Top 10 achievements for 2009
December 31, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
1. Coca-Cola agree to trial ‘the ideas behind ColaLife’ on the BBC Radio 4 iPM programme on 25/4/09.
The full interview is here (ignore the first 45 seconds):
2. AidPod design modified through to the ‘Mark III’ explained here:
3. Dame Barbara Stocking (Director, Oxfam GB) and Sir Bob Geldof give the ColaLife concept the thumbs up:
4. ColaLife headlines in NESTA’s Social By Social Handbock on social innovation.
5. ColaLife’s giant AidPod is displayed at NESTA and on the 4th plinth in Trafagar Square, London England. Sarah Brown tweets the event.
6. ColaLife brokers global partnership between Coca-Cola and international NGO, AED
7. ColaLife is incorporated as a not-for-profit organisation
8. ColaLife headlines at the Chain Reaction event and first TEDx London event
9. ColaLife makes it through to the second stage of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge
10. The ColaLife Development Plan was published
Here’s to 2010. 2010 is the year!
Is this the right order?!
Progress Report - 30/12/09
December 30, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Child at Rene MDC, Tanzania, November 2008
Image credit: Simon Berry
May 1988 - May 2008 - the first 7,305 days - no progress!
- May 1988 Had the idea while working on the British Aid Programme in NE Zambia that Coca-Cola’s distribution muscle could be used to distribute oral rehydration salts in developing countries
- I tried to promote the idea but made no progress at all!
May 2008 onwards- the last 578 days - real progress!
- 6/5/08 The presence of Coca-Cola’s Chief Executive at the Business Call To Action event re-kindled the idea. I contributed to the online blog saying: What about Coca Cola using their
distribution channels (which are amazing in developing countries) to distribute rehydration salts? Maybe by dedicating one compartment in every 10 crates as ‘the life saving’ compartment?’ (original live blog available here)
- 6/5/08 I decided to blog the idea and then follow-up by trying to get Coca-Cola’s attention. The blog post is here.
- After the blog post I tried to get the idea debated on the BBC Radio 4 iPM programme. I was successful on the 3rd attempt and after getting friends to support the idea on the iPM blog (see below).
- 6-14/5/08 I was in communication with Coca-Cola but could not get past the first line in Coca-Cola’s CSR department
- 16/5/08 Heard Annie Lennox on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. She said We can distribute Coca Cola all around the World but we can’t seem to get medication to save a child from something as simple as diarrhoea and I think that that is wrong. At this point I decided my blog post wasn’t going to be enough! I decided to set up a Facebook group to get people behind the idea.
- 18/5/08 Facebook Group formed.
- 19/5/08 #colalife tag set-up in hastags
- 21/5/08 Interviewed by Eddie Mair for the iPM Programme.
- 21-24/5/08 The iPM Team worked flat-out to create an amazing feature for the programme on 24/5/08 and this paid off handsomely
- 23/5/08 colalife tag establsished in del.icio.us
- 23/5/08 The iPM Team received a Written statement received from Coca Cola - ‘willing to talk’
- 24/5/08 The campaign was featured on iPM (BBC Radio 4)
- 24/5/08 As part of the iPM feature, Eve Graham (ex lead singer - The New Seekers) sang supporting lyrics to ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing’.
- 27/5/08 Coca-Cola Reydration Project proposed on RSA Networks (RSA Members only)
- 1/6/08 The colalife ampaign was nominated for the New Media Awards
- 5/6/08 Telephone conference with Coca Cola’s Global Head of Stakeholder Relations and UK conterpart
- 13/6/08 Facebook Group grew from 0 to 2,115 in 26 days. Membership includes a ‘frontline’ Rehydration Project in India
- 16/6/08 Face to face meeting with Coca Cola’s Salvatore Gabola in Brussels.
