Hack into their mainframe using metaphor

How can you use video to get inside your audience’s head and sell your brand with the power of metaphor?

Prepare yourself because - unsurprisingly - I’m about to invite you inside a metaphor to explain this one…

Imagine you’re trying to describe to someone how to get to the train station (and in this cinematic universe, GPS hasn’t been invented yet).

You could start waving your arms wildly, incorporating a lot of strategic pointing, and firing off instructions on how many lefts you need to make after the third roundabout next to the big Tesco etc. 

For some people, that might be all they need to be on their way. Others might start slowly backing away in the hope that the interaction will end soon because THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE SAYING PLEASE GOD MAKE IT STOP.

OK, so that didn’t work. This time you draw a map with an approximation of the route and include a helpful arrow labelled “You Are Here”. You’re showing them, not just telling them.

Metaphors in video are like the map. Not everyone’s going to follow it (I, personally, would still end up circumnavigating the Tesco car park and miss my train), but you’ll get a hell of a lot more people where they need to be by showing them where they need to go.

Why is metaphor basically a mind hack for getting people to understand your brand?

To illustrate my point (see what I’m doing here?), take a look at this 2018 Mercedes-Benz video ad.

Brain, engaged 

Your audience doesn’t always need to be hand fed information. An intriguing metaphor is almost like a puzzle: you have to think a little to understand it. 

In the first 20 seconds of the ad we’re not 100 per cent sure why we’re watching a man fall flat on his face, but figuring it out and joining those dots is fun. In those crucial few seconds of engagement, your audience is connecting with your brand. 

Sound familiar?

For the majority of us, metaphor is already a very familiar and effective communication tool. “Raining cats and dogs'' is just a more engaging way of saying “raining heavily”.

The reason an audience sticks around to unlock the secret of how a man falling down relates to German car safety is because they sense it’s coming – trust the process.

Don’t get it twisted

I reckon you could understand this ad even if all you had were the visuals and some hastily translated captions. The language of film can be universal and a well-made, accessible video that uses metaphor can ensure your message doesn’t get lost in translation.

Grab that mental real estate!

I’m sorry, but when I first saw this I did not expect it to be about a car. When you introduce an incongruous or even absurdist metaphor, viewers can be so struck with how barmy it is that they can’t look away. 

I mean, I’m still talking about it three years later so it certainly grabbed my attention.

Why metaphor works great with video

Unlike a static ad that you might see on a billboard, a video allows you to expand on and explore any metaphor you use. You can even get a bit meta about it like this example:

A photo of a woman being drenched by a hose and slapped in the leg by a penguin with the words “It’s a metaphor!” would fall pretty flat. The video allows the scenario to become a playful, self-referential in-joke with the viewer.

You can explore mood and tone using a metaphor, creating a video that’s playful, thought provoking, awe inspiring, urgent, or anything really. Whatever matches your brand.

Finally, film can be as flexible as you need it to be timewise. Got a two minute flagship brand video? With the right creative support, you can cut it into any length you like. 

You’d be surprised what you can communicate in just 20 seconds of carefully curated, perfectly pitched video branding. And if you’re not sure how to tap into their mainframe with metaphor then give us a call and we’ll be happy to give you some ideas!