yeah, another Guy K article, but this is a question pointed to the c:h team -which one sounds like the story line we are telling and does that sync with the story line that we should be telling about change:healthcare?
Read the full post here, and the outline is as follows:
- Aspirations and beliefs. More than any other topic, people like to hear about aspirations and beliefs. (This may be why religion is the most popular word-of-mouth topic, ever.) …Aspirations are helpful because they help us connect emotionally to the speaker, the company, and the issues.
- David vs. Goliath. …Rooting for the underdog grabs our emotions, creates meaning, and invokes passion. We like to listen to the little guy talk about how he’s going to win and why the world—or the industry—will be a better place for it.
- Avalanche about to roll. …This theme taps into our desire to get the inside story before it’s widely known. It’s not only interesting to hear someone speak about these ideas, they have the ingredients for optimal viral and pass-along effect.
- Contrarian/counterintuitive/challenging assumptions. These three themes are like first cousins, similar in many ways but slightly different. Contrarian perspectives defy conventional wisdom; they are positions that often are not in line with—or may even be directly opposite to—the wisdom of the crowd.
- Counterintuitive ideas fight with what our intuition (as opposed to a majority of the public) says is true. When you introduce counterintuitive ideas, it takes people a minute to reconcile the objective truth with their gut assumption about the topic.
- Challenging widely-held assumptions means that when everyone else says the reason for an event is X, you show that it’s actually Y.
- Anxieties. Anxiety is a cousin of the avalanche about to roll, but it is more about uncertainty than an emerging, disruptive trend. Examples of anxiety themes abound: (1) Financial services companies urging baby boomers to hurry up and invest more for retirement
- Personalities and personal stories. There’s nothing more interesting than a personal story with some life lessons to help us understand what makes executives tick and what they value the most.
- How-to stories and advice. Theoretical and thought-provoking ideas are nice, but people love pragmatic how-to advice: how to solve problems, find next practices, and overcome common obstacles.
- Glitz and glam. … Our society is more addicted to glamour and celebrity. Finding a way to logically link to something glitzy and glamorous is a surefire conversation starter.
- Seasonal/event-related. Last, and least interesting but seems to resonate, is tying your topic into seasonal or major events.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I would have to say we clearly fall into the aspirations/beliefs category. Although David vs. Goliath may apply in a sense, we aren’t out seeking to exactly “defeat” anyone…rather just change things.
And I would have to say that aspirations/beliefs is where we belong. We aspire to more transparent, easier to manage healthcare. We believe that every consumer deserves these things, and thus we build tools as an “enabler.”