This week I joined Pennsylvania’s finest Ken Mueller, Karolina Sivas and HuffPost Live host Jacob Soboroff for a candid conversation about non-profits and the use of celebrities. Check it out below.
PS. As a life long Celtics fan it’s funny that I was defending Kobe Bryant.
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Taken from the 99U Website
What’s gut churn? Radiolab creator and host Jad Abumrad describes it as the radical uncertainty that’s a core part of any creative process that really pushes the envelope. You’re entering unknown territory, and working without a map.
Using examples from Radiolab’s own evolution, Jad shares the benefits of negative feedback and how we can look out for “pointing arrows” that can help guide our work (even when it hurts).
About Jad Abumrad
Jad Abumrad is the host and creator of Radiolab, which reaches roughly 2 million people per month. He’s been called a “master of the radio craft” for his unique ability to combine cutting edge sound-design, cinematic storytelling and a personal approach to explaining complex topics, from the stochasticity of tumor cells to the mathematics of morality. Jad studied creative writing and music composition at Oberlin College in Ohio. He composes much of the music for Radiolab, and in the past has composed music for film, theater and dance.
In 2011, Radiolab received a Peabody Award, the highest honor in broadcasting, and Jad received the prestigious MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship.
Links
Radiolab
NY Times Profile
@jadabumrad
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Are you creating media that elicits an emotional response? Something that is bigger than a product or a mission, something that will resonate or show truth?
Dove did an excellent job here.
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A great video showing fine craftsmanship.
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Making the rounds this morning of the web, I’ve come across 2 videos of importance. One is profound and the other much less but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t entertaining.
The first, the more meaningful to life. The difference maker of today. The video that is well executed, incredible content matched with multiple styles of great visual content and animation is To This Day Project. This short by Shane Koyczan highlights his work and part of his life journey. It resonates because it’s true and it shows passion.
The second is much less profound but it has a built in audience. The internet loves cats and they also love ninjas. So have them square off in a seemingly epic battle with some quick shots and great effects and you’ve got yourself a hit. The guys at Corridor Digital made this and check out their other great shorts (I’m a little partial to After DayZ)
So what do both videos have in common and how can they help you?
They focused on making sure their message was received by their targeted audience.
Give your audience what they want but not they way they want it. On one hand, the internet wants cats. And on the other, the internet wants ninjas. Put them together and you’ve got magic. To This Day showed a truth that we can all relate to – the underdog.
They had great shot composition.
One video was 8 minutes long and still I didn’t mind because it never droned. I wanted to know what happened to our narrator. The other shows miniature ninjas and requires the question, “How did they that?”.
Action steps
- Make sure your next campaign has a direct audience.
- Make the center of the campaign a truth that your audience can relate to.
- Execute your story with excellence.
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A few weeks ago I asked – Can you say it without words?
This short does just that.
How do you feel right now?
Make sure that emotion is in your next piece of media!
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It’s December and I’d like to take a moment and recap all that happened this year
2012 started with a bang! We launched The Non-Profit Narrative. On location with Jones Coffee and complete with a photo booth. And thanks to so many of you, the book has been a real success. Thank you for buying it, talking about it and for your reviews!
This year we continued our work with The United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Last year we worked together to revamp their digital communications and launched a complete rebrand of their website in just 9 days. It wasn’t a lot of sleep but it was a whole lot of good.
First up, we launched a new site for their Home for Good initiative.
This group of business leaders, state officials, faith communities and non-profit partners are moving people off the street and into permanent supportive housing.
We helped to create a video about their first year results and helped recap their conference.
Over the summer it was all about community heroes.
Together, the team from United Way, Double Vision Inc and Portnoy Media Group all worked together to build a profile for a campaign that was dynamic, engaging and a whole lot of fun.
This was a great integration of print and digital, of traditional and new media to create this campaign.
It was incredible to see top executives from LA’s largest corporations getting involved with the campaign and making it their own.
This year we also got to work with Nnamdi Asomugha and created a PSA about the work that he cares about with the children of LA.
We also provided media and the stage production at this years Homewalk. Over 10,000 angelinos raising money for the homeless it was great! With attendees like Mark Valley from Body of Proof and Jon Huertes from Castle – Homewalk was a star studded community event!
We coordinated cameras, created the production visuals and covered the event. Homewalk is a great event that helps a lot of people but it doesn’t hurt when Kobe Bryant is the honorary chairman.
In the late summer and fall we partnered with ArcLight Cinemas, incidentally my favorite place to see a movie in the country and produced the Behind the Curtain Series.
First we met Frank an incredible man who loves film and loves to set the stage for the best possible movie going experience.
Next we met the actual man behind the curtain, the director of projection and sound Mr. John Sittig. His decades of knowledge and work with the Hollywood studios makes him a legend! My jaw dropped more than a few times at the stories he told.
This year ended with a big bang of stellar proportions. We worked with The SETI Institute and were able to spend some time talking with TED prize winner Dr. Jill Tarter. and Founder of the institute Dr. Frank Drake.
We worked together on The Communicate campaign
It was a really full and fun year and I can’t be more thankful for all the challenges and the great people that have helped make all of this amazing work happen.
For everyone here at Portnoy Media, I’m Dan Portnoy Be safe.
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This past weekend Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other city officials hosted the 1st Annual Veterans Appreciation Day.
United Way of Greater Los Angeles was on hand to celebrate veterans and launch their report and action plan to support 25,000 veterans returning from service.
“United Way has set a goal to cut post-9/11 veteran unemployment in half by 2017″ – Elise Buik
“Given the current state of veteran services, thousands will be unemployed and at risk of poverty or even homelessness, which is why United Way has set a goal to cut post-9/11 veteran unemployment in half by 2017 with a four-pronged strategy that requires a cohesive partnership across all sectors to create a pathway to gainful employment and economic security.” – Elise Buik, CEO, United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Portnoy Media teamed up with United Way to talk about why they’re involved – check out the video.
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Last week the United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) launched their 2012 campaign. This was a great project for our team to work on. Starting this past May, we began meeting with UWGLA staff on all of the possibilities that were before them.
A few days in the R&D labs and we had a few options panned out. Next, we worked with Jeff Millican at Double Vision Inc. to take the ideas and direction we were forging into some rough templates on look and tone. I think he really hit the mark and gave us some great options. Lastly, UWGLA staff made a choice and we were off to the races creating this video, a campaign website and full integration across social media platforms.
We’ve got a more complete version of the story in the works that will show you all the pieces as they came together (but you’ll have to be patient for now)
Here’s the video and I’d like to thank everyone who worked on it to make it spectacular. (see for yourself)
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