Decreasing the Distance to the Audience
One of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot when it comes to Deeper Context and the value that passionate, curiosity-based conversations can bring is the ‘distance to the audience’ concept.
Distance, in this case, is about the tone of the story. Commercials, advertising and marketing in general tend to approach their communications from the perspective of “We have all the information, we are pushing it out to the great unwashed masses from our mountaintop of expertise, and by doing this, they will stare in awe at our awesomeness and open their wallets.”
You can see this in car commercials that show a shiny new sports car driving on the Pacific Coast Highway while an announcer intones fabulous things about horsepower and leather seats and eco-friendly gas mileage. This is meant to raise the product and the company onto a pedestal that we all gaze at adoringly, which is a pretty big leap and request of people.
Who knows if this ever really “worked”. What I do know is that this approach puts a ton of emotional distance between viewer and subject, and makes building a real emotional connection next to impossible.
What do we strive for as humans?
What do we value when communicating?
Well, we want to know that we’re not alone.
We want to be part of something greater.
We want to belong.
A sense of community has driven us from our tribal days. From sitting around a fire cooking meat and telling of the hunt, to seeing a fellow iPod user on the subway, to waiting on line to see the latest Twilight or Harry Potter film.
Situations that create the happiest, most engaged people are not lectures. They are not commercials that treat us like wallets with a pulse. They are real conversations, with purpose, emotional resonance, and humanity.
Recognizing that shared humanity is what drives us to take action. Seeing that someone else is into what we’re into leads us to want to connect and explore further.
This is the goal of Deeper Context. Bringing passionate people closer together through shared experiences, not told from a mountaintop, but shared from eye level.
Because communities care.
[ Read More → ]
