What can
the Starship Farragut teach us about creativity in communications? 

That’s the
question we posed to Mark Hildebrand, the producer and director of award
winning fan films based on the 1960s Star Trek television series created by
Gene Roddenberry.  (For more on Starship
Farragut, visit http://www.starshipfarragut.com/.)

Hildebrand
visited Strategic Communications Group’s (Strategic) office as part of our professional
development program.  Past speakers had
included journalists, industry analysts, publishers and corporate marketing
executives.  Right in line with what you
would expect at a public relations consultancy.

Our request
for a presentation from a film director is symptomatic of a dramatic shift in
the industry.  Public
relations content has traditionally been constructed to educate and engage an
organization’s key stakeholders.  It presents
a perspective, opinion or corporate story, and then encourages dialogue and
debate.

Yet, a third "e" should be added to the measurement
benchmarks for public relations  --
entertainment. The ability to capture and hold an audience's attention in
unique and innovative ways is now a must for any communications program. 

That was the insight Strategic’s staff
anticipated from Hildebrand’s presentation. 
We weren’t disappointed.  On a shoe
string budget, he collaborated with a group of talented (yet unknown) actors to
create a movie true to Roddenberry’s vision for Star Trek and, in the process, garnered
a following among die-hard fans of the original series.

Hildebrand’s suggestions on how to create compelling
and entertaining content serve as a primer for public relations and marketing
professionals challenged to promote their companies in traditional PR and
social media channels.  Here are a few of
his thoughts:

Sit in the audience’s chair.  Content must always be evaluated from the
perspective of the intended recipient. 
Hildebrand explained you want to challenge the audience, yet at the
conclusion leave them fulfilled (rather than confused).

Create a dilemma.  When following the problem/solution format,
it’s critical to use anecdotes to demonstrate how the characters depicted in
the content learn, thereby delivering an educating experience for the audience.

Change pace with emotional contrast.  Deliver the unexpected and you’ll keep an
audience’s attention.  Hildebrand cited
Starship Farragut’s use of humor in certain fight scenes.  The same principle can apply in public
relations by introducing an unexpected writing style.  Strategic client Tellabs excels at this
through a creative approach to their press release writing (http://www.tellabs.com/news/2008/).

Embrace creative tension.  While Hildebrand retains final creative say
in his productions, he openly engages with actors and the other professionals
on the set for their opinions about how to best capture a scene.  The best result often comes from the
resulting disagreements and discussion.

Rely on the passion.  Starship Farragut is truly a labor of love
for Hildebrand, the actors and production staff.  It’s self-funded and, due to licensing
requirements, they distribute the films at no cost via the Internet.  Companies who inspire a comparable passion
from their employees typically produce memorable and entertaining content.

 
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Marc Hausman is president and CEO of Strategic
Communications Group (Strategic), a public relations consultancy based in Silver Spring, MD.  Read more at: http://www.strategicguy.blogspot.com.