Relatability and Brevity. When it comes to presenting ideas to our audience and engaging them to influence their thinking, these are the overall themes emphasized in the readings . Relatability is important because it has the power to build the connection with our audience that is necessary when establishing influence. Whether it be connecting to our audience logically, emotionally, and/or cooperatively (Scharlatt, 2013), employing relatability helps us as digital leaders and managers to develop a likeability and trust (Knapp, 2012) with our audience that is needed to accomplish the vast majority of our work mission (Bacon, 2011). Brevity is vital because it helps to keep our audience engaged in our message. Studies show that making shorter, 1-2 minutes presentations will increase the odds of it being watched to completion (Guerin, n.d.). Therefore, when the message is brief, the audience is more likely to pay attention.
When thinking of some of the videos or commercials that have engaged me and influenced my thinking, I usually think of ones from my childhood that are still ingrained in my memory over 30 years later. As a child of the 80’s, there were plenty of commercials aimed at influencing kids to stay safe. The ones that automatically come to mind are the This is Your Brain On Drugs ad, the Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk PSA, and Louie the Lightning Bug’s Powerline ad. Each of these commercials shared the quality of sending powerful messages in a very brief way. Both the This is Your Brain On Drugs and Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk ads used limited speech coupled with powerful images to speak directly to the emotions of the audience. The images allowed us as viewers to see what the results of making poor decisions could be. As a child, seeing the egg representing my brain frying in a pan and the glasses crashing together like my friend in a car after drinking, made me fearful of doing any of those activities because I loved to learn and I loved my friends. Because this had such a big impact on me. The speech in the commercials also left the viewers with something to think about once the commercial ended. I particularly like the end of the drugs ad when they ask “Any questions?”. Ending a commercial with a question seems to inspire more thinking about the message once the commercial is over. Therefore, I chose to incorporate a question at the end of my video for my reviewers to ponder in hopes that it will encourage them to read . In the Louis the Lightning Bug’s powerline ad, the message was also very direct and short. However, what I liked is that the ad team incorporated animation, music, and singing as part of the message delivery to appeal to children. It definitely stuck with me as a child because, even as an adult, I can still remember the way the commercial looked, can hum the song, and sing the lyrics that told me to stay away from powerlines. Another component the ad company included to appeal to children was incorporating lyrics with situations that were relatable to kids like flying kites and climbing trees. For my video, I used music strategically at points when I wanted to portray a sense of excitement in my audience and maintain their attention to my message.
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