How can you make the ‘interesting’ more interesting?

Nonconformity and the Creative Life is the title of this video by Shots of Awe, the YouTube channel of Jason Silva.

It’s fun filled thought provoking stuff isn’t it? But what Jason has done here is nothing new. He’s presenting the thoughts of others, wrapping it up and delivering it in a fast, fun, manner.

Like the other recent internet phenomenon, I ****ing love Science, Jason delivers his content through interesting means. He takes quotes from the famous, in this case Nietzsche, Kerouac and Campbell, eg.

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music”
-Nietzsche

and then adds some groovy stock video and shots to make the video more impactful and interesting. In today’s world where the adults of tomorrow are increasingly unlikely to read an entire book or be inspired by the philosophical constructs of Nietzsche, this sort of presentation is the way to cut through the apathy. Jason delivers difficult concepts in a buzzword, high energy filled manner that leaps through the screen. All in a couple of minutes. He provides links to his sources and hopefully you’ll be inspired, follow those and learn more.

Like Brian Cox, Jason is making the difficult but ‘interesting’, seem even more interesting.

And so that leads us to the point of this, what can you do in your marketing to make the difficult, the seemingly mundane or boring aspects of your product or service seem more exciting?

As we know, familiarity breeds contempt, and all products become familiar over time through everyday use. They end up being taken for granted, and what seems overnight no longer  purchased as the new thing seen on the telly has gathered your consumer’s attention. We know your product or service is unlikely to change, but our brains are wired into looking for change, difference and new.

[box]What you need to do is give your product that new feeling by injecting freshness, vitality and energy into the promotion of your supposedly tired wares.[/box]

Present differently, with a change of tact or emphasis, add more energy and oomph and suddenly:

Your paper towel becomes a sexy, latin lover!

Your bottled water becomes a more vital, energy rich drink

and the king of reinventions was the mighty Old Spice campaign. Proving that you can dress anything up, promote the hell out of it and no matter what the publics perception of your product they’ll give it another go.
That tired old after-shave your dad used to wear becomes an internet sensation!

What can you do to repackage your tired old products into something fresh?

This post started off being an Inspiration Friday but I thought it would make a slightly more developed piece if we talked about the actual style of this video rather than its content.