Be Awesome Instead.

This flight safety video will probably be the best video you see this week.

There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

You read it correctly. A video explaining how to put on a seatbelt is incredibly entertaining and has SIX MILLION views on YouTube.

On most flights I’ve been on, the bored flight attendant recites a long list of instructions and rules while everyone else on the plane is looking through SkyMall or very rebelliously using an electronic device. Even though the information presented could literally save someone’s life, I can’t remember the last time I looked at the safety pamphlet in the seatback in front of me.

Generally the information they have to announce probably takes one or two minutes to read. This video is five minutes long. Even though it isn’t the most efficient way to present information, which medium do you prefer?

This is a great lesson for marketers and communications professionals. Have an important message to share? Do it differently. Make it fun and memorable. Take something dry and boring and create a jingle that people will want to download on iTunes. If something in your industry has been done the same way for decades, it’s time to make a change.