The Story of Stuff

I wanted to pass along an excellent example of how a group is turning a very complex issue into a simple and understandable one using clever visuals and – you guessed it – the power of storytelling.

I’ve been working with a group called the California Product Stewardship Council, which is urging leaders in California to change how waste is managed – from mining and manufacturing to disposal.

They altered me to a new website called “The Story of Stuff” that’s been getting great reviews (and a whole lot of traffic) in its first few weeks online.

A full tour of the feature video and website will take a while, but you don’t need to spend much time to see how this video has turned what could be an important but painfully boring and tedious issue into one that’s – dare I say – entertaining.

How’d they do it? You’ll have your own ideas. But here are mine.

1. It inserts people into a complex issue that’s usually explained with charts, diagrams and stats. The on-screen presenter delivers an important message, but she’s not angry or preachy. Even the animation behind her inserts people into the story, so we can see how each of us plays a role in the issue. Storytelling is among the best ways for causes to connect with audiences. And stories require people.

2. It’s simple. If you’ve ever sat through a presentation about a global problem, you know that it only takes about 3 minutes to be bored into a coma. This video takes a VERY large and complicated problem and reduces it to an understandable storyline. Certainly, this group spent days arguing which details should be left in or left out of the presentation. And there are probably people who would say this explanation is too simple. But no presentation will ever include every possible detail of every issue. I tell clients to base their presentations on “What do I HAVE to show my audience to get it to do, feel or think what I want it to?” as opposed to “What are ALL the facts I know that I could tell?” This presentation does a good job of deciphering between those two questions.

3. It’s clever. Who thought cartoons could be so effective? So often, less is more. This video accomplished a lot with very simple visuals. Now, that simplicity doesn’t come cheap. The folks at Free Range Studios spent plenty of time and money creating the animation – a luxury that not all causes have. But not having the budget for this kind of production shouldn’t be an excuse to revert to a boring “fact-dump.”

4. Its message is multi-platform. This group created a communication tool that can be viewed on home DVD players, in large groups at events, on individual computers, etc. And they chopped it into chapters and put it on YouTube. More and more applications allow us to cross platforms with our marketing material. Most of us know how to turn printed brochures into PDF files. I recently added a voice-track to a PowerPoint presentation for CPSC and converted it into Quicktime and Windows Media Player files. It’s not as fancy as The Story of Stuff, but it’s been an effective way for CPSC to promote its presentation and message to groups throughout California when they can’t be there in person.

That’s it for now. Let me know if you have other examples of clever and effective message tools.