CIE + M: Communicating for Effect

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Ever notice how some development project videos are like obituaries? They follow the same story line in project completion reports and biographies. This is how we got started, this is how we grew, lookit the amazing things we did, here are the fun people we lived and worked with, now we’re closing down our project and this video is one way we’ll remember a project/life well done/well lived.

Seems like all projects these days have money for “production of CIE material”.  These materials do communicate  - they communicate the fact that a project was done. After I watched one of these videos I got this “so what?” feeling. So what if you guys helped to plant x million trees, or got Congress to pass another law? Good for you, I guess. What does it matter to me?

Somebody recently got me involved in making one of these videos. The first thing I asked was, “what for?” What do we want to accomplish with this video, other than tell whoever cares to listen that we’ve done this project?

The ensuing debate reminded me of the things my High School English Lit teacher said again and again: think about who you’re writing for. What do you want them to think, to feel, to do after they’ve read your piece? Considering your target audience, what would be the best way to get your message across, what buttons should you push?

I sought to convince my colleagues that our video should advance our advocacy. I even emailed them copies of Edward Bernays’ “Propaganda”. 

Sure, I said, our video should be good memorabilia for everyone who worked in our project. Sure, it would add to our digital, online career portfolio (“What kind of work have you done?” “Oh, you can see it on YouTube. Search for ...”). And yes it should convince our funders that they were right to give us this grant.

On top of all that, we’d also like our video to get our target audience to do something specific to support our continuing advocacy.

Having agreed on these obejctives, we found that we had to rewrite our story line. We also had to do additional interviews. After two rounds of comments and edits our short project video was done and disseminated (thanks, YouTube). 

Some friends in the target profession, after watching our video, wished us luck in getting Government support. Others said they need better proof of improved efficiency before they can invest in the technology we had shown. Others asked where they can buy the stuff, and how much, how soon? Everyone asked to be kept in the loop, moving forward.

I guess we achieved modest success in our aim to get viewers to do something related to our advocacy (even the fence-sitters are watching to see what happens next).  What’s more important for me is that now my partners are more convinced that all project-produced videos and publications will not only communicate, inform and educate, but also to move our target audience.

How can you improve your CIE materials to get your target audience to support your advocacy?

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