LLOYD LEMONS

The world needs better marketing tools

There are two fundamental reasons why we should strive to create the best marketing we can.

1. To introduce great products to more people faster.
2. To bring an early demise to crap products.

Scriptwriting is complex, the story should be simple

THE ACRONYM  A/V, to mean audio/visual, isn’t used much in management circles these days. It’s pretty much gone the way of the 35mm film strip accompanied by the live narrative. More often you’ll hear words like DVD, Flash, PowerPoint, CD, and to a lesser extent video or film. Technology has given us almost limitless capabilities under the heading of multimedia. Call it what you will, the creative process of synchronizing the spoken word -- with moving pictures, stills, animation or interactivity -- into a fluid composite that tells a story or conveys an idea, is still very much the meticulous process of blending the “A” with the “V”.

Communications managers don’t often understand the dynamics of this format. Their tendency is to employ too many words, cover too much territory, or use too many visual bells and whistles (made available today by technology) to tell a simple story. To avoid that, smart managers hire a professional scriptwriter.

The scriptwriter’s job is to “visualize” the pictures that will play for the audience, and “hear” the spoken word that will complement these pictures. The writer is involved in a rather complex mental rehearsal, a practice run that is worked and re-worked. Words and pictures are brought together; then words are edited away; other pictures are added; weak pictures are replaced with effective pictures; and words are tweaked -- over and over again. The end result is a script where both “A” and “V” are merged into a written document that provides the road map or instructions for producing a presentation that seamlessly tells the story.

Words and pictures must complement each other, not fight each other for attention. Less is more. Too much telling and not enough showing is slow-moving and boring. Too much showing and not enough telling may miss the message all together. To have an effective A/V presentation, no matter what the medium, you must have a narrow focus, eliminate all that is not necessary, and concentrate on the core message. The objective is to tell your story in a manner that your audience can appreciate effortlessly, learn from, and respond to in a favorable way. Creating a script can twist your brain. Viewing the final production should not.