- 3/7/08 Ran workshop at the 2gether08 Festival
- 3/7/08 Follow-up interview with the iPM Programme (video)
- 6/7/08 Coca-Cola’s Adrian Ristow sent his first diary note from Ethiopia
- 6/7/08 ColaLife Google Group established
- 6-20/7/08 Facebook bug did not allow Kate Andrews to be added as group administrator - Facebook Support contacted
- 13/7/08 Simon Berry interviewed on the BBC World Service
- 17/7/08 Progress Report (6th Facebook Newsletter) >>more
- 21/7/08 Kate Andrews became Admin of the Facebook Group (group size: 3,400)
- 29/7/08 Kate’s article published on Inhabitat.com
- Inhabitat article starts an avalanche of other artcles including on treehugger, trendhunter and many more.
- 3/8/08 ColaLife Flickr Group established
- 3/8/08 colalife.org domain name purchased
- 3/8/08 Aims & objectives finalised through Google Group
- 4/8/08 Colalife website and dedicated blog built by Facebook Group member Dave Briggs.
- 6/8/08 Facebook Group membership hits 4,000
- 14/8/08 First face-to-face meet-up of the ColaLife Group
- 20/8/08 Meeting with James Alexander, CEO, We Are What We Do
- 21/8/08 Interviewed for Common Ground Magazine (US) - feature to be published on 1/10/08
- 21/8/08 Responded to questions from El Mercurio, Chile
- 27/8/08 Facebook Group membership hits 5,000, Google group has 55 members, Flickr Group has 256 members
- 27/8/08 Progress Report >>more
- 31/8/08 Article published in the Sunday edition of El Mercurio, Chile. This is the first the ColaLife story has been printed on paper. >>more
- 1/9/08 ColaLife banner ads made available. >>more
- 8/9/08 Facebook group hits 5,500 - the number of children under the age of 5 that die each day in Africa. >>more
- 12/9/08 ColaLife ‘Buzz Monitor’ created using Pageflakes. >>more
- 15/9/08 talkSPORT interview. >>more
- 20/9/08 Excellent ‘Before and After’ ORS pictures found. >>more
- 4/10/08 ColaLife featured as a case study at ‘Social Activism Online’ conference. >>more
- 18/10/08 ColaLife press page created >>more
- 19/10/08 ColaLife Video for Google’s Project 10^100 published on YouTube. View the video on YouTube.
- 19/10/08 Application submitted to Google’s Project 10^100. >>more
- 25/10/08 Kate Andrews writes ColaLife Wikipedia Entry.
- 25/10/08 Coca-Cola invites ColaLife to Dar Es Salaam! >>more
- 1/11/08 Progress Report >>more
- 6/11/08 ColaLife Video for Google’s Project 10^100 made available for the iPod >>more
- 10/11/08 Skype call with ColaLife mentor Tielmann Nieuwoudt
- 15/11/08 Jess ponsford submits innovation ‘ColaLife Pod’ design ideas >>more
- 18/11/08 Facebook Group membership hit 7,000
- 20/11/08 BBC to cover the Tanzania Trip >>more
- 20/10/08 ColaLife case study presented at NCVO’s Collaboration conference
- 24/11/08 ColaLife plenary presentation at NCVO’s Info 2.0 conference >>more
- 24/11/08 Views of ColaLife Video for Google’s Project 10^100 hit 3,000
- 25/11/08 Kate Andrews presented ColaLife as a case study at KHiO, Oslo
National Academy of the Arts >>more
- 25-29/11/08 Simon Berry in Tanzania at the invitation of Coca-Cola >>more
- 25/11/08 Field trip to Manual Distribution Centres (MDCs) in Dar Es Salaam >>more
- 26/11/08 Stakeholder meeting convened by Coca-Cola in Dar Es Salaam
- 26/11/08 Made prototype ‘ColaLife Pods’ >>more
- 27/11/08 Field trip with Benito Xaverly - ‘ColaLife Pods’ discussed on video >>more
- 28/11/08 Met with Dr Jane Miller, PSI, Dar Es Salaam. PSI are potential partners in the trialing of the ColaLife idea >>more
- 4/12/08 interviewed by Nigel Courtney for NESTA Innovation Handbook
- 5/12/08 Live interview on newstalk Radio, Ireland’s national talk radio station >>more
- 6/12/08 Progress Report >>more
- 13/12/08 ColaLife aims and objectives formally reviewed and re-stated based on the learning so far and informed particularly by the trip to Dar Es Salaam. The AidPod moves centre stage.
