Radio and TV lend themselves to powerful, sometimes often emotional storytelling.
A Hallmark commercial makes you cry. A Bud Light advertisement makes you laugh. But, when’s the last time you were moved by a website?
To the consumer, the website is too often just a place to get information. A collection of headers and tabs getting us from Point A to Point B. To those of us on this side of the business, it’s fonts and colors and graphics and AVI and HTTP and PNG and VRML and, well, OMG!
As the new “broadcast” guy on the block in this extremely web-centric group of people here at The Ohlmann Group, I’m amazed at all the deep thought and high-level discussions that go into building a website.
And, I’m even more amazed that all that cold tech-talk can lead to a completed project as warm and moving as the City of Dayton’s brand new “Welcome Dayton” website, positioning our hometown as an “Immigrant Friendly City,” and laying out a virtual “welcome mat” for our city.
Real people tell real stories about their immigrant experience in Dayton. A young man who fled Castro’s Cuba to become one of the area’s most respected business leaders. A South African woman who was exiled for fighting apartheid. An Algerian family whose ticket to a new life here started with a nationwide lottery ticket 5000 miles away.
It just makes you feel good.
And that’s a refreshing reminder to all of us what a website can do.
You may not be selling something as noble and inspiring as The American Dream. You may be selling refrigerators or shoes or nuts and bolts. But we know you still have a story. And people like a good story.
Enjoy some uplifting stories, and feel good for a while at www.welcomedayton.org.
