Telling Stories: Why The WaterAid Video Works

"To understand a man, you've got to walk a mile in his shoes, whether they fit or not." — Proverb

Remember the proverb or any of its variations? The creative talents behind the WaterAid "White Collar Water Crisis" on YouTube did. Since the spot was first uploaded this morning, it gained 1,000 views in an hour. There is a better-than-average chance at viral success.

More importantly than exposure, the spot does something else. It pulls us along to learn more about the message and the international nonprofit behind it.


WaterAid's "White Collar Water Crisis" Relates To Its Audience.

The video works. It doesn't share the scores of tragic images WaterAid has collected over the years. It doesn't beat people over the head with an insurmountable challenge that leaves them feeling powerless. It doesn't rely on shock value like sex and vegetables to generate publicity. Instead, the spot simply helps us imagine a world where we don't have access to a single basic comfort that most of us take for granted.

While there are dozens of ways to communicate the WaterAid message, this spot is one of the best of them because it applies the art of metaphoric storytelling. Sure, it might make a few people uncomfortable, but it does so tastefully without laying blame or aiming to make anyone feel guilty like so many other causes attempt to do.

Right on. Sometimes guilt messages might be warranted for the short term. But if you hope to build a sustainable message, one that people will most likely share, it's critical to invite them to become part of the cause not drive them away in shame.

In the short span of 60 seconds, the WaterAid video become a great teaching tool. It demonstrates the difference between making a story fit a medium and writing a story for a medium. And when a story is made to fit a medium — whether it is a blog post, PowerPoint presentation, video, etc. — it tends to stick.

Hearting Apple: Adobe Wants Some Love

What started as a tongue-in-cheek response to a letter from Steve Jobs that was arguably reminiscent of high school, the "Adobe heart Apple" campaign has taken on a more serious tone. Adobe, which originally admitted it could improve Flash to meet iPad standards, is still working hard to stir up consumers.

The first round of advertisements, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, state, “We ♥ Apple” in large, bold lettering. The second round dumps Apple in favor of "We ♥ Choice". Adobe also spells out its position on its Web site.

Adobe's Ad Gamble Worked.

The ad campaign was a gamble, given that the stakes for Adobe to retain Web video dominance is high. And there is no denying that it has paid short-term dividends in some sectors.

First, it gave Driod fans something to talk about. Second, Citi maintained a 'buy' on Adobe Systems Inc. and a Citi analyst concluded that catalysts are biased to the positive side. Third, the campaign afforded Adobe an opportunity to put itself in front of the classroom.

But about that third win. It might have worked too well.

Adobe might have had the players in place to speak, but its message was deep enough for the "lights, camera, action" sequence that followed. Sure, the company was well-prepared for first tier questions about whether Apple is stifling creativity. But it wasn't so prepared on second tier questions tied to what Adobe might do better.

Adobe's Win Becomes A PR Challenge.

It's difficult for any company to win a long-term public relations battle based on "openness" while erecting walls at the same time. And in this case, it's hard to miss that Adobe is all too comfortable saying it will stick to "its facts" while Microsoft and Apple can stick to "their facts." Let the media and consumers decide, they say.

The net result has become a debate of sorts between some writers at BNET and ZDNet and two camps of consumers. But as far facts go, Adobe is the more selective storyteller.

At the beginning of this year, only 10 percent of the video content on Web was HTML5. That figure has changed dramatically, with as much as 26 percent of online video HTML5. If change can occur that quickly, video market share dominance is moot.

Sure, Adobe can favor choice. But it might as well admit that choice is working against it. So is its message to investors. During an earnings call (hat tip: ReadWriteWeb), Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen told investors that Flash was "synonymous with the Internet and frankly, anybody who wants to browse the web and experience the web’s glory really needs Flash support."

Where is the choice in that?

It seems to me that the dvertising campaign seemed to work in that it sparked the conversation that Adobe wanted to have. But as an integrated communication strategy, Adobe is coming up short. They aren't prepared to have open conversation.

It even makes me wonder whether Narayen ever learned that oh-so-valuable lesson from first grade. When you hope to look smart by being the first to raise your hand, always keep in mind that the teacher might call on you.

Oh, if you do want to view Flash on an iPhone, there's an app for that.

Engineering Trust: Can Toyota Do It?

According to a recent study by Consumer Reports, Toyota has lost more than sales in the first quarter. It has experienced a spiraling decline in consumer loyalty.

In April, 57 percent of current Toyota owners said they would "most likely" buy another new vehicle from Toyota, which is down from 70 percent in December, with Honda and Ford the new beneficiaries. While Toyota has lost some consumers permanently, Honda now tops consumer loyalty with 68 percent of Honda owners saying they would buy another Honda. Ford has climbed to 61 percent.