- 16/12/08 Face to face meeting at Global Tolerance HQ >>more
- 27/12/08 BBC iPM ‘Best of Year’ feature broadcast >>listen
- aidpod domain names registered >>more
- Introduced by Kate Andrews to David Berman the author of Do Good Design >>more
- 8,000th member joins ColaLife Facebook group >>more NOTE: we are now encouraging people to join our Facebook page
- 24/1/09 AidPod ideas explored >>more
- 21/2/09 ColaLife Twitter background released >>more
- 4/3/09 Mark II of the AidPod revealed at face to face meeting at Global Tolerance HQ >>more
- 8/3/09 Supporters encouraged to make their own aidpods - patterns released >>more
- 11/3/09 ColaLife’s Simon Berry is second blogger to be confirmed for the G20 Summit >>more The G20-specific blog posts are here
- 18/3/09 Simon Berry featured in ‘Social Pioneers’ supplement in the Guardian >>more
- 25/3/09 The children of N’gombe Compound, Lusaka celebrate the aidpod >>more
- 28/3/09 Dame Barbara Stocking (Director, Oxfam GB) gives her verdict on the aidpod >>more
- 5/4/09 Bob Geldof talks to Simon Berry about the aidpod >>more
- 8/4/09 theWorkshop in Sheffield build a giant aippod >>more
- 25/4/09 Coca-Cola commit to ColaLife trials in Radio 4 interview >>listen
- 25/4/09 ColaLife, ’story so far’ presentation at ‘Africa Gathering’ >>watch
- 6/5/09 ColaLife’s first birthday
- 17/5/09 ColaLife featured in HARVARD report >>more
- 11/6/09 Giant aidpod installed at NESTA, the UK’s Innovation Centre >>more
- 12/6/09 Prof Don Nutbeam endorses ColaLife in televised panel discussion on global public health >>more
- 17/6/09 Mark III of the aidpod unveiled >>watch >>slideshow
- 24/6/09 ColaLife to play Glastonbury >>more
- 1/7/09 Mayor of London says ‘No’ to ColaLife giant aidpod on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square >>more
- 5/7/09 Russell Tanner dedicates his spot on the 4th Plinth to ColaLife >>more
- 7/7/09 ColaLife headlines in NESTA handbook on social innovation >>more
- 11/7/09 Twitter campaign for plinth appearance starts >>more
- 14/7/09 Sarah Brown (the UK Prime Minister’s wife) tweets for ColaLife! >>more
- 18/7/09 Russell Tanner promotes ColaLife on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square >>watch
- 4/8/09 ColaLife brokers partnership with global NGO for Tanzanian field work >>more
- 5/8/09 ColaLife balloon release >>watch
- 15/8/09 An assessment of where we are with Coca-Cola >>more
- 26/8/09 Progress report >>more
- 19/8/09 ColaLife is incorporated >>more
- 24/9/09 Google back off from Project 10 to the 100th (very disappointing) >>more
- 10/10/09 Giant ColaLife AidPod displayed at the Africa Gathering event >>more
- 14/10/09 WHO/UNICEF Report published: Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done >>more
- 18/10/09 ColaLife makes the GOOD 100 List >>more
- 27/10/09 ColaLife presented at the 8th Annual World Food and Innovation Conference, Rotterdam >>more
- 31/10/09 ColaLife enters the Buckminster Fuller Challenge >>more
- 4/11/09 ColaLife presented at the inaugural TEDx London event >>more
- 12/11/09 Keynote presentation at Chain Reaction 2009 >>more
- 13/11/09 AidPod Mark III animation released >>more
- 14/11/09 ColaLife Channel launched on YouTube - youtube.com/colalife - >>more
- 16/11/09 The ColaLife animation reaches 10,000 views >>more
- 27/11/09 ColaLife gets through to stage 2 of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge (35 of 215 entries have made it this far) >>more
- 7/12/09 Giant AidPod display installed at the RSA, London >>more
- 12/12/09 ColaLife Development Plan published >>more
- 30/12/09 Progress report >>more
Next moves
- Fund raising has begun to raise funds to proptotype, manufacture and test the aidpod and the ColaLife concept
- Increase level of engagement with Coca-Cola with the aim of securing trials of the ColaLife concept in mid 2010
- Simon Berry will give up his day job in June 2010 to work full time on ColaLife
- On-going PR campaign to ensure support groups continue to grow
5,500 children die every day in Africa before the age of 5. This initiative could save thousands and thousands of children’s lives through positive engagement between the private and NGO sector.
