The Challenge
The insight is part of a convention: children fear the dark, so most of the time, lights stay on at night. The idea: create a book that can only be read in the dark to help children overcome their fear. Everything starts with Doxa research showing that 3 out of 4 children aged 3–9 fear the dark, leading 80% of families to leave lights on at night. It’s a tiny habit, but when multiplied across millions of homes, it becomes a meaningful source of energy waste and, moreover, it means raising a generation with unsustainable habits. Instead of targeting parents rationally, our strategy focused on children and on the bedtime ritual itself. Goodnight Light reversed the role of darkness (from enemy to friend), giving children a playful reason to want the light off, rather than accept it. Rather than trying to teach energy sustainability through instruction, we looked for a design solution that changes behavior. By turning darkness into the trigger that reveals the story, suddenly, the action we want, saving energy, becomes part of the game.
The Solution
GOODNIGHT LIGHT is a children’s book printed with a unique silk-screen process with luminescent ink that, during the day, absorbs photons from sunlight and reveals its story only in the dark. Kids learn how to be more sustainable, following the adventure of a little girl who discovers that the dark isn’t scary. Moreover, thanks to a design twist, the glowing book becomes a star-shaped bedside lamp that comforts children while sleeping. Together with the book, we created a set of glow-in-the-dark stickers that children can attach near interruptors and switchers. This activates a sustainable bedtime ritual: turning off the light to see the glow of the book and stickers feels like the most natural thing to do before going to sleep. The books have been distributed for free in 30 cities across Italy, Spain and France and supported by digital experience with pedagogist tips that involved parents too. Plenitude managed to transform a brand experience into a tangible behavioral change. The impact the project gained was clear: Behavioral Change: +41% of families changed nightly energy habits 72% solved a real household problem Frequency & Experience: 88% continued usage after the campaign 56% engaged with multiple elements 43% replacing night lamps with the book Brand Objectives: +28% Plenitude positive consideration +49% NPS, turning parents into advocates 84% found sustainability real and simple Project metrics: +103% Engagement on Plenitude’s channel 234M Estimated People reached
