First-class letters, motorway tolls and sewage in restaurants
Several years ago, I spent a week in Florence.
The guest house I stayed at was on the fourth floor of an old building overlooking a market square. When the stallholders packed up, the square went quiet. Bliss, I thought – I really struck gold here. Good night’s sleep here I come.
I should have known better. Shortly after I hit the sack, the Vespas came out. Then the noisy drunks. And finally the police.
I did sleep in the end – though only after stuffing a duvet in the space between the windows and the shutters, putting in my earplugs and covering my head with a pillow.
Next morning, I was not in the best of moods as I entered the dining room for breakfast.
“Morning!” chirped an Australian I’d briefly met when I arrived the previous day. “Come and join me. Isn’t this all marvellous? I’m so excited.”
Excited? Not exhausted? Clearly her bedroom was on the other side of the house, overlooking the garden.
It wasn’t.
She’d heard all the noises I had, but thought it was all just part of her wonderful Italian experience. Those buzzing Vespas and noisy Florentines simply added to the atmosphere, and sent her into a deep, satisfying sleep.
One experience, two interpretations – and all down to perspective.
Perspective is at the heart of a recent TED talk by the irrepressible Rory Sutherland, Executive Creative Director and Vice-Chairman, OgilvyOne London and Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather UK (does that all fit on one business card?).
He tackles the subject with wit, intelligence and charm, as always.
Note what he has to say about ‘goal dilution’, by the way – key to the success of companies like Google, who realise that focus beats FOMO (as a wise man once said).
Perspective is a powerful force that you too can deploy – and should deploy – in your marketing and communication. Don’t just give the facts. Instead, frame those facts so they tell a story.
Perspective is everything is 18 minutes and 24 seconds long, and ranges from delivery times for first-class letters to sewage-filled Michelin-starred restaurants, via motorway tolls. A veritable feast of entertainment, insight and… perspective.
Enjoy.
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Find out more:
Potatoes, stir-fried Wikipedia and blending iPads: more glory for Rory in his 2010 talk Life lessons from an ad man.