Convening Power
December 22, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
I have a great debt of gratitude to those who joined us in the great Open Innovation Exchange (OIE) experiment which I ended up getting a lot of credit for but was really the brain child of David Wilcox et al. The Open Innovation Exchange developed a competitive bid for a UK Government contract in the open, online and the bid was much better as a result.
One thing was clear from the OIE experiment, and that was, that the more people you can convene around an idea the better the idea will become. It’s not that others necessarily come up with better ideas but they will challenge it and force those who put up the idea to improve it or let it die.
This is exactly what’s happened with ColaLife. The idea I put up in May 2008 was that Coca-Cola should remove one bottle in every 10 crates and replace it with a cylinder containing Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS). Now we are talking about a wedge-shaped container (not a cylinder) that makes use of the unused space in a crate AND with local determination of what goes on the container - ORS may not be what’s required in every location, all year round. We’ve gone from a good idea to a brilliant idea (IMHO) because of the way the idea has been exposed, discussed and challenged.
There are other benefits from this process and this became very apparent in the interview I’ve been through today (22/12/09) for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge. I was very relaxed going into the interview because I was pretty sure there wasn’t a question that they could come up with that I hadn’t been asked already by a ColaLife supporter in the discussion/challenge process that has gone on over the last 18 months. And that proved to be the case.
There are other benefits of convening of course:
- There’s the one that everyone knows. If you’re a lone voice, you are easy to ignore especially if you’re trying to get the attention of one of the biggest brands on the planet (Cola-Cola in our case). Lot’s people saying the same thing are more difficult to ignore and this has proved to be the case with ColaLife. We’ve managed to get Coca-Cola’s attention. A crucial first step in our case!
- If people convene around an idea it gives you huge confidence that the idea must be a good one. This is really important when you come to try and sell the idea to others (eg potential supporters) who have to be convinced.
As I have said before, this is why I believe in open innovation.
Onwards and upwards.
Thank you Trovus
December 19, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
This is the Christmas eCard that went out all Trovus users this week. Thank you again to the Trovus team for their support for ColaLife.
The links are:
Facebook
ColaLife Website
Twitter
The people behind Trovus are long established supporters of ColaLife and their Trovus Revelations service keeps us informed of who is visiting this website which is pretty handy when you are running a campaign!
Season’s Greetings to all ColaLife Supporters
December 17, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Thanks to Sam Berry (base image) and Luke Berry (robins and snowflakes), we have a ColaLife Christmas Card. This looks really good when printed on Moo Cards which is what I’ve done for family and friends (sad but true). Feel free to use the image yourself if you are looking for a different image for your eChristmas card. Click on the image to go to Flickr and grab the hi-res version.
If you do use the image please consider pointing people to the new Support Us page: http://colalife.org/support
A big thank you to the 10,000+ ColaLife supporters from around the world. We’ve made tremendous progress but there’s still a lot to do. I want to see AidPods in crates in Africa in 2010.
Executive Summary of the ColaLife Development Plan
December 12, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
We have been prompted to produce a Development Plan by ColaLife progressing to the second stage of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge - we are one of 35 from 215 entries. This plan builds on a Business Plan that has been under development for some time! Here is the Executive summary. Copies of the full development plan have been circulated to our steering committee and are available on request. Please see the PRESS page for contact details.
