I posted a few weeks back about how organisations must engage stakeholders in dialogue, and how this conversation starts by not just having something interesting to say, but delivering it in an interesting way.

After all, whilst marketers consider the 30 second ad to be on its last legs because it tries to wallop all and sundry, you can take longer to get your point over if you're talking to those whose interest is already sparked and who want to find out more.

My last post featured a video and an animation, and I promised to come back with some more formats for starting a conversation in an interesting way. For topical reasons I have another animation for your interest, but the main feature in this post is a call-to-action-microsite.

Burma - It Can't Wait

Fanista, a community for entertainment enthusiasts, started a corporate initiative to drive awareness and generate consumer participation for the US Campaign for Burma.

The resultant microsite, www.burmaitcantwait.com, centres around an image of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner now under house arrest in Burma, and features fifty short videos with entertainment and music celebrities describing the horrible situation in Burma and asking for public support (including the video at the top of this post featuring Will Ferrell).

The videos were also distributed on a YouTube Channel.

How effective was the microsite?...

  • Over 1 million video views on YouTube and the microsite
  • Hundreds of blogs embedded the videos
  • Achieved YouTube Editorial Spotlight – became “most discussed,” “top favorites” and “top rated” in countries around the world
  • The campaign was covered by over 200 media articles including a New York Times feature and a LA Times article
  • The Facebook App generated thousands of downloads with friend-to-friend acceptance rate twice the average rate
  • The microsite had a 6:48 min average user engagement time

Now that's an interesting way to start a conversation!

[Disclosure - the microsite was developed by Digital Influence Group, a sister company to Racepoint Group.]

The Crisis of Credit

And here's that topical animation I mentioned. I'm fairly business and financially literate, but I found it less than easy to establish what had happened to cause this global financial meltdown let alone explain it to others.

Animation to the rescue. Imagine the kudos a financial institution could reap in recent times if it took time out to converse with its highly concerned stakeholders in an interesting way, in a way that said "hey, we know what's happened and we know how to explain it too".

Unfortunately, unless I've missed it, they are obviously too busy trying to secure their annual bonuses.

So the task is left to Jonathan Jarvis. Now Jonathan isn't looking to start a conversation with you about the credit crunch, but as a Master of Fine Arts Candidate on the Media Design Programme at the Art Center College of Design, I'm sure he'd be delighted to start a conversation with you in respect of his skills and your employment of them!

Watch this for your ah-ha moment and pass it on.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.