You never know what you are going to see online, especially on Facebook. One of my friends at church posted his link and I was surprised to see it was from a utility (Puget Sound Energy).
Click here to view this important message from Puget Sound Energy.
It is interesting to see that Public Service Announcements (PSAs) are moving to video to get consumers engaged. I thought this one was really well done. But, the costs to script, staff, film, edit and produce this kind of video are high. The result in this case is excellent, but it is overkill for all too many communication tasks … like explaining why a bill is higher than normal or as a PSA for an upcoming storm.
What we found through careful research is that production values (the excellence in producing the video) really does not matter and can actually backfire in some cases. Customers can be resentful that you spent so much money trying to communicate a simple message.
In fact, what we found is that the message method (video), especially on phones, can be pretty low resolution and crude … just keep it relevant and interesting. Use customer-friendly language … stop talking to customers like they understand the technical details.
My hat does go off to PSE in any event … who knew what to do if you hit a power pole? I didn’t. And, I am a veteran of the industry.
