Abstract Edge: Brand Interactivism

Design Constraints and "What If?"

I agree with what Shelly Boggs from Stellar tweeted today:

"Design is the management of constraints and the practice of continually asking 'what if?'"

Exactly.

Creating Online Grassroots Movements - Lessons From the Million Mom March 10 Years Later

Today is the 10th anniversary of the Million Mom March, an organization advocating sensible gun control laws and one of Abstract Edge's first clients. Founded in September 1999, the MMM became perhaps the first mass grassroots movement of the Internet era, mobilizing more than 850,000 people to march on Washington on Mother Day 2000 and in smaller, local marches throughout the US.

When the MMM founders first came to us, we had to figure out exactly how we were going to engage and motivate hundreds of thousands of people in only nine months. This was quite a challenge and success was hardly guaranteed. We weren't simply asking them to write letters or send a check; we were asking them to travel to Washington and spend their Mothers Day at a rally to fight for a cause.

This was no small task. At that point there was no "formal" MMM organization or central office. The entire organization pretty much consisted of just a small handful of New Jersey soccer moms and a vision.

Here's how we did it.