In January I posted an incredibly moving public service announcement about seatbelt safety that really resonated with most everyone who saw it. Here’s a short piece CNN did on the video, with an interview with the director.

You may want to watch it here first to get the full impact, then come back and watch the CNN story.

I had lunch yesterday at a new Embassy Suites two blocks from my office. Across the street is a restaurant that’s been there just about forever. As I headed back to the office I noticed this sign on its mansard roof, facing the hotel.

Sometimes a simple message to the right audience is all you need. Among the hundreds of hotel guests who look down on this banner from their rooms, I have no doubt that many check out “the best breakfast in town” for a nice little 15 percent discount.

Simple. Direct. Targeted to a very specific audience. I love it.

Many thanks to Jim Mitchem for bringing this ad to my attention. Absolutely, simply beautiful and moving. More importantly, it makes me wonder why I ever did anything so idiotic as to not wear a seatbelt when I was younger.

This is the kind of public service advertising that makes such a strong emotional connection that it actually gets you thinking about the everyday decisions you make in your life, and how they impact the quality of that life. Imagine if you marshaled that kind of powerful messaging on behalf of your own cause.

photo by ausiegall

As you might expect at the end of the year AND decade, lists were among the most popular tweets in December. No New Year’s resolution lists, though … guess everyone’s saving those for their January posts.

What the Hell Are You Waiting For?

50 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits

The 4 Cornerstones of Social Media Monitoring

Is Your Nonprofit’s Story a Call to Action?

Three Reasons Why Storytelling is the Key to Social Media Marketing Success

BNET’s 10 Worst Ads of 2009

The Best and Worst Identities of 2009

Measure the Impact, Not the Influence

What Matters Now, Seth Godin?

10 Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About

Why Print Isn’t Going Anywhere for a Long, Long Time

Storytelling Through Social Media

Website at a Loss as to Why It Disappeared From Google

The Best Business Books of 2009

When It Comes to Online Content, More Niche Usually Trumps More Masses

100 Social Media & Content Marketing Predictions for 2010

Social Isolation and New Technology

5 Qualities of a Good Social Media Manager

Volunteers Give 10 Times More Than Other Americans

10 Best and Worst Internet Company Names of the Decade

Like the video I posted previously mocking the vendor-client relationship, this one’s funny because it’s true. If you’ve ever wondered why 90 percent of “creative” is ill-conceived, poorly designed, ineffective or just plain garbage, process is frequently one of the culprits.

If you’re curious, here’s the real history of the stop sign.

OK, maybe not. Here’s the real real history of the stop sign.

In case you missed any of them, here are my 20 most popular links (in order of popularity) tweeted during the previous month. I think I post somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 or more links via Twitter each month, and these garnered the greatest response. They serve as my monthly reminder that there is some truly superior content out there to assist you in your own communication efforts; you have only to surf (or follow me).

Letting Nonprofits Act Like Businesses: One Foundation’s Brave Act of Leadership

Social, Global, Ubiquitous, and Cheap

50 Content Ideas That Create Buzz

Katya Andresen on the Six Most Miserable Mistakes of Social Marketing

Are We Breeding Social Media Ne’er-do-wells?

Social Media and the Paradox of Choice

Are You Antisocial in Your Social Media Efforts?

In Advertising, Stupidity Can Win You Awards

Communicate as You Wish Others Would Communicate With You

Five Steps to Building a Successful Social Media Strategy for Your Nonprofit

Your Story Doesn’t Move Me

The Basics of Social Media for Nonprofits

Sometimes It’s Best to Kill the Ones They Love

70 Percent of Journalists Use Social Networks to Assist in Reporting

Social Media Listening for Nonprofits

Shredding Some Misconceptions About Social Media (Part I)

Your Communications Plan: What It’s For

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Writers

Why Seth Godin Is Wrong

Tips, Tricks & Tools From 140 | The Twitter Conference

photo by brad & sabrina

Michelle Tripp had a great post recently about how truly outstanding advertising turns a product or service into an “emotional experience.” She used a clip from AMC’s Mad Men to perfectly illustrate the point. After watching it, I wanted to run out and buy a Kodak projector and dig out my family’s old slides from the garage. (The embed’s been disabled so I can’t link to it, but go to YouTube and search “Mad Men: The Carousel.”)

