Telling the Story

Just wanted to share this video produced by Conk Creative with 185 Media (sorry for the chopped aspect ratio; this is the smallest YouTube will allow, and the right side still gets cut off).

This is going to be an ongoing series that tells the story of HealthPartners, which is really the story of prepaid medical insurance itself (something we take for granted).

I did a lot of similar work back in the day at West Publishing, and you'd be surprised how effective pieces like this are, especially for new and existing employees. People want to know more than what you do and how you do it. They really crave an understanding of WHY you do it.

Don't Be Afraid of Negative Language

Much has been written about the importance of being positive all the time. Rubbish.

Not to get too scientific about a largely subjective industry, but basically our brains are huge prediction machines. We have big brains so that we can recognize patterns (such as people's expressions) and be able to predict how things are likely to affect us. To see patterns, we need contrast. To see black, we need white, and vice versa. Studies have shown that people who strike a purely positive or negative attitude regardless of the actual circumstances are doomed to make bad decisions.

Yet when it comes to marketing language, I've seen my own pattern for over 10 years: "We can't be negative." Don't get me wrong. If that's a response to someone proposing a tagline of "We're not as bad as our competitors," I understand. But it's gotten to the point where people are unwilling to even use the word "don't" in their copy or taglines. This is not helpful.

I did a little research and found some of the more famous taglines that incorporate so-called "negative" language. See if you can remember the company represented by each tagline:

We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.
It's not just shipping. It's ________.
Don't leave home without it.
It's not just for breakfast anymore.
Never let 'em see you sweat.
Don't get mad. Get ____.
The uncola.

Do these taglines strike you as negative, or do they provide clarity? Obviously, I think the latter. (Although I've never understood the first tagline. If you don't make products I buy, then why do I need to know who you are?)

Go back to a fundamental truism of marketing: People are busy. You can't waste their time. That means you need to tell them what you do. And to do that, you sometimes also need to tell them what you don't do. In fact, you can almost feel the relief in the air when someone says, "No, we don't do that." I've reached a point where I don't trust anyone who can't tell me what they don't do, or what they're not good at. Kudos to Domino's Pizza for using real negative consumer feedback in their newest ad campaign. It made me trust them, and it made we want to try their pizza again for the first time in years.

If contrast is your friend, then "negative language" is at least your drinking buddy. If you want the yin, you have to have the yang, because "positive" and "negative" can't be defined except in contrast to each other. In considering what you or your company does, start with what you don't do, as well as what "negative" problem you solve. After all, you can't have a Band-aid without an owy. You can't have a firefighter without fire. And you can't have a pain reliever without pain.

Don't you not disagree?

Mauer to the Mound

Introducing the Conk Creative written and produced TV spot for Anytime Fitness, starring Mr. Joe Mauer:

Souvenirs

What did I do this summer and fall? I was locked in my basement writing the script for this film as a Marine stood over my shoulder. Shooting begins in March. Would you see this movie?

The Wonderful World of Keynote

Here's the situation: We live in a world where there's more and more to explain, and people have less and less time to have things explained to them. (As a writer, I occasionally have to admit that people often don't even have time to read anymore. How depressing.)

But fear not, the tools for communicating quickly and visually are getting more and more accessible. All you need is a tight script, a USB microphone, some audio editing software and a wonderful little program called Keynote, and you can accomplish in days what used to take weeks (and cost a small fortune).

Did I say "you"? I meant "me." Anytime Fitness agreed to let me share this animated presentation with the world (while promoting their incredible new website for members, Anytime Health). I'm telling you that these presentations really work, and I'm hoping that you'll find a need for your business to have one just like it.

Thank You, Part II.

Two years ago, I decided to write myself in as a character in a book called "Where the Self-Employed Things Are." Last year, I wrote my first corporate thank-you note, humbled by the incredible startup support I received from friends and former colleagues. I can't really top the drama of describing waking up one morning with a mortgage, a family and no source of income, and I won't even try. But I will say that, while Chapter One in this strange book might be titled, "What the Hell Are You Doing?", Chapter Two's header reads more like "What Took You So Long?"

A friend of mine once told me that in agrarian times, it used to be considered normal, more stable and even less risky to be your own boss. (The alternative was "having to go work for someone else.") I found that hard to believe at the time, and I still do. But I'm beginning to think that the Digital Age might have something in common with the Agrarian Age.

I'm not crazy enough to say that self-employment is for everyone. Yes, health insurance is insanely expensive. And even when you feel somewhat established, you still live every day not knowing what projects lie 30 days ahead. But I've come to listen closely when people describe an experience as "difficult" and "stressful," but something they "couldn't imagine living without." These are usually the most meaningful experiences. And for me, they include working abroad, having a child and starting my own business.

I won't bore you with tales of walking door-to-door on Dublin's Grafton Street looking for a job in the summer of 1990. And my tales of fatherhood are well-documented on my non-professional blog. But I will say how amazed I am at what I experienced during the past year. There were the sexy projects, like writing a feature film related to World War II and shooting a commercial with Joe Mauer. There were the "didn't see that coming" projects, like creating an animated presentation for the 50th anniversary of a couple I'd never met, or hastily creating a T-shirt designed to encourage the firing of Notre Dame's football coach. And there continue to be the simple, day-to-day pleasures of working with appreciative clients and fellow creative entrepreneurs--the people I absolutely could not live without.

We live in an age when the barriers to self-employment are lower than they've ever been. If you have a cell phone, a laptop and a WiFi connection, you can be an entrepreneur. If not knowing what the next chapter of your life is going to be doesn't scare you to death, I say enter the story. And start writing.

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