Dear smellavia-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. I?m taking a different approach here and I?m going to offer
you some unbiased layman suggestions rather than techno-babble from
some marketing white paper because I think your argument should relate
to the basic principles rather than graphs, statistics and
pseudo-scientific drivel. Here goes?
Cartoon characters are ambiguous, unimposing and present little
possibility of immediate preconceived notions. They can be made to
convey a neutral race, culture, gender, social background, intellect,
and accent whereas a ?live? actor may only capture the attention of
those who relate to him or her (or potentially turn off those who
cannot identify with him or her).
Cartoon characters suggest fun and entertainment and can put your
viewers at ease rather than putting them to sleep. They are no
threatening and easy to digest.
By using cartoon characters your visual options are endless.
Composition, anatomy or perspective is limited only to your
imagination. They can fly, stretch their heads out of shape, explode
into pieces or whatever you want them to do in an effort to grab your
audience?s attention. With a live action actor, well, you only get
that one explosion you know and then?you?ve got to hire another actor.
Cartoon characters may be more cost effective than live action
performers, especially in view of the fact that you already have the
means to create animation at your disposal.
There?s a child in all of us. Whether people admit it or not animated
characters are colorful, fun, interesting, and unpredictable and most
people love that.
If done well, cartoon characters can be funny and interesting no
matter what they say or do (non-verbal humor). Unless you plan to hire
Jim Carrey or Robin Williams your live action performers will only be
funny and interesting if they say or do something funny or
interesting.
If you?ve read them you know that Wall Street Journal, Barron's,
Forbes, Harvard Business Review) use cartoons, more than just about
any other magazine genre. Why? Because they reinforce serious issues
and they also provide a measure of relief from them.
Cartoon characters stick in people?s minds. If they drift off they?ll
soon forget what your actor said or did but they might retain a mental
image of your character for a long time to come. How many people do
you know who hang their training notes on the wall of their office or
stick it to their monitor with a piece of tape? None, I bet. Now, how
many people do you know who hang a favorite cartoon on the wall of
their office or have one stuck on their monitor? See what I mean?
A cartoon character offers an opportunity to endlessly modify or
resurrect your training topic in a variety of ways. With a live actor
you will have the finished product when the training presentation is
done. That?s it ? there won?t be anything else. With a cartoon
character you can continue to send out reminders, updated training
material, additional humor related to your issues, or additional
future presentations and keep him alive and at your immediate disposal
if you ever need him to ?do? anything else in the future. Your
trainees can be given handouts and ?gifts? (pens, sticky notes, key
chains, notepads, caps, t-shirts or anything that can be inexpensively
printed) with the likeness of the lead character as a token of
attendance as well as a clever reminder of what they were taught. My
personal experience is that training seminars where gifts were given
are much more memorable (and thereby effective) than those that did
not. This bonus use of your cartoon character can go a long way toward
keeping your message fresh in their minds for some times afterward.
Sound is a very important sense. There are hundreds (if not thousands)
of intriguing sounds that can be used with animations that are just
not appropriate with live action characters. Along that same line is
the supplemental animation and visual effects that a cartoon character
provides that a live action performer cannot pull off with an equal
level of believability. For example: animated lightning from a
character?s fingertips or a wand that indicates magic or special
power, thought balloons that appear above a characters head to convey
something that can only be surmised (and perhaps missed) with live
action performers.
You can use a cartoon characters to catch your audience off guard.
Have them do something memorable and unusual. For example: at the end
of your presentation leave your audience with a good belly laugh by
having your cartoon characters perform some ?outtakes? of your
presentation. This was extremely funny in movies like ?Monsters, Inc?
and ?Shrek?. Why did the directors do that? Because people weren?t
expecting it ? it caught them off guard. Leaving the theater people
may not have remembered everything they saw in those movies but
everyone who saw them remembered those outtakes and even talked about
them because it was something that was not expected. Sure, your live
performers could do outtakes too but who cares about an unknown actor
missing his lines or tripping over something? The fact is, it?s
exponentially more hilarious when a cartoon character does it because,
well, it?s just dumb isn?t it? ?and dumb is funny, no matter who you
are.
Like I said, it?s no white paper of course, just facts and intelligent
arguments as I see them. I didn't think you needed a scientist to help
you make your point - what you needed was someone who's from the other
end - a frequent trainee who knows what works and what bores me to
tears. Frankly I?d make these same suggestions on my own behalf if I
were in your position and personally, I think I?d win this argument in
just a few minutes. My guess is that your client will have a new
cartoon character on the payroll in the next few days - and he'll
smile about it.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher |
