New Message Media

UPDATE: Activist Abby Turns Media Against Big Plastic’s Bill

Ben — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:56:27 +0000

This is an update from our last post on Abby Goldberg’s success. I’ll make a full web page about this story soon enough, but want to update you on the success of the campaign.

Abby made CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and all the rest of the news when she burst past 154,000 signatures. They covered Abby delivering them to the governor’s office, and many captured her surprise to see Governor Quinn himself waiting to receive them. The delivery was highly orchestrated to best capture the story in still photographs, as we knew there was a chance the final videos wouldn’t make it online.

Abby’s petition is now over 156,500 signatures, and will put increasing pressure on the governor with each signature. He probably doesn’t need any further urging — his act of personally receiving the signatures and the seven-minute interactive speech he gave, which his staff posted on his own youtube channel, were enough to strongly indicate he’ll be siding with Abby. To put himself front and center in front of the spectacle and then vote against Abby — for the chemical industry — would be politically insane.

Soon, I’ll encourage her to work with some of the fantastic folks and amazing activist tools at Causes.com to turn her petition into a movement. She’s already setting a precedent for encouraging other kids to demand a plastic bag ban in their neighborhoods — Change.org is starting to see a huge surge in anti-plastic-bag petitions!

More to come…

David and Goliath: Our Story of Activist Abby vs. Big Plastic

Ben — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:22:36 +0000

I’ve been working with a real-life 12-year-old suburban activist, on an issue really no one cares about. Plastic bags? You want me to help you abolish my convenience?

The solution to getting people internationally to join Abby in her small town’s fight was the same solution we always use. Story. To craft a story that’s on pace to garner more signatures than any other environmental petition Change.org has had, we had to take a classic theme and add a few modern twists.

It went kind of like this: Abby contacted me because I was the guy who made Plastic State of Mind, for an interview asking me advice on how to make an effective campaign. I consulted with her and her teacher on the phone for an hour or so, and stayed in touch regarding her progress.

One day, Abby wrote me an email marked “URGENT”, freaking out because of a new piece of legislation that (barely) hit the news. A bill written by Big Plastic and eventually passed by Big-Plastic-funded politicians in the state legislature would make her right to get a local bag ban illegal.

While I empathized with her, I was secretly excited, as I knew this problem was an excellent opportunity to become a great story for change. I pictured it:

A 12-year-old girl and her town are attempting to work together to determine their own fate, but then a big corporate conglomerate charges in to squash her dreams and take away the rights of the citizens in her small town; now there’s only one person who can decide her fate: the governor and his veto pen.

Classic David and Goliath, with a modern twist of anti-corporate fervor, thanks to the banks of the 2008 financial crisis and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Abby was on board to dive into this fight. We refined the story carefully, and when it was polished, we contacted amazing, experienced, brilliant activists at Change.org, who loved the story and ran with it, helping us every step of the way. I began outreach on my end, and they used segments of their million+ email list to get out the petition.

I told Abby to hope for 1,000 signatures; I was really hoping for 10,000. We nearly got to 10,000 — on the first day. The next day, reaching a fever pitch, we got 2,000 more hits — an hour. As of this writing, it’s over 69,300 signatures — so far. Abby is currently #2 on their “Popular” list and #1 on the Environment list.

We’re hoping to deliver the signatures in person to the governor, flanked by many of the signatories and news cameras, to put the final pressure on for a veto.

The three rules of environmental activism are, in no particular order: story, story, story.

Find your audience. Resist what you want to tell them. Tell them what they like to hear. Make it a movie. Start with a happy story, have something go terribly wrong (hopefully there’s a villain), then offer your audience and opportunity to come in and save the day.

Often, as long as your audience is not diametrically opposed to your stance on the issue, they will sign on. They may even promote your action, in order to help the hero — themselves — win.

That’s what I tell my clients. I’m a storyteller for change, that may or may not use filmmaking skills to craft a story that will bring you the change you need. Don’t waste your time doing it any other way.

Click HERE for the exciting update!

Photo of Abby with plastic bag was done by her dad, Jeff Goldberg

Benign Violation – Key to Connecting With Your Audience

Ben — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:37:12 +0000

Many people I work with are often afraid of “going too far.” That’s good; we don’t want to scare people off — from making a policy change, a donation, a personal action or whatever it is that could give us the change we need.

But there’s a difference between the fear of scaring people off and the fear of shaking things up a bit. The fear of the former at the expense of the latter can be your undoing.

Indeed, an unwillingness to shake things up — to catch your audience’s attention and give them something different to think about — will scare them off just as much as if you had offended them. Making straight, dull, unoriginal content that doesn’t engage is a guarantee of a sub-one-thousand click payoff. If you’re lucky enough to already have a captive audience — you’ve handcuffed them to their chairs — then I guarantee you a room of echoing snores by the time you’re done.

Benign Violation is a principle that drives enjoyment and sharing of content. Essentially, if your piece violates the viewer’s norm — takes them out of his/her world and questions it for a moment — that person’s brain perks up, takes notice, and pays attention. If your message is compelling, that same listener will be so grateful for the experience s/he will want others to feel the same sensation, by sharing your message and video.

I don’t know why benign violation works. Humor, storytelling… it’s all elusive neuroscience that, while we’ll never completely understand it, we must use to our advantage.