While Toyota did manage to curb sales losses with zero-interest financing and cheap leases, it could be undermining its own long-term brand value as incentives tend to be quick fixes that competitors can match. And, if continued too long, can create consumer expectations to wait for more historic sales once they are over. Toyota's defensive posture throughout its recall crisis may have long-term consequences.

"There's permanent damage there," James Bell, an analyst with Kelley Blue Book, told the Daily Finance. Though not fatal, the recalls require that "Toyota compete in a way they haven't in 25 years."

Restoring Trust Starts At The Local Level With Dealerships.

If Toyota wants to regain long-term consumer loyalty, it may need to reconsider national sales efforts and focus in on where trust really counts — with individual dealerships. While reliability may no longer be associated with the once admired auto manufacturer, dealers could make the difference with one-on-one consumer-dealer communication and outperforming on service expectation.

A recently published five-month study by Foresight Research backs up such analysis. More than 50 percent of all new car buyers surveyed reported the dealership experience as being "highly influential in the purchase process." In fact, dealership experience is the number one factor positively influencing sales during the car buying experience.

"At a time when the dealership network is under increased pressure across the industry, this data clearly supports that no single aspect of the automotive sales and marketing spectrum is more influential than what happens inside the dealership," said Steve Bruyn, president of Foresight Research. "Many buyers visit the dealer early in the shopping process, not just at the end of the process so automotive marketers have a big opportunity to win new customers and build brand equity by offering attractive dealership environments."

To capture a positive in-person experience, the burden primarily resides on the sales team. Study respondents attribute positive experiences with professionalism (90 percent), product knowledge (84 percent), and trustworthiness (66 percent). Sixty-seven percent also said that inviting, modern and well-organized showrooms makes a difference.

When you stop to think about it, the new study goes well beyond auto sales. These factors tend to be the same underlying trait associated with sales professionals, consultants, and even bloggers, online and off.

But for Toyota specifically, the national brand needs to work at non-incentive reasons to drive people into the dealership and then encourage their dealers not to blow it. And, for some dealers, that may require a culture change.

Framing Everything: Fresh Content Project

What makes one message resonate more than others? Who's buying whom in the United Airlines-Continental merger? Why does public relations continue to target impressions? How can social networks and advertising be influential but mistrusted? Why is the Mississippi more mighty than the Missouri?

If your communication firm doesn't understand the flow of communication and how framing makes a difference, they might scratch their heads over any one of those questions. It's all very simple, really. Sooner or later someone frames the conversation. And if it sticks, that's all there is in any story until someone comes along with a better method of measures and a better message that communicates it.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of May 3

• The PR Hype Cycle.
Valeria Maltoni suggests three areas of improvement for public relations, including database management, improvements to press releases, and how news and information spreads online. The suggestions touch on a bigger issue for public relations, shifting away from attempting to control the message by manipulating the media and toward the original intent of developing mutually beneficial relationships with publics, online or off. It makes more sense than trading media in for online influencers.

• From Chris Brogan to Andy Wibbels.
Ari Herzog considers the daily ranking of marketing listed on AdAge Power 150 and how many of the 1,097 blogs show virtually no movement, with Chris Brogan entrenched at number 1 or 2 and people like Andy Wibbles tucked in at 600. Herzog considers whether those at the top are any less insightful than the bottom, which is precisely why we started the fresh content project. Without question, AdAge is a great list with an increasingly erroneous algorithm of measurement.

• Puffery in Merger Communications.
Sean Williams captures a snapshot that few people notice. When two companies merge and claim it is mutual, it usually is not. In presenting facts from the United Airlines-Continental merger, it seems increasingly clear which company is acquiring which company, making all the talk of a mutual merger not much more than an exercise in puffery. It's not the first time nor will it be the last. People like to pick on AT&T because it has been around for so long. The irony is that AT&T was bought by SBC years ago.

• Social Networks Influential, Not Always Trusted.
Twenty-eight percent of Internet users ages 18-34 say they have purchased a product because of something they have seen on a social networking site, but they'll also say they don't trust anyone if you ask them. The same holds true for media. Ask a group of people how they were introduced to a product and they'll mention advertising. Ask them a few weeks later if they trust advertising and they'll say "not a shot." The same phenomenon exists right now with Facebook. Everybody is outraged over privacy issues, but few people are canceling their accounts.

