The (Australian) Outdoor Media Association, in collaboration with Glider Global and world-renowned neural and systems complexity specialist Dr Fiona Kerr, has revealed the science behind the public movement inviting Australians to Look Up and ou [1]t, and by doing so to experience the life-changing benefits of connecting with the world around us, and with each other.
At the heart of the action is a new report ‘The Art & Science of Looking Up [2]‘, developed by Glider Global and Dr Kerr, which confirms the multitude of physical, psychological and social benefits to simply looking up and out.
The movement has been rolling out to Australians via a series of photographs on outdoor signs in major cities throughout January and February 2019, across more than 7,000 signs operated by the Outdoor Media Association’s members.
Outdoor Media Association CEO Charmaine Moldrich told us “The outdoor media industry has united to bring the largest ever industry campaign to Australia in our 80-year history, inspired by Dr Fiona Kerr’s research and the Look Up invitation. We believe it is a timely and important message that the canvas of outdoor media can amplify. Our signs exist where life happens – the places we live, work, socialise and spend our time, reaching over 90 per cent of the population. Our members take their responsibility of being in the public domain very seriously, and this campaign is part of our ongoing commitment to engage in public dialogue, reflecting and contributing to important conversations.
The Out of Home industry is committed to pushing the envelope; starting a conversation, helping shift behaviour, and inspiring people. We’ve launched this movement in the peak of the summer season to reach as many people as possible with this important message, and explore all our media can do with a big, bold campaign to make a difference by doing something as natural as looking up”.
Glider’s founder Lekki Maze, who co-authored with Dr Kerr on the report, said “Look Up is for everyone and is everywhere. It’s one of the simplest things we can do with some of the most profound impacts on so many aspects of our lives – to just tilt your head, lift your eyes and take that moment to look up and out and engage with the world around you. Whether that is staring at a big sky or out at the horizon, noticing the details on your way to work, smiling at someone as you pass by, or starting a conversation – these are all fantastic things you can do for your brain, your body and your experience of life. And as human beings it’s actually what we’re wired for”.
With qualifications encompassing cognitive neuroscience, complex systems engineering, anthropology and psychology and almost thirty years in industry, Dr Fiona Kerr is passionate about people understanding the wonders of human connection, cognition and neurogenesis to positively impact their lives and each other’s. She told us “It seems counter-intuitive to our modern culture that looking up and out and seemingly doing nothing could be the most beneficial state for optimising our thinking, but in fact, this is our natural way of being or ‘default’ mode if we’re not distracting our brains with technology or pushing it down the rabbit hole of trying to work on a specific task or problem.”
“This is just one example in the gamut of benefits we hope people will discover with the Look Up movement, and I am excited to see this project come to life in such a big way with the OMA and Glider. Together we’re working to have a positive impact in the public domain, to reconnect people to their surroundings and to each other,”