Online videos have become a powerful tool for organizations and associations to mobilize and educate their target audiences.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen an emerging trend in using online videos as “explainers” — using a simple animation or presentation to explain a complex concept or issue. Some popular posts in this genre have included “Twitter in Plain English” and the popular White House White Board series. In both of these examples the core of the message was pared down to such a degree that it could be explained using simple visuals.
We’ve been big fans of this approach and recently completed a video along these lines for another client, the National Academy of Public Administration, on the complex issue of the national debt. You can see our work here:
You can talk about the federal budget, entitlement spending, and debt ceilings until you are blue in the face, and it just won’t connect for some people. However if you get creative, and put Congress in a raft going down the river, you’ll be able to make your point in such a way that it resonates with new audiences – and provides perfect fodder to be shared on social networks.
Take some time to think about the issues you work on – are there ways to make them easier to explain? Sometimes making things simple yields more results than the most elaborate and complex solutions.
