Same content + creative selling = wider audience engagement

Last week I learnt something from a street performer what no marketing person or book could teach as easily.
Our team was returning from our offsite in Parvanoo, Himachal Pradesh. We stopped at Chokidani, a restaurant park with a Rajasthan theme. This place is typically family fare- with camel rides, street magic show (a brilliant one that), dancers and singers who let you soak up the whole village feel and charm.

Within this mini circus was a puppet show in progress. It was a small enclosure with a 4-foot high curtain and a singer-narrator sat in front. He welcomed us and waited till we settled around. He then started with asking our names. Expecting a prank, we answered sheepishly. Instantly, a puppet would drop in front of the curtain, and he would name that puppet after us. This was hilarious for us and we guffawed at each other, watching the antics of the puppets who represented us. One puppet did a funny dance, decapitating himself and putting his head back on his shoulders, another was a drunkard on a horse, a snake charmer with a disgruntled snake getting back at his master. The whole show was really very entertaining for our bunch. This lasted for around 3-4 minutes. As we tipped the singer and got up to leave, another group of 20 odd school kids- around 8 years old, settled in front of the curtain.

Now this I wanted to see. How was the singer going to entertain this audience? Would the children enjoy the show as much as we did? It seemed highly unlikely that he would engage with everyone like he did with us. Now here's where his creativity came in. The same puppets performed, with the very same song and dance, but this time the narration was different. The story-telling changed for the children. Instead of naming the puppets, he gave one overall description to the antics of the puppets, knowing well what the kids would like. The children were in splits.

This was a huge learner for me. That very same content was presented to two (and many more) types of audiences. But the presentation was modified to connect with the viewer. All this learning came from a street performer who knew his art really well. The effectiveness beat anything I've experienced lately in anything related to entertainment, recall factor and audience connect.

My faith lies strong in the core; the substance, the rigorous practice in our work that makes us masters in what we do, irrespective of access to technology or big budgets.

Same content + creative selling = wider audience engagement

Last week I learnt something from a street performer what no marketing person or book could teach as easily.
Our team was returning from our offsite in Parvanoo, Himachal Pradesh. We stopped at Chokidani, a restaurant park with a Rajasthan theme. This place is typically family fare- with camel rides, street magic show (a brilliant one that), dancers and singers who let you soak up the whole village feel and charm.

Within this mini circus was a puppet show in progress. It was a small enclosure with a 4-foot high curtain and a singer-narrator sat in front. He welcomed us and waited till we settled around. He then started with asking our names. Expecting a prank, we answered sheepishly. Instantly, a puppet would drop in front of the curtain, and he would name that puppet after us. This was hilarious for us and we guffawed at each other, watching the antics of the puppets who represented us. One puppet did a funny dance, decapitating himself and putting his head back on his shoulders, another was a drunkard on a horse, a snake charmer with a disgruntled snake getting back at his master. The whole show was really very entertaining for our bunch. This lasted for around 3-4 minutes. As we tipped the singer and got up to leave, another group of 20 odd school kids- around 8 years old, settled in front of the curtain.

Now this I wanted to see. How was the singer going to entertain this audience? Would the children enjoy the show as much as we did? It seemed highly unlikely that he would engage with everyone like he did with us. Now here's where his creativity came in. The same puppets performed, with the very same song and dance, but this time the narration was different. The story-telling changed for the children. Instead of naming the puppets, he gave one overall description to the antics of the puppets, knowing well what the kids would like. The children were in splits.

This was a huge learner for me. That very same content was presented to two (and many more) types of audiences. But the presentation was modified to connect with the viewer. All this learning came from a street performer who knew his art really well. The effectiveness beat anything I've experienced lately in anything related to entertainment, recall factor and audience connect.

My faith lies strong in the core; the substance, the rigorous practice in our work that makes us masters in what we do, irrespective of access to technology or big budgets.