How to turn the Covid-19 vaccine into next year’s PS5.
Let me say this straight off the bat: I hate that I have to write this. I hate that we need to be creative to get people to get 2 shots of a miracle vaccine to protect not only themselves but their communities, I hate that we need to sweet-talk them into doing their part to extinguish a global pandemic and maybe even eradicate Covid-19 from the face of the Earth. We have achieved no less than a scientific miracle: At this writing, three vaccine candidates have emerged in record time, all boasting 70–90% efficacy in adults and 2 out of 3 requiring widely available refrigeration — one would hope the sheer force of will that brought these into existence would be met with similar enthusiasm by the populace. I wish it were true — I wish every red-blooded American would line up silently outside the vaccination clinics the day the open and solemnly wait in line, sleeves rolled up, for their turn to get injected like soldiers in WW2.
But it’s not like that, is it? Already this pandemic has shown us how quickly empathy drops off once you extend its scope beyond one’s immediate family, much less a global community. And we’ve also seen how simple, unobtrusive things like paper masks have become politicized symbols of imagined oppression, and our health experts urgings of doing all we can to slow the spread of a wildfire of a disease earning them derision and death threats. Wishing for compliance is not a strategy.
Not to mention, vaccines weren’t exactly a controversy-free topic even before Coronavirus. In our best year, we’ve never been able to crack 50% vaccination for the seasonal flu among qualifying adults in this country, and that is a single dose. For the Covid-19 vaccines to work, 2 doses must be administered, one month apart, and then 6 weeks to take full effect. That is a serious challenge — my design research counterparts will note how many people don’t finish a 10 minute survey.
How will we get to the 75% needed to cut a fire line around this disease?
Messaging becomes a necessary consideration. How do we shift the narrative around the Covid-19 vaccines to make them widely desirable? How do we ensure that the 2-dose protocols are adhered to, that we get as close to 75% inoculated as possible? How do we make everybody really, really want one?
1. Stress the Second Dose
This is probably most critical, because it is the most likely failure point. We might find great enthusiasm for the vaccine at launch, as folks misunderstand it to be an immunity, a silver bullet. They will get the first dose willingly, many will fail to get the follow up, and even those that do will have significant drop-off to the 6 weeks after where they should remain socially distant to give their bodies the best possible chance. As those that failed to adhere to the 2 dose protocol eventually get sick, stories of the vaccine failing will spread, sowing distrust. This will further undermine our efforts.
So, what to do? Language matters here. Shifting the emphasis of the 2 dose system so that the first does is seen as a PRIMER and the second dose is the POWER. Scientifically true or not, we need people to grasp that 1 dose alone is not going to do it, that only with the second dose does it work as intended. Call it something cool — Dose I:Shield and Dose 2:Sword. Comic book movies are incredibly popular — lean into the nerdery a bit. Again, this seems trifling but understanding this binary as necessary will make a huge difference in second dose uptake.
2. Save the societal benefit speeches
Yes, a highly immunized population will end the pandemic sooner. Yes, it will lead to a return to “normal” faster. Yes, it may eventually lead to the absolute eradication of the alien army that has killed a quarter million (and counting) of our fellow countrymen. All true. But this will motivate but a few of the vast majority of people.
People care about what they can see. They care about how a vaccine impacts their lives, their routines. You will lose them at the grand scale, so aim small: start with their families. None of the vaccines are yet safe for kids. Don’t you want to protect your kids? Don’t you want to get your kids back to their classrooms? Or parents, too — do it so you can visit your elderly or at risk family. Keep that message small and tight. For those without immediate family, focus on the social aspect — can we get a “vaccinated” badge on Tinder and Bumble? What’s the vaccine version of the “I Voted” sticker?
3. Downplay the network benefits
Seems counterintuitive, given that the central tenet of this article is to get to 75% vaccination so that scale kills the pandemic, but I suggest downplaying it as a central external message. Why? Bystander Effect. Getting 2 shots a month apart is a hassle. It’s a relatively small hassle given the benefit, but if people begin to believe that they can wait it out — that they can hold off while others get vaccinated because eventually there will be enough vaccinated to stop Covid-19 anyway, they will.
Instead, we want to create urgency to be first. Not in a door-busting, Black Friday kind of way, but we definitely want people waking up early to get in line on a Saturday. In the subhead I jokingly asked: How do we make the Covid-19 vaccine next years’ PS5? But in all seriousness, that kind of enthusiasm should be the goal. Make it easy to get (and free, that’s obvious, right?), but make being first a thing worth being.
4. A spoonful of sugar
How do we do all of the above? We need to, right now, begin working on packaging the vaccine experience to be closer to a consumer product than a medicine. I know this comes across as trivializing its achievement and its importance, but this is not the time to stand on high — we must not fail to democratize this. Chiding the skeptics will not win them over. Imploring their sense of civic duty won’t change their mind. We need to understand what motivates them, and design a solution to fit.
Assemble a cross section of Americans, from fervent first adopters to skeptics. Listen to their thoughts. Find out what they like. Do they trust Kanye West more than Anthony Fauci? Do they trust companies like Ford more than the government? Find out why. Then, hire the best brand people in the world to design the experience around these insights. How would Nike approach this?
This is the design challenge of our moment — I really believe this. Healthcare is a mess and people hate going to the doctor on a good day. How do we take this out of the realm of lab coats and needles and into the world of fashion? How might we make #vaccinated the hashtag of our time?
(Apologies to Humankind for using their packaging to make the point. Great deodorant — give it a try.)
