This PSA is a great example of doing something basic and poignant can be powerful. This kind of PSA goes against convention and costs almost nothing to film. The words that they wanted to communicate came out of the mouths of the people they wanted to talk to. Brilliant
How are you flipping convention on it’s head in your campaigns and engaging people in a way that they’ve never been before?
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Portnoy Media Group uses the influence of social networks to expand your organization's voice and tell your story. We connect people with your mission and enable your brand to be shared, discovered, and connected. Work with us as we empower your organization to dramatically extend your online presence and increase donations.
DIGDEEP Right to Water Project, an LA-based human rights organization, is our latest co-conspirator for all things good. I can’t share a lot of the details just yet but it’s going to be a lot of fun.
I’m super thrilled to join forces with this team of smart, energetic world changers – take a look!
P.S. They create playlists monthly and call it Thirsty Thursdays – check out the latest mix http://spoti.fi/11Y7KGt
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Editor Note: I find that good stories, no matter where I hear them, can function as inspiration for my next project. From time to time, I like to share a great one so you can share in the joy of the story too.
PBS has really been rolling out the red carpet for some great series lately. The recent Masterpiece Classic of Mr. Selfridge has been full of dynamic characters, social morays and plenty of questions regarding what’s next.
However their latest offering, The Bletchley Circle, is utterly fantastic! A great story of struggling characters. Code breaking ladies of WWII can’t disclose their code breaking skills and are viewed as less than simply because they’re women. Insult of insults! “I’m smart and female so I should get you a sandwich?” But they can’t shut off their talents. In spite of incredible odds, our heroine Susan starts to see a pattern in the recent deaths of several women around London. She reconvenes her old friends to see if they can get to the bottom of this and catch a killer.
I love this series for the intrigue and how the filmmakers talk about the characters. This past week PBS aired a Behind the Scenes featurette about the costume design of the characters. In the short, costume designer Anna Robbins talks about how they removed florals from the entire palette of the series and instead focused on geometric patterns and angular designs to reinforce the analytical mind of the heroine.
There are multiple villains in the series. Not only is a killer on the loose but because of the social conscience of the day, women shouldn’t be worrying about murders and especially about murder victims. Instead a post war Europe encouraged more conventional roles.
I can’t recommend the series enough and the title sequence is full of Enigma machines and other code breaking tools. Again, all angular to show the compartmentalization of the minds of the heroic troupe. Everything that we see on screen is reinforcing the story or the info we’re learning about our characters. Below is the trailer – check it out.
Check out the real world Bletchley Park headquarters
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We’re teaming up with The Ogilvie Institute to put on their conference about faith and science. Here’s the first teaser, we’ll be posting more about it in the next week.
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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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Here’s an example of a nonprofit putting together some timely rebuttal and furthering the conversation of education reform in our country.
Directed by Joe Portnoy (so I’m a little biased) , Lauren Aronson and Michelle Gininger
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Just submitted a few pieces of our woe from this past year to the 34th Annual Telly Awards. We won 2 last year, so we’re back for more this year!
First:
Internet/Online Commercial – Not-for-profit
United Way of Greater L.A. – Workplace Hero
It was an incredible team effort and this campaign has really resonated with audiences. Including the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa (below)
Next up:
Internet/Online Video – Documentary
Frank – ArcLight Cinemas
This short began the Behind The Curtain Series and has really resonated with viewers.
Judging begins next week and as soon as we here, you can bet we’ll be posting it. In the meantime – Why aren’t we creating your next big campaign or art piece to build your brand? Let’s get started: email me @ dan@portnoymediagroup.com
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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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From the TED blog:
Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. Too many nonprofits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend — not for what they get done. Instead of equating frugality with morality, he asks us to start rewarding charities for their big goals and big accomplishments (even if that comes with big expenses). In this bold talk, he says: Let’s change the way we think about changing the world.
Everything the donating public has been taught about giving is dysfunctional, says AIDS Ride founder Dan Pallotta. He aims to transform the way society thinks about charity and giving and change.
Why is the double standard so great?
Why is it ok for Amazon to be strategic but not the local homeless shelter or water charity?
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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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