Random acts of kindness.

The real thing.

Much is said about random acts of kindness, and the way most people use the term is already a stretch.

A random act of kindness is a selfless act by one or more people who want to help or cheer up someone else, as promoted by organisations like randomactsofkindness.org. It is the simple idea that doing something nice for another person is contagious and makes the world a better place.

When I am in Amsterdam, I help tourists find their way. There is no commercial value in it for me. Helping people makes them, and me, feel better.

Random ads of kindness.

Brands are trying to connect with people again, and that means they have to re-humanise. Stop talking like a company and start acting like a person. Random acts of kindness is a simple concept that helps: do small, human things to connect.

Turning it into a campaign already stretches the concept. Turning it into a flashmob, or something that is supposed to go viral, is even further from the point.

I am a bit scared this summer will be all about brands committing random acts of lameness. Random ads of kindness. That I cannot say I am in a bar without several guerrilla kindness teams jumping on the chance to show how cool they are. It is the reason I keep saying acts, not ads.

Being nice to people shouldn’t be a campaign, but an ongoing effort.

First published on 29 June 2011. Many thanks to the team at Boondoggle Amsterdam (Tom, Astrid, Gaston, Simon and Margriet) for helping me understand random acts of kindness. City map made with Midjourney.