As Michelle put it:

“As advertisers we add a magical ingredient that no tangible product could ever have on its own. We tell a story that makes a connection. We help the consumer see value beyond the price tag. It’s no longer something they can own, it’s something they can live. We take a product that exists in the outer world and make it a part of their inner world. As humans we’re driven to define ourselves through association, and we begin to LOVE the products we choose, because they fulfill our need for identity.”

For some that sense of fulfillment comes with a TV show or an ad campaign. For me it’s usually a song. Like this one. (Ignore the video. It just distracts from the song.)

Go ahead and listen. I’ll wait ’til you get back.

That’s Bob Schneider’s “Changing Your Mind.” Man I love that song. I’m wearing it out on my iPod and it still moves me. Sorry, but I’m a sucker for a great song about the death of love and how the awful moment can catch us in the headlights.

If only how we communicated on behalf of our organizations had that kind of impact. Can you truly say that you move your stakeholders to tears? That your message dwells in their hearts and weighs on their thoughts?

Telling stories isn’t enough. Your stories have to make an emotional connection that pledges people to the cause. I’m not talking about the easy tears jerked out of soft souls by using cute kids or American flags waving in the summer breeze or nostalgia about the way life used to be. I mean crafting a narrative that convinces people of the absolute worthiness of your effort and creates a yearning to be a part of your righteous crusade.

Does your communication do that? Really? I doubt it. If it did, you’d have people lined up around the block and more funding than you knew how to spend.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Check out this post at Direct Creative Blog on why nicely designed say-nothing corporate advertising is a big waste of money.

It’s a nice dissection, but the point I’d like to repeat is this:

Any competent copywriter could write a benefit headline, copy that explains what’s so great about this product, and a call to action that makes you want to get that white paper. Nearly any designer could lay out this ad to catch the eye, make reading easy, and highlight important items, such as the headline and offer.

Unfortunately, many marketers are so caught up with entertaining us or impressing us with their design skills that they forget that their job is to get us to act. Of course there’s a place and purpose for positioning  and brand development, but too often it comes at the expense of good old-fashioned persuasion. There are plenty of brands out there I think have a pretty cool image; the real question is whether I’m spending any money with them.

What’s the benefit to me? Why should I care? What do I do next? If your advertising doesn’t answer these questions, then why are you spending the money?

photo by nickstone333

Many are diving into the social media/social networking/community-building pool with a vengeance. Yes, it’s all very compelling and powerful and a new day is dawning and blah blah blah. But good marketing is platform-agnostic. And what’s frequently missing online is the same thing that’s missing from print and TV, radio and newspapers and magazines and the rest of old media.

And that’s an effective message.

Social media tools are just the latest carrier. They’re not a substitute for something to say. Technologies may change and strategies may evolve, but if your marketing doesn’t answer basic questions like “What’s in it for me?” and “What makes you so special?” and “Why should I believe you?” then you’re wasting your time.

Doug Hall of Eureka! Ranch fame and author of the Jump Start business book series once wrote that 94 percent of marketing failures are due to poor messaging. Turn a critical eye on the marketing that bombards you on a daily basis and you’ll realize it’s true.

What I admire about Hall’s work is that, while others are passing opinion as fact, he and his people actually do empirical research to support what they teach. The “opinion” that 94 percent of messaging is essentially useless is based on quantitative testing of more than 10,000 marketing messages. Given what passes for quality out there today, that’s an assigment I don’t envy.

The good news is that if your message is in the six percent, you’re really going to stand out. But you have to be bold, take chances and move beyond marketing as failed entertainment to address the questions that are on the minds of the people you’re trying to reach.