A politician’s editorial team does a sloppy job and leaves an important word out of a sentence, leaving a non sequitar where a powerful statement was intended, to wit:
We’re not going to our call for action.
The reader, if she even notices, is left wondering why issue a call to action if you’re not going yourself. (see previous post for context of this flub)
But that was clearly a typo and not really an example of what I’m talking about– the supremacy of marketing in modern society and how crucial skillful marketing is for the survival of any enterprise that aspires to reach the public.
I intend to give an example of my own marketing attempt below, but meantime, no less an authority on the subject than the famous Seth Godin, putting the dilemma of a person with a promising idea and a distaste for advertising, in an illuminating perspective:
“When I grow up…”
No kid sets out to make Doritos commercials. No one grows up saying, “I want to go into marketing.”
More than ever, though, folks grow up saying, “I want to change the world.” More than ever, that means telling stories, changing minds and building a tribe.
You know, marketing.
At least if you want it to be.
Seth Godin is a guru to those who would push through to the next level of success in any number of areas, his expertise is in marketing. He loves it and he’s a master of it. You can read his pithy, minimalist take here.
As for me, I have come to realize that my idea for a program to change the world for a few kids, and a few adults, will never flourish among the people I know. The people I know are cool, and fine, but virtually none of them can relate directly to being in a room full of noisy kids inventing and creating clunky animated sequences. It simply doesn’t excite them, they don’t get it, they are not the tribe to embrace and sustain it. So, like Godin says, I need to find the tribe that loves this stuff. To do that, short punchy pitches.
Answer the question in a way that turns on a light for those who care to see what they’ve asked about.
Why animation? You can read a long account on this blahg. Or, this, still too-long marketing pitch:
Animation lets children’s play come alive on the screen. It integrates drawing, writing, singing, speaking, painting, reading, whimsy, music, photography and computer skills. It requires a skilled team, everyone doing their part. Animation depends on free play and also focused attention to detail. Animation leads to the integrated mastery of every art involved and a world of imaginative possibilities. The workshop is a place of discovery and community building.
Perhaps most importantly, animation is like an acrobat’s work: it can only happen in a room where everyone is relaxed, and ready, supporting and helping out as much as possible.
That said, it behooves us to show the mark how it works in practice:
Wehearyou.net’s animation workshop is portable and gets to work instantly. With only an electrical outlet, a couple of tables and a room full of children ages 7-11, any room is turned into a beehive of child-run creativity within the first five or ten minutes. While children watch a sixty second animated demo on a laptop computer, the camera stand is set up and an array of art supplies is laid out. If there are no questions, and there seldom are, the children hop into the making of animation like a bunch of ducklings making for the pond. A few minutes later they can watch the first results of their animations. At the end of the session, if desired, their animation can be posted to the internet and shared with everyone in the world.
God bless.
gratuitousblahg 