Last Sunday I visited the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. What a great place - and not just from a communications point of view either. I spent hours wandering around HMS Victory, thinking that no matter how bad things get in agency life, at least I'm not likely to end up on the orlop deck getting bits hacked off by a bloke with dirty hands in an unwashed coat, stiffened with dried blood. I visited the Nelson Museum and learned that Nelson used to invite his officers round for supper to get them to understand his strategy (a lesson there, I think). And I visited the Submarine Museum in Gosport too - which has to be one of the least slick and, as a consequence, best, most alive museums I've ever visited. Go and see it - it's well worth the trip.
The notice you see above captivated me though. It was just inside the Royal Navy Museum. Most places - being staffed by people who aren't creative because they've never been told that EVERY job is creative - sling up the standard dull little notice "uneven floor". Not the Historic Dockyard. They found a way to use creativity to make a potentially dull notice interesting, educational and engaging. It made my day - just to see some creative thinking in action, not being strangled by some pointy-headed pen-pusher and there, on display, for everyone to see.
Imagine if your bank started doing this... and using your statement to explain a bit about personal finance in a non-preachy, non-pompous way. Imagine if the letter from the garage telling you your car is due a service was a bit more creative and offered you a choice of vehicles to test-drive while yours was on the ramp? How about if the restaurant you visited used the bill to give you a neat cooking tip or a recipe or a wine to match with food?
There are SO many opportunities to take the dull, the everyday, the boring communications and make them interesting.
Go on - dare you.
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