= one great advert

Advertising at a Super Bowl is like a Royal Command performance for any advertiser, and finding a new angle can’t be easy.

Car manufacturer Lincoln turned to to Twitter for help, and asked people to tweet in their stories of the best road trip ever on #steerthestory. Five of the thousands sent in were selected, and have now been filmed for Sunday’s commercial. The use of crowd-sourcing in this way not only brings out all kinds of creative potential, but engages a whole new tranche of audience. Think how much those five people will have told their friends, who will have told their friends, who will have told their friends…

This is smart advertising indeed, and it is something from which communicators can learn. You may have the platform, and you may have the skills to deliver your message, but others have the stories. When communicating within a community, as I often do in my role as preacher- I try to tap into the bank of faith stories around me as often as I can. I gave done this in particular with prayer, Mary, and awe.

Have you tried it? If not, I would thoroughly recommend it. In the meantime, below is a trailer of #steerthestory