Show · Experience
SHOW is where the blueprint meets the world.
SHOW examines what happens when the story meets the world.
SHOW is governed by audience, purpose, channel/place, timing, and context.
The intended experience
Audience
Purpose
Channel / place
Timing and context
The actual experience
Audience reaction
Feedback and behavior
Evidence of the original purpose
Whether the idea travels
A strong story shown in the wrong place or at the wrong time may not produce the intended result.
Timing also affects receptivity. Context changes what an audience is ready or willing to hear.
SHOW IN PRACTICE
Wrong place
A children's-book author was frustrated after spending money advertising on Facebook, where her intended audience was not effectively being reached. After changing the channel approach, she began seeing results.
Behavior change
An anti-smoking PSA increased hotline calls, and people reported quitting after seeing the commercial.
Does the idea travel?
For a Cantonese/Mandarin San Francisco banking campaign, children accompanying their parents into bank branches repeated the campaign tagline back to tellers.
THE SHOW PROCESS
Measure what happened against what you intended.
Once the story is exposed to the audience, measure according to the original purpose. Depending on the objective, evidence can include:
Sales or inquiries
Behavior change and hotline calls
Audience reaction and feedback
Press sentiment when relevant
Donations when relevant
Online conversation and word of mouth
Whether the idea travels
When experience differs from intention, go back upstream.
If Audience Experience differs from what was intended, trace the issue back through the five-layer Alignment Model to identify where the break occurred.
Diagnose where the break occurred.
SHOW generates evidence for the Lifecycle.
The work does not simply end with distribution.
Audience experience becomes evidence for what happens next.
Go to → PROTECT