We all have a story but sometimes it feels like no one is listening.
We try and try all the time to get our story told by reinventing our message, using a different communication channel or finding new stories to tell. In fact, how do we know for sure that our story is being told correctly?
People like Scott, Katie, Jen, Zach and Thomas have good insight into all of the aspects of storytelling. They know how to identify the key elements in a message and how to get the story told in the right places to reach the right audiences. Communications and public relations specialists have a knack for how to tell a good story.
In a recent Huffington Post article, one kid from Vermont used a very interesting channel to share their simple message.
A Powerade bottle washed up on Portugal’s shore recently. That in and of itself is not newsworthy. Bottles wash up on shores around the world all the time. Only this bottle had an almost cartoon-like element to it.
The bottle had a little note on the inside and boldly declared…
“It is Thanksgiving. I am 13 and visiting family in Rhode Island. I am from Vermont.”
The bottle traveled 3,250 miles across the Atlantic Ocean (and with ocean currents maybe farther!) to reach Christian Santos, a Portuguese teenager who was spearfishing along the coast.
Santos’ mother, Molly Santos, posted a photo of the note on Facebook asking for others to share the post in hopes of finding the writer to share how far the message traveled.
Molly Santo said that she sent an email to the address, but never received a response.
This story has all the mystical elements of what I thought pirates did when they were stuck on a deserted island. Having lost all hope, Greybeard the pirate would tell his tale on a scrap of paper tucked away in a glass bottle hoping someone may one day find it and rescue him.
While this communication channel may not be the most efficient, glamorous or practical it certainly is fun. Putting a little bit of faith and hope into a little glass bottle could one day mean salvation and offers the slight chance that somebody might see it and provoke some questions.
“Where did this come from?”
“Why was it sent?”
“Who sent it?”
“When was it sent?”
The all-important “who, what, where, when, why and how”. Something that is so vital to storytelling yet can so easily be forgotten when a writer isn’t paying close enough attention. Let’s take a look at the note in the bottle one more time.
“It is Thanksgiving. I am 13 and visiting family in Rhode Island. I am from Vermont.”
The message is able to give answers to all of these questions in less than 20 words. Simple and effective.
So, tell me, what’s your message in a bottle?
Jacob