The Game-Changing Power of Soapbox: Why You Should Always Create with Passion, Purpose, and Meaning — by Houston Howard

I admit, when you start the writing process, it’s easy to get lost in the plot, the character, the intertexutality between touchpoints, the structure and all the mechanics that go into a great story. This is especially true when you’re building a transmedia Super Story across a variety of different platforms. However, as you build the body of your story, your project or your brand, you can’t forget the heart.

The heart is something we, at One 3 Creative, call The Soapbox.

In the nineteenth century, people would plop down actual soapboxes so they could be elevated for a public speech. Generally, these speeches had to do with politics, but at the heart of it, the speeches were opinionated, passionate, agenda-driven, and rabble-rousing. People who used soapboxes were, predictably, called “soapboxers.” That’s the first step — using your Super Story as a soapbox and proudly accepting the label of a modern-day soapboxer. Your Super Story will become the platform where you shout what’s in your heart to the world. And if it’s authentic, people will listen.

Why not start by designing characters, strategizing what mediums to use, creating a setting or fleshing out your supercool original idea you sketched out last year but haven’t done anything with? It’s because your Soapbox gives your creative decisions purpose and allows your Super Story to connect with your audience on a greater level.

I’m not saying a story can’t be good without a strong message. I’m saying stories without strong thematic foundations are like sugar rushes — they get you excited for a bit, but can’t sustain you for a long period of time because they don’t have substance. Conversely, stories set on strong Soapboxes are more likely to endure and continue to resonate because even though the culture may change, universal themes tend to remain intact and continually connect with people across multiple generations.

The Audience Will React Differently

Ultimately, art that is born out of passion and purpose is always experienced differently than art that isn’t. When you read Hemingway, his words read different on the page. Every character Daniel Day Lewis plays feels different than characters played by other actors. You can hear a vocalist sing a song in tune and to a certain melody and it may sound nice, but then you hear another vocalist sing it and believe every word they’re singing and it sounds very different. It’s in the same key and it’s the same melody, but it sounds different to the ear because of the passion behind it.

The Greeks have a concept called “meraki,” which means “soul creativity or the essence of yourself that is put into your work.” It means to do something — making a cup of coffee, ironing, gardening, any task at all — with all your heart, with love, passion and your very soul. When you do, as they say, a piece of your soul goes with whatever you’re doing. So, the reason the song sounds different when the second vocalist sings it with all of her heart is because you’re not just hearing her voice. You’re also hearing a little piece of her soul. This is actually the very essence of soul music and soul food.

If you don’t believe in the purpose behind your project, you (and it) will end up fizzling out over time. As soon as you get three or four rejections, you’ll shelve the project and simply move on. There will be nothing to sustain you though the tough times and nothing to propel you further during the good times.

If building a Super Story is akin to building a car, then the Soapbox is the high octane, premium gasoline that makes the whole car go — and keep going down those long, dark stretches of road.

The coolness of plots fades over time, the initial ability of characters to relate will wane, and the wittiest line of dialogue in 2020 may be glazed over thirty years from now without even being noticed. But your theme, your message, those things you want to say to the world, your Soapbox — that’s what holds up through the years.

Ultimately, when you can inspire people to act, as opposed to just motivating them, you actually impart an innate sense of purpose and belonging, which is so much more valuable. As a result, your project is elevated from “cool” to “important.” This means you won’t simply begin building an audience or a fanbase, you also start cultivating a much more devoted following.

At the end of the day, regardless of the method used to drive the brand strategy, the question remains, “What does your brand stand for that matters to people and makes a difference?” Brands that lead markets, entertainment and otherwise, know the answer and build accordingly.

Authenticity Cuts Through in Today’s Instagram-Fake World

All over the world, humans are drowning in data and information. As information and our collective intelligence becomes more automated in the goo of the internet, human beings will value more of what can not be automated — meaning, emotion, imagination, connection and engagement. In today’s marketplace, all brands (entertainment and consumer) will live and die on the ability of their stories to deliver what is actually highly valued — authentic, visceral meaning.

If you create entertainment or an entertainment brand built on features, functions and benefits — great special effects, the hottest actor in Hollywood, a cutting edge gaming engine, a unique tone to your vocals or cool compression on your music — you may pop for a short while. However, in a volatile, over-saturated media environment, trust me when I say there will be something that will hit the market that will do it better. And when it does, the sole benefit of your project will bottom out and you’ll simply be traded in for the new model by the consumers.

This goes back to motivated consumers versus inspired ones. Motivated consumers, because they are responding to external incentives, will almost always fall away when those disincentives appear — the cost is too high, the theater is too far away, none of their friends are into it, etc. It’s not worth it to them because their connection is a superficial one. Devoted followers, however, are willing to pay more if needed, endure inconvenience if required, and even suffer a bit if they’re called to do so.

Why?

They’re following you not because you have the coolest project around, but because you believe what they believe and that always has value. You may think I’m getting too deep, but when what you create starts to serve as proof as to what you believe, you’ll start connecting to your audience in entirely new ways.

If you want to tell a superficial, sugar-rush story, you may grab some box office and get some sales, but if you want to tell a Super Story and build a larger, thriving brand, you need to figure out what your brand stands for and what your project says.

Combat Scope-Creep

Some creative professionals, from songwriters to authors to designers, refer to a destructive phenomenon called “scope creep.” This is when the scope of a project starts to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow until the whole project becomes messy, unfocused, awkward, and ultimately fragile. If you, as the content creator, haven’t created your project with a steely focus, how can you reasonably expect your audience to focus? In today’s entertainment-saturated culture, if you lose someone’s attention for five seconds, they’re off playing Angry Birds and you have as much of a chance of regaining them as fans as they have of beating the game with the boring red birds. Not likely.

How do you combat scope creep? You form borders to your Super Story. To make a sandbox, you don’t start by dumping a bunch of sand on the ground. You begin by building the four walls that contain it. Likewise, puzzle masters never start a puzzle by trying to figure out the middle. Puzzle masters worth their salt start on the edges; they begin to defining their borders.

Your Soapbox is what will form those borders for your project. It will define a very clear narrative space for you to sink your teeth into and allow you to carve out a more focused project by informing every single creative decision you make. A thematic foundation and border empower you to refuse anything that falls outside its scope. If something doesn’t reconcile with your Soapbox, it’s not allowed. If a creative decision starts to tear down your Soapbox, you ditch it.

This means any product, service, license, campaign or offering from the brand will need to support the Soapbox. Anything that doesn’t fully support that notion shouldn’t be endorsed, produced or communicated by the brand.

Trust me. Adhering to a strong Soapbox will help you from straying off the path. It’s like when you go hiking and every now and then you see a sign that says KEEP ON THE PATH. Some may say those signs are infringing on their hiking freedom. I say they’re helping them not be eaten by a mountain lion and they should thank the person who put the signs there in the first place.

Don’t Be Afraid to Plant Your Flag

When it comes to your Soapbox, be prepared that everyone may not agree — but that’s okay. It’s your job to convince them. Don’t withdraw your voice just because you don’t want to risk someone disagreeing. Don’t fall into the trap of playing it safe by sticking to a story that simply has a cool plot spread across some flavor-of-the-month, whiz-bang, razzle-dazzle technology.

Safe is good for sidewalks and swimming pools, but life is short. You’ve been put on the earth and given a unique voice for a reason. Take advantage of that privilege, add it to your creativity, get out of your comfort zone, and go do something with some meaning.

Now, go build your Soapbox.