Executive summary
This plan describes how ColaLife will move to the next phase of its development. ColaLife started as a campaign and has been so successful that there is now a real opportunity to actually implement trials of the ColaLife idea while continuing with campaigning activity.
ColaLife wants Coca-Cola - and eventually a range of other commercial operators - to open up their distribution channels in developing countries to carry ’social products’ such as oral rehydration salts, high-dose vitamin A, water purification tablets, or whatever else is required in a particular locality to save lives, particularly children’s lives.
You can buy a Coca-Cola virtually anywhere in developing countries but in these same places 1 in 5 children die before their 5th birthday from simple preventable cause like dehydration from diarrhoea.
In May 2008 the ColaLife idea was put online and in its first 18 months attracted more than 10,000 supporters across the world. This process has resulted in:
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- High level, positive engagement with Coca-Cola
- The refinement and improvement of the ColaLife concept
- The formation of a steering group of supporters with high levels of expertise in the key areas required to take this development plan forward
At the core of the ColaLife concept is a wedge-shaped container that fits in the unused space between the necks of crated bottles. If proved successful, this could be replicated across the whole of Africa. 80% of the Coca-Cola produced in Africa is distributed in bottles and crates of the same type and size. This core component of the system is embedded in locally determined adaptations. Local organisations, with the long term responsibility for public health, determine what social products are carried in the AidPods. The same local organisations determine how the AidPods and their contents are managed when they reach their destination. For example, they may be sold (depending on the type of social product); they may be given away as part of health campaign or they may be collected and distributed by a community health worker or clinic.
We believe that the person who carries the Coca-Cola the ‘last mile’ should be paid for this and we are investigating mobile phone-based systems to achieve this and to monitor supply levels.
To implement this plan over the next three years we need funding to:
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- Develop and test AidPod prototypes based on the existing design
- Manufacture AidPods for field trials
- Contribute to running these trials and ensuring they are robustly evaluated
- Reimburse volunteers and provide income for at least one full time worker
The volunteer and pro bono support that ColaLife has received from May 2008 to date (November 2009) is valued at £90,000. Over the next three years we need to raise £385,750 to implement this plan and generate volunteer and pro bono support to the value of £28,000 per year.
During the next three years ColaLife will assess its need to exist into 2013. It may be that by this time the ColaLife is embedded and self-sustaining. However, there may be a role for ColaLife bringing together other cross-sector partnerships to innovate to solve other challenges.
December 2009
Copies of the full development plan are available on request. Please see the PRESS page for contact details.
What do you think? Have we got it right?
Public Health Guru, Prof Don Nutbeam, on ColaLife
December 9, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
First it was David Berman author of Do Good Design talking about ColaLife in a Peachpit TV interview and then I was sent a link to the above video interview featuring Professor Don Nutbeam. When this was filmed (June 2009), Don was Honourary Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney who also talks about ColaLife in the context of ‘making the most of what is already there’ to improve public health, or ‘going with the grain’. He says:
I’ve been working . . . with a campaign to try to persuade Coca-Cola who have frankly the best distribution network in Africa to use their distribution network to deliver essential medicines. They can deliver Coca-Cola to pretty much any corner of Africa and we in public health seem to be miserable at achieving the same goal so why not try to work with the grain.
Brilliant. Don is now Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton (=accessible!).
The giant AidPod is off to the RSA
December 6, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Tomorrow (7/12/09) morning at 6:30 I will be trying to get the giant AidPod on to a Virgin Train to London as a ‘bicycle box’! Well it worked last time:
Let’s hope the staff at Rugby are as understanding as the staff were at Euston. On arrival at Euston I’m being met by friend and ColaLife supporter Paul Webster (aka @watfordgap) and we are going to carry it to the RSA where it will spend Christmas. We will be leaving Euston at about 7:30 and this is our route. If you see us give us a shout!
What others are saying about ColaLife- ColaLife on Flickr
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