Like many of you I also dislike the multitude of ads which display before watching any video on the internet. It seems with each passing day the frequency and duration of these ads grows. (I still fondly recollect the old days when ads were served infrequently and not before every video...) In some cases I simply choose to close the browser tab and find a different resource than subject myself to another 30 second advertisement.

And for those times when I am committed to watching the video I have become trained to hover my cursor over the bottom right corner of the video window while I await the interminably slow 5 second countdown before the "Skip this ad" button is displayed. This was the position I was in recently as an advertisement began to play. I can't explain whether it was the graphics, the voice-over, or the subject material but I found myself frozen, transfixed, my mouse pointer hovering over the now available Skip button...watching the ad. Not clicking away, not skipping the remaining advertisement.

As you might surmise this is a rare occurrence and when the video finally ended and my original video began to play I found myself not thinking about the purpose of my original search but rather thinking about the advertisement. I did a quick video search again, only this time – for the advertisement. I watched it again. And then a third time. This was a compelling and captivating message.

When someone asked me what it meant to start with "why" I have previously told them the importance was in knowing your why. Recently I shared the true importance was found not in knowing your why but in sharing your why. The art of storytelling is the true hero. Here, caught in a short advertisement, was a perfect example of this storytelling. As I watched this video I found myself resonating with the sentiment expressed. I was drawn into the problem shared and found myself nodding in agreement with the severity of the problem.

I won't get into the Art of Storytelling here. It's a much longer and more in-depth thought which I've been working on for a while. I want it to express my feelings succinctly and completely before I share it with you. That short thought series is coming soon. Many of the common story motifs are found in this short video (main character, problem statement, denouement,  and others).  The company behind the ad has done a masterful job of sharing their why. They told me a story.

If you've been curious about what I mean when I talk about sharing your why and the power of storytelling then this video I trust will explain things better for you. By now I hope you're at least a little curious about this story I watched and I am eager to share it with you. Watch the following and see if you also agree this is a compelling story.