I love the message that the Power of Words video portrays. I think this is why advertising is so expensive. The art of tugging on people’s heartstrings while trying to sell them something is a very effective tactic. As I attempt to pitch my innovation idea, I hope to channel some of those same advertising tactics to connect with stakeholders and decision makers in my district. I think anyone in education for the most part has a heart for children and will respond to anything that promotes student’s well being. Using something that makes adults remember why they got into education in the first place will hopefully cut through all the adult nonsense that sometimes gets in the way of doing what is best for our students.
Commercials communicate ideas with images, video, music and voice. You rarely see a commercial with lots of text, that is the fastest way to lose your audience. People will respond to ideas and emotions in video faster than they will if they read the same message. Therefore, if you are relying on text to convince someone of something, you will probably not be very successful.
The BS guys video also used an emotional connection to convey a message that otherwise gets ignored. There is soooo much literature that plainly states the dangers of smoking and I think that over the past 50 years we have made some progress getting the message out about the dangers of smoking. However, the point is it has taken 50 YEARS. As we create a video that will hopefully be a catalyst for change, even if just a starting point, we DO NOT have 50 years. Expecting other people to read hours of research to support the message of our videos is not an option. We must take a “shortcut” and appeal to emotions first to open the door of change. Perhaps the open door will lead to further exploration. We can only hope!!