Earlier this week, Australian creative director, Neil Walshe, released a passion project – one that could have remarkable positive consequences for Australia, a country with a AU$12 bn gambling problem. The project was based on an extraordinary insight. Poker machines have uplifting (motivating) sounds that signal wins, but no sound for losing. Walshe tested what would happen if a negative sound accompanied losses. Yes, it reduced the urge to keep playing (by an incedible 50%) and the campaign includes a petition to include the losing sound in poker machines.

The results were unchallengeable. The project also makes you wonder…

How did Walshe come to hate the pokies? Where did the (no) sound insight come from? How did he get hold of an illegal poker machine and risking 12 months in jail? How did he find real gamblers to do the experiment? Sop The Stable asked him:

The Stable: How DID you come to hate the pokies and take on this campaign?

Neil Walshe: I was never a pokie player, but they also didn’t bother me because I didn’t realise they could do serious damage. That was until a close relative of ours lost 150k on the pokies. In the space of one year, they slapped away the credit cards, the children’s bank accounts, the entire house deposit, and it broke their family apart. That was where my hatred for pokies started.

The Stable: No losing sound in pokies is a striking insight. Where did it come from?

Neil Walshe: It actually seems really obvious now, but it was about a year ago at a pub lunch with mates. Annoyingly, most of them love to play the pokies (casually, not destructively). While I was standing in the pokie room twiddling my thumbs while they played, it hit me. All I could hear was winning sounds, there wasn’t a single losing sound in the room. A few weeks later the project began.

Please tell me about getting hold of an illegal poker machine and risking 12 months in jail.

Neil Walshe: Oh gawd. I really thought it would be super easy, like just hiring one from a party hire place. But they are so tightly regulated, I nearly gave up. Seriously, I even asked random pub owners if they’d let me use the room during their closing hours. Then I decided to reach out to people who might know dodgy people. I ended up buying an illegal machine for a decent sum of cash in a back alley from a couple of scary looking people – who, I hope, are not reading this. I was pretty nervous because I’d read that you can get 12 months in prison for possession of an illegal machine. You risk even more prison time if you modify a machine (which we also did). I just hoped that those rules were made to stop pubs ripping off their players and the government.

The Stable: How did you find real gamblers to do the experiment? And please tell why/how you got people to come on board to help produce (am guessing pro bono) – and support (there are some big names in your thanks to list) – the campaign.

Neil Walshe: Yes, all the real gamblers were completely pro bono. To find them, I actually joined and posted on the Glebe Locals Facebook Community page asking for “Pokie players to test out new games”. It was a small white lie, but one of my partners, Milos Mlynarik, who directed and produced the experiment, was adamant that the players couldn’t know what was about to happen – otherwise it wouldn’t be a fair experiment.

The Stable: What other three pieces of work are you most proud of and why. What do you think makes a great creative campaign?

Neil Walshe: Do you mean my work? Wow, I’ve made a lot of ho-hum stuff but these are a few I’m still super proud of:

Drop Your Guns was an online gun protest I orchestrated for the US. I met the kids from the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, and also met thousands of passionate protestors, which was really fun.

Human Waste Bag was a simple initiative to help clean up unwanted trash from beaches. It didn’t get the uptake from council that I was hoping for, but I was happy I gave it a try.

Dawn Heist was a super low-fi film I made with my daughters for Mother’s Day. They were 2 and 4 years old. It turned out so good it won the London Mobile Film Festival. 6 years later we still watch it and have a laugh.

Don’t get me wrong I love making a great ad or poster or eDM. But from what I’ve written above I clearly think a great creative campaign needs to make a positive impact, or just be an awesome memory with your kids.