Sometimes, It’s Just About Telling The Right Story In The Right Way
I found this story on Mashable today. It’s the latest outing in the real-time ‘what happens next?’ genre that blogging and the web in general
is so good for.
Chris wants Jeanne to marry him - and she thinks he’s not romantic. So he’s set up a blog and a 6 day treasure hunt that all the world can follow - except Jeanne. At the end of the trail, the treasure is a marriage proposal she knows nothing about. It’s all true. It’s all happening right now. We get to see how it unfolds in real time.
Dramatic tension, ‘page-turnability’, high stakes, relatability. This simple idea has all the hallmarks of something that will keep the crowd tuned-in. Viewers are encouraged to subscribe and also to leave their comments.
The format of the blog is low-maintenance. Just a picture and a quote of something that Jeanne’s said everyday - and even a caveat from the very beginning that a day here or there might fall by the wayside when romance and adventure prevails.
The simplicity of the way he’s doing it gives it a poetic quality and adds to how easily we can project ourselves into his story. It keeps it focused on the universal theme we can all relate to rather than the differences we might have as people. Because of this, it reduces the barriers to entry and widens the audience potential. The fact that it’s happening in real-time is what makes the story so potent.
It’s all very sweet, all very intriguing. The earnestness of Chris and the heart-on-a-plate thing keeps you rooting. Jeanne, because she’s kept in the dark, is a mysterious character herself and we tune in as much as anything to find out about what she’s like and why Chris loves her - and how she’s going to respond. He’s said from the get-go that she’s going to say yes but she’s such an unknown quantity we’re still not sure - so he’s really put himself out there.
Anyway, hooking the audience into wanting to know what happens next is as good a tool on the web for audience engagement as it is in any other medium. When you couple that with the real-time possibilities that the web - and especially a blog (with it’s chronological format) - enables, it’s no huge step to getting all eyes on you. This sort of a project is totally viral-compatible as a lot of people are going to want to spread the word on your behalf. It’s clear what’s at stake and we can empathize with Chris putting his heart on the line (as opposed to ‘Osama Loves’, which didn’t have these two qualities).
Like traditional stories, real-time ‘what happens next’ web projects have beginnings, middles and, usually, ends - something to keep coming back for. With ‘Jeanne Says…’ it’s the quality of the idea and simplicity of the format that’s the elexir - and with that, it’s what’s drawing the audience in. I think it’s great.
