#joesvilion

“Story” is a well-worn term in healthcare marketing. We call Facebook posts “stories,” sales aids “brand stories” and anyone who creates them “storytellers.” We use the term because we want communications to engage and transport with the power of a well-told story. Yet, with the highly regulated language of health marketing, our stories often land flat.

Over the last few months, I was actually reawakened to the power of a good story. The opportunity came because of a short film I helped produce. Joe’s Violin tells the story of a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor and a young student at a Bronx charter school. The film starts with the small gift of an unused violin and ends with a larger gift of friendship.

Initially, we thought Joe’s Violin would show at a few film festivals and, with luck, find a distributor. Suffice it to say, the film struck a chord. On Jan. 24, Joe’s Violin was announced as one of five Academy Award nominees for the Best Short Documentary Oscar. 

The lessons I learned actually didn’t come while driving to the Oscars. They came from the month beforehand when we held a number of screenings for Academy voters. By seeing and hearing live how others experienced our story, I rediscovered a few things that could make stories also work in healthcare marketing.