• The Flow of the First Mover.
The Missouri River has 200 miles on the Mississippi River, but the mighty Mississippi gets all the credit. Ike Pigott gets part of the equation right. It all comes down to big mouths that define how we frame up the world. It works that way for business too. Any company that has an opportunity to define the playing field will always have the advantage. All in all, it's a great analogy that ultimately offers up an answer for every other post included today.

Pinning Down Gen Y: Why Millennials Feel Uncertain

For several weeks, I've been enjoying a conservation about Generation Y. First with Bill Sledzik, associate professor at Kent State University. Then Todd Defren, a founder of Shift Communications. And then Jed Hallam, who works at Wolfstar.

Go ahead and read those posts to get caught up if you like. Each of them, from three different generations (I think), offer plenty of good advice for Millennials, especially those hoping to make it through school and/or find employment. I agree with much of what they say, but this post isn't about any of that.

The Only Constant Is Change, But That Change Tends To Be Circular.

This post borrows some insights from Joel DiGirolamo. He wasn't part of the above conversation, but he might as well have been. He was tackling a similar issue from the top down as it relates to evolutionary psychology.

What's interesting is that, throughout history, tribes tend to require less leadership and more consensus during times of abundance. In some ways, this observation seems to fit well with the American Revolution.

When the founding fathers grew weary of what they perceived to be shackles, they didn't do so because they were destitute. They did it because there was seemingly endless abundance in America and they wanted more personal control over that abundance.

Flash forward to today. Millennials primarily grew up in an era of abundance, which required less competition and more consensus. But unfortunately for them, because economies ebb and flow, they finished this streak of abundance only to discover a society focused on scarcity. So, while I'm not big on labels, one could make a pretty good case that this shared experience does set Gen Y apart. And by many employer accounts, most Millennials don't start off as tough as Sledzik or Defren or even I would like.

Interestingly enough, when you look at the push back, most didn't come from Millennials. On the contrary, many Millennials like Hallam recognize that hard times are best met by effective leaders and a willingness to meet challenges with a certain tenacity. So who pushed back? Boomers, specifically those who long for their continued role as enablers; and some Gen Xers, specifically those who claim to identify more with Gen Y (which they don't, given many Gen Yers were happy to hear the message).

All in all, what this might demonstrate to me is that Gen Y does need more tough love and most are willing to accept it in exchange for a new kind of inclusive leadership. Unfortunately, from my perspective, there doesn't seem to be enough leadership out there. And why would there be? Most modern authorities surfed a wave of abundance without ever becoming prepared to lead.

Huh. This kind of atmosphere is almost too perfect for something Orwellian, unless Gen Y empowers itself (given the apparent lack of Sledziks and Defrens). So my advice is simple enough. If you want a fair shake, one my intern was convinced didn't exist out there, then you have to learn to look for people who will empower you rather than those who aim to enable you.

And as far as all those other feelings? Well, they just aren't that special. And if you don't believe me, read from Orwell.

"Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it." — George Orwell

Integrating Communication: No More Lines

Whether it's the Preakness with its "Get Your Preak On" advertising miss or it's the TomTom GPS ad that shares a voiceover session with Darth Vader, the lines between advertising and public relations are often blurred. As advertising campaigns sometimes become the topic of social media and social media feeds media, the best and the worst campaigns elicit public responses best left to public relations professionals.

Of course, today's communication streams don't have to be linear. The source of the original communication or reaction to an event can be initiated in any medium. Take the recent success of Liquid Mountaineering. How do you classify it?

Is it entertainment, with the participants merely sharing their new sport? Is it social media, given its home base blog and attention the it received? Is it public relations, given its exposure as a real new sport by WUSA in Washington, D.C. coverage? Is it advertising, with creative and professional long-format production quality?


As it turns out, it is an advertisement for Hi-Tec Sports that relies on social media as the medium. It has since earned as much media attention as it has its own Internet fan base, making the need for public relations as important as the original production.

The Future Of Communication Isn't Integrated. Integrated Communication Is Now.

Sure, there have been some complaints from agencies, marketing specialists, social media pros, and public relations professionals that prospective clients are confused. It's no longer uncommon for pitch lists to include some representative companies from each discipline. But while most of them look at each other's skills as competitive, the truth is that they are complementary.

Integrated communication isn't so much a point of view anymore. It's critical to successful communication. As for the future, the only firms that will survive are those that embrace it or learn to partner with companies that can round out areas where they are considerably deficient. As for the rest, saying you can do it all if you can't only lasts so long before the in-house marketing teams are brought up to speed.

The takeaway here is simple enough. A high percentage of successful and naturally occurring viral campaigns over the last year have employed integrated communication. A high percentage of failures have relied on communication well within the lines of a single discipline. Color outside the lines.