Are you 50 plus and asking what now?

 Many of us are going to be living far longer that our parents and grandparents. 

At the same time many people who are 50 plus are retiring, being retrenched or jobless. 

The future stretches ahead where many of us may be living until 90 and we do not know what to do.

How will we survive financially ? What is the reason and purpose of our lives in this new season of life?

Lynda Smith

Lynda Smith is a South African social entrepreneur who has developed expertise in this area over the past fifteen years. She has been looking closely at the major trends that are impacting the 50 plus generation and their future. 

In this episode  of The Story Teller podcast, Lynda talks about the impact of longevity and technology as well as Covid-19. For those of us at a cross roads, what she has to say, is very valuable. 

Click here to listen:The Story Teller

Lynda is the founder of Refirement Network and 50 Plus-Skills and is involved with many similar international organisations. To learn more go to 50plus-skills.

A man with a passion for protecting the ocean

Listen to our podcast with Jean Tresfon a man who volunteers his time to conserving the creatures and health of the ocean. Click here:  The Story Teller

  

Jean Tresfon is passionate about the ocean and its creatures. He has spent 30 years of his life sharing what he sees with the public through his underwater and aerial photographs around the southern tip of Africa. 

He talks about why it took him a while to find his passion, how he learned to fly a gyrocopter so he could fly above the ocean for a very different perspective, how he does not fear holding those in power accountable for their actions and how lockdown had a surprising impact on him.

He feels enormously privileged to have had experiences that most of us will never have and that is why he feels he has a duty to share his stories.

If you want to see Jean's photographs and stories follow him on Facebook at Jean Tresfon 

Humanise your brand! 

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is a non profit volunteer organisation. It relies on support from the public for funding. 

It also relies heavily on the good will and dedication of individuals who volunteer their time to ensure the NSRI is able to operate. These are people who spend hours in training in all aspects of sea rescue and who often risk their lives to help others who are in trouble. 

This is the story of one volunteer, Spencer Oldham who is a family man, business man and yet has voluteered an enormous amount of his time to the organisation. His personal story creates an emotional connection with the audience because we realise the organisation only exists because of hundreds of people like Spencer.

The NSRI becomes humanised when we hear the stories of the people who are prepared to dedicate themselves to a cause out of a belief in altruism.

Click here to listen to Spencer's  story: The Story Teller

In his story Spencer talks about the many hours spent training for all kinds of eventualities, the dangers they face at sea (and on land), the satisfaction of a successful rescue and his continued dedication despite the impact of Covid-19 on sea rescue operations and his personal life. 

Every individual who volunteers for the organisation has a story to tell that creates empathy for the brand. These are the stories worth collecting as part of a marketing strategy to differentiate your brand in a highly competitive market.

 

 

Climb Every Mountain

 

Mountaineering was  a childhood dream for Deshun Deysel which she achieved in 1996.  

She was a member of the first team of South Africans who placed the new SA democratic flag at the top of Mt. Everest. 

The media described Deshun as the first black woman in the world and the youngest South African to set foot on the slopes of Mount Everest.

She grew up in South Africa during the apartheid era in a small township outside of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. Her grandmother's recollections of the exploits of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who were the first to officially summit Mt. Everest in 1953, stimulated her dreams of becoming an adventurer.

Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary

She has always been naturally sporty enjoying open water swimming, cycling, running, and she played provincial volleyball in high school and college where she studied to be a teacher. 

But mountaineering became her first love. After her participation in the 1996 expedition, Deshun participated in climbing expeditions to five of the seven summits on five continents: Mt. Mckinley in North America, Mt. Elbrus in Europe, Aconcagua in South America, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa and she attempted to summit Everest in 2003. 

She has successfully guided teams up Mt. Kenya, Mt. Kilimanjaro and smaller South African peaks. She has also summited Mt. Meru (Tanzania), Mt. Blanc (France) and Mt. Kalapathar (Nepal).

She was to be part of an all women South African expedition which planned to climb Everest in 2020 but unfortunately Covid-19 put a halt to their plans. 

Deshun Deysel is CEO of GoPeak International which consults to and coaches clients mainly in the small to medium business space. She is also a motivational speaker. 

In her business Deshun uses metaphors from her 25 years of climbing experience to help clients understand how to climb to the top.

 https://www.gopeak.biz/ 

Deshun lives in Johannesburg with her husband Charles and their two children, Edward and Judith. At the age of 50 she is still highly driven. She plans on growing her business, writing books and climbing more mountains. 

