Deep Dive Breakout 1: Using Video for Empathetic Storytelling

How can we use video to show the challenges our advocates and members face in the real world? What techniques can we use to emotionally resonant stories with integrity with our advocates? How do we, as practitioners, make sure we’re capturing the right messages – and once we have the videos, how do we make sure they’re viewed by the right audiences to have an advocacy impact?

Mark Fisher, Muscular Dystrophy Association
Caitlin Miller, CTIA The Wireless Association
Jeanne Slade, American College of Emergency Physicians
Jessica Cooper, National Federation of Independent Business (moderator)

Notes:

• MDA’s Accessible AirTravel Campaign
  • Each year, Congress needs to reauthorize the FAA, which helps aid people with disabilities in their travel 
    • It’s an extremely difficult process to travel with a wheelchair – airlines break wheelchairs, employees get injured, and more
  • MDA utilized two advocates’ stories who were participating in their Hill Day – they filmed their experiences while they were in town for the Hill Day and traveling to and from their visit
  • Goals
    • Educate decision-makers
    • Increase # of grassroots networkers contacting Congress
    • Create public policy changes
    • Tell the story from the advocates’ perspective
    • Take a calculated risk 
  • MDA identified the above goals and outlined a path to achieving them 
    • Mindy’s story
    • Madison’s story 
  • Promotion Plan
    • Mixed paid, organic, influencer content across platforms 
    • MDA also allowed the video participants to share on their own channels 
    • They also sent the videos to lawmakers directly and shared them with TSA with the message “You can do better”
    • It was shared across news channels, and the news outlets even shared clips from the MDA’s video
  • The numbers and results: 
    • 3M video views & shares
    • 1 video 1.3M impressions and
    • 133k engagements on TikTok
    • FAA Reauthorization passes
      • Extremely comprehensive bill – it was the most significant reform in the past 40 years
      • Bipartisan champions
    • DOT releases wheelchair rule
    • TSA Partnership
    • Airlines used videos
    • 11,000+ messages to Congress
    • 1,760 by new action takers
  • MDA got even more length out of the video by making celebratory videos highlighting the above results
    • The video was made before the bill passed, so they were ready to go when it did pass.
      • They knew roughly how this would play out because Congress took so long to pass it, so they had time to script it. They knew the bill was going to pass as is or not pass at all, so they took a big risk that paid off!
    • They re-interviewed the original video participants and kept a similar promo plan as the first time 
    • Results:
      • Over 200,000 video views
      • Opened the door for more promotional uses for MDA 
  • Key takeaways 
    • Don’t forget to budget for promotion 
    • It’s not your story, it’s their story
    • Take calculated risks (and encourage others to do the same)!
    • You CAN do this 
      • Budget concerns aside, you can make it work 
  • Learn more here
• CTIA 5G in America Campaign
  • Campaign goals
    • How can we humanize a very technical issue like spectrum policy? 
    • Collect as many videos as they can highlighting beneficial success stories and keep them banked for use throughout the length of their campaign (and beyond) 
  • 5G Innovators
    • Innovator stories – how do we identify impactful stories and then guide that lived experience to capture a narrative? 
    • The team interviewed the people BEHIND 5G who are developing and implementing it, showing the purpose and the drive behind 5G’s growth and expansion.
      • It helps farmers optimize their crops and solve problems that help feed the world. 
    • Watch the video here
  • Video Strategy
    • How do we work with vendors and resources to ensure the outcome meets our expectations?
      • Be very clear and transparent up front and manage expectations
        • Set communicated goals and share what success will look like when the project is completed 
      • Share your campaign strategy as well to help them build the narrative and collaborate very closely with the people on the video shoots
  • Promotion strategy
    • What channels and tactics allow us to reach our audiences and advocacy goals best?
      • Surround sound promotions!
        • Organic, paid, and influencer social media, event sponsorship, and inviting stakeholders to participate in the events that the participants are featured in
      • Create different clips to circulate and generate interest/excitement
