I love this video called The Chase created by Intel to build excitement around the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor.
The reason this works for me, and why it has nearly 2 million views, is that it shows (rather than tells) what the product can do for the buyer persona who uses social web applications. Brilliant stuff.
Best viewed in wide screen on YouTube but I've embedded here.
Too often, marketers try to tell us about their products and services.
No matter how wonderful the language, showing works better than telling.
How can you Show, Don’t Tell?
Hat tip to Yukari Watanabe via @GGo_oGG for sharing.
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Wow, awesome video! It doesn't necessarily make me want an i5, but it was pretty slick.
Posted by: Mickey | January 31, 2011 at 12:55 PM
Its good, but many users have complained including my self a heat up problem. why not Intel get survey on it....
Posted by: Survey Tool | January 31, 2011 at 06:28 PM
This is a great ad, it didn't need any words but showed so many of the capabilities of the I5. More companies need to show instead of tell.
Posted by: W5parr | January 31, 2011 at 10:26 PM
That's a very smart move. I understand the idea of showing instead of telling what's good about something, it would be a great idea for me to start doing that for my site too.
-Angela Giles
Social Media and Publicity DIVA
***Yes, I'm giving away the 3rd edition of my Twitter Blueprint for FREE! No strings attached. http://ow.ly/3EwwG
Posted by: Angela Giles | February 01, 2011 at 02:24 AM
I think its very intelligent way to promote your product. Just increase the excitement and curiosity among the mass about your product by just telling them how it is going to change their daily life for good!!! And people will start thinking about it before it actually enters in market. "BUMPER OPENING"
Posted by: Menisa Lindra | February 01, 2011 at 04:48 AM
Yes, and "Sponsors of Tomorrow," the tagline that displays in the last frames, is a clever touch.
Posted by: John White | February 01, 2011 at 11:13 AM
Hi David, quite funny you published this - may i say micro - blog today. I was doing an inhouse presentation for a funeral insurance company, and the bottom line was that I needed to teach them this principle of Show, Don't Tell. It is a mantra in Journalism School, which I attended here in the Netherlands, but probably a overused but handy cliché as well in the US, right?
That got me thinking again of what you always say about hiring journalists to do the content marketing, in order to have them unmarket your content and make it useful for customers. You certainly struck a nerve from my perspective. So may I ask you David, what other journalistic principles, besides show don't tell, would be of use to marketeers and PR-people?
(Perhaps this is too lengthy to answer in a comment, I am more than happy to read it in a blogpost of course :-).
Thanks again for sharing! Remco
Posted by: Remco Janssen | February 01, 2011 at 12:05 PM
Hey Remco
Tell a story. That's the most important. Marketers want to talk up products. Journalists tell a story.
Posted by: David Meerman Scott | February 01, 2011 at 12:18 PM
Your way of thinking is too different.. Very smart ad..
Posted by: aluminium kozijnen | February 02, 2011 at 07:45 AM
what I love about this ad is that almost 100% of the experience is entertainment, with a quick brand tag at the end. Intel is not asking us to listen to a sales pitch (maybe only for 2 secs)
This philosophy extends to an earlier debate you posted about whether or not to require folks to register for a white paper. I say give it away without strings attached. the marketer has already made the investment in creating the document (or video). by giving away valuable content (or entertainment) it will reach many more prospective customers, and earn goodwill with existing ones.
Posted by: Tim Washer | February 02, 2011 at 08:53 AM
Tell don't show. That is a mantra that students in creative writing classes get, too -- and it is tougher than it looks. David is right: content drives design; the best content is story; the best stories, are "shown" and not told. Even words can "show" better than telling. Many very bad presentations are TOLD by people reading off of slides to an audience. The best are the ones that are SHOWN, with a powerful, well selected image and graffic that gets to the heart/kernel of the point. Show, don't tell. Man - I can hear that echo in my head from many of my fiction writing teachers in grad school! Sounds like it is used in journalism. And it is a must think principle in marketing. Thanks for sharing David!
Posted by: Richard Jurek | February 03, 2011 at 11:50 AM
action speaks louder than words!
Posted by: rap beats | February 05, 2011 at 06:07 AM