Above is a piece that follows this principle. The narrarotr casually mentions atrocious industrial secrets in a format known for guilt-free, happy hype. It glorifies gluttony, and ironically encourages the behavior. Violating? Yes, it’s not what we’re used to hearing in an infomercial, and covers topics we don’t like to discuss, including energy resource depletion. Offensive? Eh. Almost, to the point of being edgy, but not really.

Consider the alternative: Should you make a video with pictures of sad children and smoke stacks with a voiceover saying, “Don’t buy useless novelties. They are bad for the environment, and waste energy,”? If you’re leaning yes, re-read this article, or give me a call so I can shake you, very hard.

What do you wish you could say, but are afraid to? If it’d violate your comfort zone, but get some attention and wouldn’t burn bridges, I’d highly consider saying it, in hopefully a creative way. Any other approach may go unnoticed.

Loosen up a bit, because your audience is not as lame and humorless as you assume. Give ‘em some credit and have some fun!

Fundraising – Teaching Environmental and Agricultural Memories

Ben — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:14:13 +0000

T.E.A.M. is a recent project of Gold Ridge RCD, a nation-leading agricultural land conservancy and education center, geared teaching public school kids the link between responsible agriculture and natural-systems restoration. In a time when basic science is being cut out of schools, this video is used by Gold Ridge RCD to make sure funding for such innovative programs keeps coming in.

My Trip to Occupy Wall Street – Why I’m Really Here

Ben — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:53:10 +0000

We. Are. The 99%! (And so are you!)

That’s what I heard legendary Reverend Billy Talen sing at #occupywallstreet during my journey to the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It’s now a common chant at the marches up and down Wall Street. The “so are you” is what got me out here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_99ArUehdg

Forget about the whining about not having a clear demand that you hear from the media and the actual occupiers, who share the same criticism. They’re there all for the same reason — they are disgusted by banking’s control of our government, and they want to see either major reforms or see the system dismantled and rebuilt. The real problem though, is bigger than capitalism, bigger than the banks, bigger than Obama’s failures.

However, few know it ultimately boils down to this: We have a growth-based economy, dependent on infinite resources on a finite planet. With only so much oil, soil, clean water, coal, natural gas, etc., it can’t grow forever. Many feel we are now at the peak extraction rate of all these resources, so now it’s a matter of getting ready to adapt to the change.

That’s the message I’m bringing out here, that I hope gets its message into the mind of the movement, asap. Thank you, occupiers, for starting — continuing — a movement we’ve needed for a long time.

Art of Community Conference – The Clean and The Dirty

Ben — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:50:52 +0000

Research shows that people kind of don’t care about really important things that can change their life forever, if it’s just given to them straight.

So I made this promo for the Art of Community conference in September a little… well, you’ll see. What was your reaction? What did you do at the end? How did you feel?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3_UOw0kV0

The link at the end takes you to Art of Community promo page, which should have the video you see below, right at the top…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9gznkyguI4

Community living is the way of the future, and even the present. Will I see you at the conference?

Ben Zolno on The UpTake at Netroots Nation 2011 #nn11

Ben — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:27:47 +0000

Netroots Nation is the home of the online progressive movement. It’s an intense four days of learning, networking, and being wooed by every union and politician around. I’m already on their side, so for me it’s kind of like a rep from Ben and Jerry’s begging me to try their new ice cream. Except the rep could be trying to sell me their new All-Natural Agave Swirl, only later to learn it’d be better described as Nuclear High Fructose Corn Syrup Sludge. They both taste good, so it’s best to look closely, or not look at all.

This is I trying to make sense after being on my feet for 10 hours on 3 hours of sleep, so you may notice me slipping in and out of consciousness. Excellent interview technique by Mike McIntee, who had been interviewing folks all day; I know how taxing that can be, so I am impressed by his focus and thought-provoking line of questioning.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK9V8sAU26Q

iStockphoto’s New Promo Offer

Ben — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:02:37 +0000

As you may know by now, iStock has a pretty decent selection for stock images; it’s really helpful when making a video you need to get out quickly.

Once you sort out the cheesiness and clear the coffee out of your throat from gasping at the hilarity of some of the images it recommends when you type in your search, you can snatch some great finds. Nature photography is plentiful.

This one’s good for 10 free credits, if you buy 26 credits more… iStock’s New Discount Offer

FlashMobs Get Major Views for Environmental Films

Ben — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:33:39 +0000

PSOM was written as a “flash mob”, originally, but we didn’t have the resources. But if we did… would it have gotten 1,136,033 views in 20 days? Inspiring…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RODr0Fg8pNc

Best Massage Therapist in Oakland? Krista Brown

Ben — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:36:31 +0000

Last night Krista K. Brown of KristaKBrown.net blew my mind — my traps, shoulders, and whatever that impossible-to-reach muscle is underneath my shoulder blades.

Krista was donating her time to Bay Localize‘s 5th Anniversary Fundraiser, offering chair massages and donating the proceeds toward relocalizing the Bay Area. With a bright smile and serious focus, Krista went beyond the routine and really dug down into the nasty knots I let build up over time… apparently a professional massage every two years is too long of a stretch.

If you’re in the Bay Area, I highly recommend checking out Krista for her work, dedication to the future, and all that lactic acid that’s been building up in your overly-stressed trapezius. She may very well be the best massage therapist in Oakland.