  • Lessons Learned
    • Building trust leads to more compelling stories
    • Adapting video strategies to meet evolving goals
    • Extending the life of video projects through new tactics 
  • 5G is a huge and far-reaching industry, so CTIA got creative and told many different types of success stories to highlight 5Gs sprawling impact on the country 
    • Learn more here 
  • Sharing stories with other stakeholders and advocates excites and encourages others to share their stories too 
• American College of Emergency Physicians ED Violence Story Collection Campaigns 
  • Gathering data and stories
    • ED Violence is dangerous, rising and unacceptable 
    • Doctors and nurses were increasingly facing violence as the pandemic impacted the world.
      • Many doctors and nurses faced verbal, mental, and physical abuse from patients and citizens. 
    • ACEP used Propfuel to create a poll that aimed to uncover the data and identify a pattern in increased violence
      • The end of the poll encouraged people to share their stories 
      • Included links in member-facing publications/SM
      • Included ethical and confidentiality guidelines from HIPPA 
    • The data showed an immense increase in ED violence, and they were able to gather 2,000 stories
      • Their staff pulled out the most impactful stories and set up a database on the website that highlighted these stories
      • They now have a bank of videos/stories that they can use when they need to activate something – these can be used on a state or national level 
    • They took the stories to the Hill and shared them with lawmakers to try to drive legislative action 
  • Examples of Stories Shared [THE FOLLOWING MAY BE SENSITIVE FOR SOME READERS]
    • “Throwing urine on everyone” – A patient became violent and saved up their urine in apple juice cups. They ran out of the ED, throwing urine on everyone they could.
      • – An emergency physician from Washington
    • “I’ll meet you in the parking lot and kill you” – A patient said, “I’ll meet you in the parking lot and kill you,” because I did not prescribe them the opioid pain medication that they demanded but did not need. They had a history of drug misuse. 
      • – An emergency physician from Tennessee
    • “He threatened to shoot all of us.” – A teen patient treated for an overdose became verbally abusive and threatened destruction to the trauma-bay and harm to the nurses.  
      • – An emergency physician from Michigan
  • ACEP drafted legislation that protects doctors and reduces violence in the ED
    • Urged Congress to prevent workplace violence in the ED
  • They partnered with the New York Times to create a video that told stories of ED violence [THIS VIDEO MAY BE SENSITIVE FOR SOME VIEWERS]
    • Violence has become a daily occurrence in our hospitals 
    • The video was shared to their members and to everyone who took the original poll 
    • They used the video as a marketing tool for physicians to know that this isn’t just a part of the job 
    • When partnering with NYT, they didn’t need to provide any video, they sent the data and the written stories and worked directly with a reporter (who was an emergency physician) to bring the stories to light 
  • Lessons Learned
    • Your members are your best advocates
    • Make it easy to respond
    • Emotional pleas work combined with data
    • Don’t ASSUME the Problem/Issue is already known and understood
    • Partner with others who have a vested interest
  • They’ve additionally used video inexpensively and used an iPhone to gather footage. 
    • It’s more impactful to show a 30-second video than to have people read the stories. 
• Did any of the panels vet their advocates before releasing the videos?
  • CTIA made sure the stories were good and heard them before they sent a crew and technology to gather the video 
  • MDA made sure the advocates met the camera crew and made sure they all felt comfortable together ahead of shooting 
• All of the videos shared are 2-8 minutes long – longer videos still clearly have a major impact. What was the discussion about length like in the discussion?
  • Cut anything unnecessary; you will know when you have a story worth telling. 
    • Compromise with short clips and social cuts 
    • Make sure you can splice things out to use them in different settings. 
    • This will give you plenty of b-roll as well 
• Tips for working with video vendors?
  • Have someone from your team who’s an expert present when filming – you need a representative who knows the messaging and the narrative 
    • Maintain a good working relationship and start each project with a kickoff call.