As writers, we often obsess about words: grammar, usage, style, and more. As marketers, we often obsess about the production: the printing stock, the design, the colours, the medium. But none of these things are important if we don't have a strong story at the centre.
The following video, from Ukraine's Got Talent, has already been getting some mileage online. I first came across it yesterday over at Jye Smith's blog and then again today at Servant of Chaos. What it demonstrates to me is that medium means nothing. This amazing video uses sand - not words, not printing, not a webpage or any other kind of traditional medium - to tell a story.
Without a strong story that connects with an audience, this would just be a bunch of sand pushed around a table, no matter how pretty. Yet too often we see pieces of writing or marketing ideas that are the equivalent of just pushing words around or playing with neat designs or online gimmicks without that strong idea and message underneath.
If the story is strong enough, the medium no longer matters. A good story will be powerful and emotive whether conveyed in a book, on screen, in a marketing pamphlet or even in sand. Don't get blinded by the medium and forget the story underneath.
