the clever engineers of the respective building also created a plain, old set of stairs.

Most of us don't even give it a second thought when it comes choosing between the two. Somewhere along the way, the simple act of moving our feet to get from place to place (especially up) has become too difficult, too inconvenient, too obsolete.

So, how do you convince people to choose the, let's say, 30 stationary steps over the single, moving one?

Volkswagen and DBB came up with this clever (and insanely fun) solution. The city of Stockholm was at the center of an experiment where the steps of the stair were turned into piano keys. Needless to say, once "the miracle" became public knowledge, 66 percent more people went for the stairs, instead of the escalator...VW/DBB dixit.

And if you find the video below fun, get ready for some more. The two have set up a webpage to promote this type of unconventional thinking: Thefuntheory. Not much to see there, yet, but if what's to come is at least half this clever, it's worth submitting your e-mail address (they'll let you know when they come up with something new).