"Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember; involve me and I will understand."

We often get brands coming to us with an idea of the output that they are looking for ie I want a ‘viral’ video, I want a PR campaign, I need some 15 or 30-second ads.

The execution.

However, when you think of the end result first, you can often take away from the most important consideration-what is the impact that you are trying to achieve.

What do you need to do strategically to move the needle of the business?

 This is much bigger than a specific set of metrics or views but relates to the question- what is the delta between where you are now, to where do you want to be?

 The job to be done lies in the middle between the two.

 Let’s give this a bit of context.

 Tony’s Chocolonely is a social impact company that happens to make chocolate. They are on a mission to eradicate slavery within the chocolate industry. Mast brands would likely have tried to spread their mission with a number of ads that talked about their mission and shone a light on the problem.

 However, Tony’s understood the delta that they had to address. Slavery in the chocolate industry is an issue that the majority of people don’t, unfortunately, care about. Out of sight, out of the context of their everyday.

 If they had spoken about the hard facts in a typical advertising campaign, the message it would simply have washed over their heads. Tony’s knew that to make people care, and want to be part of the mission they had to bring people in get them to be invested in the brand.

 “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember; involve me and I will understand.” Confucious

 Instead, Tony’s launched its impactful encounters a roadshow that tours the country, and getting people to understand what Tony’s Chocolonely stands for as a business.

Another brilliant example that I have seen recently is by Henwood Court Financial Planning, a company that helps people plan for retirement. They found that many of their clients struggled with the transition from working life to retirement.

The play was created by the theatre production company Elsy and follows Mark, a workaholic CEO whose personal life is catching up with him. Missing his daughter’s graduation ceremony due to work commitments is a catalyst for him to start creating more space in his life for friends and family. He grapples with uncomfortable feelings of letting go and learning to delegate as he starts the process of becoming a retiree.

At 20 minutes in length, this is very different from a LinkedIn Ad or newsletter sequence.

 Rather than go straight to execution, instead think about the problem at hand and what impact you are trying to create and the answer lies in the middle.