You’ve seen it before, but it stands a revision: look at the famous Simon Sinek video (below), and look at how he uses the PIE model. Before he even starts to explain things (the intellectual level of communication) he gets the audience wanting to know things – by going straight to the emotional level of communication. Referencing the Wright Brothers, Martin Luther King and Apple computers is a great emotional hook!
But before you watch the video, take a moment or two to remind yourself of the P and I of the model – Physical, Intellectual and Emotional.
Exercise, sketch yourself out a piece of paper that looks like this, and fill it in as you watch the video (the first few minutes are fine – you don’t need to watch all of it).
| What did you notice – either good or bad? | P,I, or E? | If it’s a problem what could be done to mitigate it? If it’s a good thing, how can you use it? |
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Once you’ve gone through the first five minutes or so of Simon Sinek’s delivery, do the exercise. Then listen to a very brief observation about it, and how he uses the PIE model.
Who else uses the PIE model? Advertisers.
When you’re feeling ready (and by that I mean that you’ve got your tissues ready!) watch this advert from VW for their Golf cars. Examine it from the PIE point of view. There’s more or less no I (‘intellectual communication’) in the advert at all, but a lot of E. Why? Because the aim of the advert is to get you to go your local VW dealer and ask for a test drive. At the point when you’re in front of them they can give you all the Information you need, such as cost, mileage and finance details… the presentation (the advert) isn’t the place for that kind of thing!
From the point of view of what it’s trying to do, that presentation is a creation of genius! 😉
But it’s even better than it looks. Take a moment and ask yourself:
- who is this advert really, really aimed at, specifically?
- if you’re not in that target (for example because you’re a woman) how much more impactful do you imagine the advert would have been if it had hit you between the eyes?
- is this targeting sensible, given the (assumed) aim of the producers – to get people with disposable income to come to their showrooms?
| Now ask yourself this killer question: for my next presentation, who exactly is my target? And how can I hit them? |