Following on from my recent post about turning a Google all hands meeting into a late night talk show, another one of my pieces was picked up by Heartwarming, this time focusing on the Global Internal Comms Video Channel I founded and managed at Meta.
Internal Comms, Conan O’Brien and John Oliver
In this new piece on Heartwarming I talked about drawing inspiration from comedy legends like John Oliver and Conan O’Brien when it comes to internal comms.
Some of the best storytellers are comedians, and the very best ones use the constraints of video and TV to their advantage. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is effectively an old school news broadcast, or an extended Weekend Update segment on SNL. But it is the verve with which he presents it, as well as the clever use of graphics for the PIP (picture in picture) that set it apart. It’s no wonder it wins an Emmy almost every single year. The show feels like it is made with care and deep love for bringing humour to difficult (even horrible) topics.
I admire the writing team so much on that show. Like the very best thing I have ever created, it combines a love for the act of expression, coupled with a firm belief in what they are doing and saying. There is a purpose and a power to it. And an audience can feel that.
Your audience may or may not respond
That said, not every company is going to respond to a format like that. And some frontline workers may not even have access to the technology required to engage with it. However, if we simply presumed that a new internal communications format would not land with a wider audience, then we would probably never try anything. This particular experiment worked and some of that is down to the demographics of the audience, the company culture itself, as well as the hunger for something new in a growing company. But I have also tried out new video ideas that have gained little to no traction, so there isn’t a surefire formula for success.
Nevertheless, a recognisable framework like Lst Week Tonight is not particularly new. But it was new in this context, which made it successful. And I’m happy it was. It gave me a whole new creative avenue in my career.
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