The Message, Not The Medium

Jeff Brooks channels Roy Williams.  Good to stay grounded:


Just remember, a new medium is not a magic bullet. As brilliantly riffed by Roy Williams in his MondayMorningMemo: The Media Is Not the Message, the real issue is what you say, not where you say it:


Relevance is what determines whether an ad works or not. Every medium fails when it delivers a message no one cares about.

He then enlarges on the importance of the message in something you should make part of your fundraising catechism:


  • Ads that fail in one medium would usually have failed in any other.
  • The medium is not the message.
  • The message is the message.
  • And the message is what matters most.

Yep, Marshall McLuhan was wrong.

There’s no way around it. You have to have a relevant message, or you’re sunk. Get that part right, and then you can start looking for media that take you forward.

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