Why is Sesame Street so effective at teaching young kids?  Why did we spend hours doing math problems in the computer game Math Blaster? Because it’s FUN.

I returned just yesterday from the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change conference in Washington, DC, where I spent almost three days learning about strategies for teaching, engaging, and motivating people to change their behavior towards energy.  Many topics were discussed, including the need to uncover and remove barriers, to build trust with people, and to create social norms around efficiency.  All of those are important, if not critical, pieces to the puzzle.  However I think many times as adults we overlook the idea that was a no-brainer to us as children.  We like to have fun.

The Seven Dwarves understood it as they sang “Whistle While You Work.”  Mary Poppins got it too, singing, “In ev’ry job that must be done/There is an element of fun/You find the fun and snap!/The job’s a game” in the song “A Spoonful of Sugar.”  And just recently, a new initiative called The Fun Theory sponsored by Volkswagen has made this point as well.  This video shows there is something to be said for fun.  We can’t rely on only one strategy to work long-term, but as you develop efficiency campaigns, you may just be more successful if you build in some fun.