Silumtaneous Usage TV and Digital and TV and Audio

How often do you watch tv and work on your computer at the same time? I’m doing it right now. According to Nielsen’s 1918 Q2 Total Audience Report, 45% of viewers are always or very often using another digital device while watching tv. Only 6% of tv watchers are using an audio device while watching tv.

Why? Because we LISTEN to our tvs as well as WATCH them!

TV commercials NEED SOUND! We consumers don’t just watch tv, we listen to tv; we HEAR a message. As the old adage goes:

YOU CAN’T SHUT YOUR EARS!

Seldom does the TV screen have our 100% attention visually. In addition to the 45% that is not 100% engaged, another 28% are also looking at a second screen. And, many of us are also on our cell phones! Are you getting the stats?!

We are not WATCHING TV, so every time a commercial comes on and THERE IS NO SOUND, WE DO NOT GET THE MESSAGE. TV ads that flash words on the screen without a narrator reading them OUT LOUD are wasting money and an opportunity! Politicians—can you hear me?!

Almost ALL of the political ads right now have video clips of Donald Trump telling lies. They play his words over and over again and on the screen image they flash the world “lies.” BUT NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION TO THE WORDS ON THE SCREEN. If you are listening but not watching, the ad reinforces Trump’s message. There should be a narrator saying the words OUT LOUD!

Narrator: DONALD TRUMP IS LYING.

Then the narrator gives the CORRECT INFORMATION OUT LOUD! So people can hear it if they happen NOT to be watching. Which is the majority of us.   

Conduct your own experiment. You watch tv, right? Contrast these two videos:

Eleven Films does it right. Although they don’t use a narrator, each clip includes AUDIO that tells the story. This 2:00 video calling Trump out for his Coronavirus incompetence is easy to understand even if you aren’t watching but only listening.

“You can’t trust this President to do the right thing,” says a person in a voice-over of a picture of EMTs rolling away a body. Then next clip shows Trump calling Coronavirus “the new Democratic hoax.” On comes another visual of people being screened by emergency personnel with the voice-over, “not for the sake of our country.” EVERY important point is emphasized with visuals AND AUDIO.  

WATCH AND LISTEN to this video from Eleven Films. They are on a mission to save Democracy. Subscribe to their Youtube channel and #Resist! And Democratic candidates—please hire Eleven Films to get your message out!!

BREAKING: the American Virus: We Will Prevail

Contrast that with this commercial from The New York Times: The Truth Can Change How We See the World

New York Times: The Truth Can Change How We See the World

The commercial begins with ocean scenery and Janelle Moonaea, a beautiful African-American woman, telling the story of 20 enslaved Africans being delivered to the shores of Virginia and sold to the Colonists. “America was not yet America,” she says, “but this is the moment it began.”

THEN, NO MORE SOUND BUT THESE WORDS COME ON THE SCREEN

“Words from

The 1619 Project: How Slavery Shaped America

The truth can change how we see the world.

Truth is worth it.”

Then the New York Times’ logo appears.

LIKE WE SAW OR HEARD THAT!! A beautiful ad by the New York Times, apparently one in their “Truth can change how we see the world” campaign. Great campaign, but here’s the BAD NEWS.

NO ONE IS GETTING YOUR MESSAGE. YOU GOTTA SAY THE WORDS OUT LOUD!

According to a random ppt presentation I found on LinkedIn, people remember:

10% of what they read

20% of what they hear

30% of what they see

50% of what they see and hear

80% of what they say

90% of what they say and do

So, if you want people to remember what your tv commercial “says,” you’ve got to help your audience SEE and HEAR your message. If you can get them up doing the hokey-pokey and singing along, even better.

#LoquaciousLindee

Company Brain: Company Voice

How are you?

This is where the discussion starts. A question. A seemingly simple question, relatively benign. I might have gone with something a little less nebulous trying to avoid the customary “fine” response; perhaps something weather-related: hot enough/cold enough for you? A safe topic. Who doesn’t have opinions about the weather?

What I’m looking for is a spark. A commonality, a thread. Do we think alike? Am I threatened if we don’t?  

I understand not being free to speak your mind in all situations, or it’s not prudent to say what your brain is thinking. Especially if you’re the one starting the conversation, you have to be discerning; you have to use your “company brain.” The layer of your brain that serves pleasantries and kind thoughts, puts a positive spin on traditional ways, gives the benefit-of-the-doubt and agrees to be a team player. The part of the brain that uses the “company voice,” a respectful, polite tone-of-voice—delivered with a smile–as it compels the person to continue to work on behalf of and for the good of “the company.”

Another explanation: my friend refers to it as her Mom’s “company voice.” Her Mom used a pleasant tone-of-voice with company: the neighbors, the neighbors’ kids, door-to-door salesmen, and the church choir. People she didn’t know well, “company,” she met with mutual respect as the kind human-being she was: she smiled, listened, offered well-wishes, pleasant thoughts, and helped when she could. She showed that person respect in stature and tone.

Both definitions of “company,” at the office or at home, imply you temper your speaking when the situation calls for it. That includes what you say and how you say it. (There’s another blog here about appropriateness and circumstance which I’ll save for another post.) Today’s question: Can you temper your language and tone-of-voice? Can that be done? And if so…

Can we temper our thinking as well? There’s an element of chicken and egg thinking here. Which comes first? Tempered, controlled brain or steady, controlled voice? Hmmmm.

What if we could? Temper them both: thinking and speaking. Could we create kinder, more respectful discourse if we went back to the pleasantries? The “company” voice, however you define it.

What pleasantries would you add?

(Let me just add PLEASE and THANK YOU to the top of the list.)

And, I’d want to be respectful, but that word is subjective. Each of us has something to say about the subject—especially when it comes to politics and Donald Trump, (aside) know what I mean? And here’s the switch.

What if. What if it was a gift when someone shared with you what they think?

Isn’t it a gift when someone shares their thinking with you? (eye roll, obviously there are extremes) But not everyone feels free to talk about what lies OUTSIDE the “company” voice and brain. For many, it’s not pleasant at all. I’m reminded of the movie “What Dreams May Come” with Robin Williams where he and his wife’s thinking created both heaven and hell. #RIPRobinWilliams #loveyoumissyou

When someone shares with you what they think of Donald Trump, it goes one of two ways: you either unite in your immediate disgust and disdain for the harm this man is causing and you’re in hell, or you find yourself looking squarely into the eyes of someone who thinks nothing like you but believes they and Donald Trump are heaven-bound. (Lord! Have mercy!) It’s time to use your company brain and voice!

We can barely put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. How can we possibly put ourselves inside their brain, let alone their dreams or their reasons for supporting Trump? We can’t. But with polite, respectful conversations, we just might find out why. We’re going to need to know and understand if we expect to heal from this divide. We’ve got to seek to understand what each person believes. And that takes conversation. With enough of it, we might realize we are more alike than different, that we want many of the same things, and we all share the bond of being human beings on this planet.

Sometimes all it takes to start the conversation is a question.

“How you doin’?” Joey Triviani.

A spark. A willingness to treat someone you just met or barely know as “company,” as part of “the company”: to think and speak kindly to them, about them, and for them. To work with them for the good of the company, the planet, and ALL of our people.

Loquaciously, 

Lindee Brauer 

#LoquaciousLindee