Listen to her podcast "Life Lessons from a Mountaineer" where she talks candidly about her life and career. Click here: The Story Teller

Photo courtesy of Tony van Marken

Humanise brands with great story telling

"great stories and experiences are bigger than products and therefore humanise brands"

The Health Foundation in the UK teamed up with the Empathy Museum to develop a collection of podcast stories from people working in and using health and social care in the UK. 

The project, A Mile in My Shoes, believed that everyone has a story to tell. By sharing thirty five stories it wanted to showcase the contribution that individuals make to the health care industry.

This is the story of an organ donor nurse.

In 2018 A Mile in My Shoes won several DRUM awards, including Best Charity/Not-for-profit campaign, Best social good campaign, Best live or virtual event campaign and Best B2B content marketing campaign, as well as a silver award at the International Content Marketing awards for Best B2B campaign.

Here we get to walk a mile in the shoes of a paramedic working in the UK.

The Health Foundation quotes the Chairwoman of the Branded Content Marketing Association and member of the DRUM awards judging panel, Patricia Weiss. She believes that the greatest challenge of the century is to provoke empathy in people. 

"Content and experiences like that (A Mile in My Shoes) represents the perfect intersection between the brand purpose and what is really relevant to people. 
This is what happens when a brand could represent the society and also be a catalyst of a broader conversation that is more people-oriented and less product-oriented, because great stories and experiences are bigger than products and therefore humanise brands." 

 

     

In our previous blog post we illustrated how The Health Foundation produced videos that told visual stories which humanised their brand. They repeated this principal with podcasts. Their message is not just about a product, it is about the very real and human face of the brand that we can connect to and will remember.

Click here to the link to their podcast stories and here is a link to our own podcast The Story Teller

A young doctor on the pandemic front line

This is a story about a young doctor, Kirsten Thomas who is an intern at a public hospital which is on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.

She talks about what motivated her to dedicate her life to medicine.

She gives an insider's perspective on what it's like dealing with the impact of the pandemic.

She also explains why she decompresses doing crazy sports like paragliding. Click here to listen The Story Teller

In our previous post we looked at how a UK charity had created an award winning marketing campaign telling stories about people working in their health care industry. If you focus on story telling and people, you humanise your service.

In my own podcast The Story Teller, this is an example of how something similar can be done in the South African health care industry because every person has a story to tell. Below is the podcast repurposed for YouTube and IGTV (Instagram).

Story telling and award winning marketing

I have talked a lot in past posts about why you need to consider story telling as key to your marketing programme and why personalised emotive stories create stronger connections with your clients. 

If you think that your business cannot tell personal stories here is a case study of an organisation which has found an innovative way of marketing the services it offers. 

 The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK.

On their website they have an award winning series of videos which demonstrate the initiatives they are introducing into health care.  The series perfectly illustrates how one can integrate story telling into your brand to promote what you do. It is no coincidence that the series is called The Power of the People and this is what they say about the videos.

“We explore five inspirational examples of innovation in health care.

Our series of five short films – the Power of People – is a unique and moving take on how the lives of people using health services and their families can be improved through the determined efforts of people working in health care." 

·  Pills: Reviewing medication in care homes

·  Flo: Telehealth with a human touch 

·  Bottoms up: Everyone can influence safety, quality and experience 

·  Recovery college: From mental health patient to recovery student 

·  Gold Line: Bringing health care home 

Lets look at the example of Gold Line: Bringing health care home.

It is a 24/7 telephonic service for people who have a terminal illness and are in their last year of life.

Run by nurses, this service provides care and support for patients and their families. The level of care provided by the nurses is such that it means that more people have been able to die in a place of their choosing (usually in the comfort of their home).

This video about terminal illness highlights the experiences and courage shown by the people who have been supported by the extraordinary nurses from Gold Line. Click on the link below to watch.

Gold Line: Bringing health care home 

I defy anyone to watch these videos and not be touched in some way. You feel the Health Foundation is doing good and the memory of what they do will stay with you. 

Can you do something similar with your brand? Can you create a connection with your audience which will ensure their loyalty and belief in your work? Sometimes it means thinking out of the box.

This is not the only way the Health Foundation has been innovative in its approach to marketing. We will look at their other initiatives in our next blog.

Click here to watch the trailer for Power of People