Sally, Chris and I will be posting more thoughts about NCHCMM soon, but I wanted to highlight a few points from John Whyte’s closing plenary. He’s the chief medical expert at Discovery Health Channel (you can read his blog here) and had some great insights about actually reaching the public with public health and social marketing messaging.

Three key points:

- Social Media/the Internet is important and growing, but broadcast media (television) is by far where people spend most of their leisure time.

- Stories actually make an impact. Nothing engages people like a story, and harnessing this power can advance a public health message more than a water-tight, perfectly crafted traditional marketing campaign. Consider using primetime television as a vehicle for your message.

- Empower, educate, and entertain.

We’ve been discussing the power of emotional, story-based social marketing with clients for years, and so it was nice to have this perspective succinctly backed up by Dr. Whyte. To underline this point, here’s an oldie-but-goodie Banyan favorite that drives home the need for social marketing and public health messaging to engage and entertain:

The other night we awoke to this tremendously loud roar from outside, sometime around 3:00am.  A helicopter hovered just above our window, close enough to see the numbers clearly printed on its underbelly.  Police lights were bouncing off the walls from various directions.  We couldn’t see what the reason was for all the activity.  The helicopter just hovered there in place for over two hours, then slowly made its way up the river and disappeared.

The next morning, emergency personnel – fire trucks, ambulances, and divers – crowded the harbor directly across from us.  Harbor police and uniformed men in kayaks floated up and down the river, obviously looking for something.  It was a rainy, cold day and all the people that regularly walked around the area were gone except for a straggler or two walking a dog.  It was really quiet except for all the activity from these men.

A policeman explained to us that three young men in their twenties had stolen a small row boat and floated it up the river at around 2:00am.  They had been drinking and were “messing about” as the policeman said.  One of the men fell out of the boat and couldn’t get back in.  His two friends jumped in to help him, capsizing the boat.  One man was washed up to shore further down the river; another clung to another boat until he was rescued.  But, the first man who fell into the river couldn’t get out.  We’re told his friend who washed up to shore saw him wave for help and then he called the police.  But, they didn’t arrive in time.  The emergency crews that morning were actually looking for his body.

Several hours later, we saw everyone on the emergency crews run quickly to one part of the river.  Moments later, they carried him in a body bag up from the water and into a waiting van. It was shocking.  It was sad.  And, it clung to all of us each day as we thought about this poor man’s last moments and how distraught his family must be.  One silly decision had such tragic results.  That someone lost his life as we slept close by, also made no sense.  Wouldn’t the force of that moment wake us all up?  How could we sleep while someone fought so hard for his life?

That afternoon, not two hours after the last emergency truck drove away, a wedding party arrived absolutely unaware of what happened.  Resplendent in fancy dress, the wedding party and children lined up for photographs at the same spot this man’s body was recovered.  They were laughing and hopeful, climbing into a boat that would take them down the river.  Life goes on.

In the evening now, when the water rises and falls with the tide, it has a more somber affect on us.  Less is it about the beauty of the tide washing in and out; more it is about the force of nature and our very small place within it.

There are so many lessons in life we want to teach our children – don’t smoke, don’t drink and drive, don’t use violence….etc.  It would seem inconceivable to have to tell someone…don’t get drunk at one in the morning, steal a boat, and play about on the river.  We cannot cover each and every possible lesson that prepares our children for all the dangers they may face.  So shouldn’t we focus some of our social marketing and social media activities on teaching them that making a smart decision “in that moment” is the best and wisest way to live?  Teach them that to have the confidence that making a good decision won’t lose you any friends.  Be able to walk away from temptation knowing you’re doing the right thing.  Maybe if that young man had asked himself, “Is this smart?” he could have just decided not to do it and would be alive today.  Maybe not.  But, the message for me is clear.  We need to teach our kids to be independent thinkers so that no matter what opportunities face them, they make the right choice.

Here’s link to the story:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5955414/Search-teams-recover-mans-body-from-river.html

But the people who believe this are missing a key part of the equation:  the ability to tell a story.  How many people do you know who can tell a story, can captivate you with small details and engage you in a narrative structure that physically mesmerizes you?

Watch this.

Wait For Me (3 Minute Documentary) from Red Light Films on Vimeo.

It’s one camera, a short interview, and some b-roll from a previous shoot.  (This is the guy who made ‘Born into Brothels.’) But it grabs you and makes you want to know “what happens next.”

And from where I stand, “what happens next” trumps “automatic focus and backlight reduction” any day of the week.