74 THE POWER OF VISUAL STORYTELLING Your videos don’t have to be limited to what you produce as a brand. You can let customers tell their own stories for a rich tapestry of real- life ways in which your brand has made a difference in their lives. Target recently created a commercial from home videos of real students opening their college acceptance letters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyD XdHVw-yM). The use of real people telling real stories in a powerful, visual medium meant that the campaign resonated with people all over the country. The campaign enabled a megacompany—Target—to build a personal relationship with its customers through visual storytelling. Video can take the form of a conversation between brands and their customers. When consumers create a video (either to highlight your prod- uct or criticize it), it is a perfect opportunity to engage in the conversation and either thank them or turn them around or highlight some of the best features of your product. In either case, your quick response might attract more traffic and cre- ate more conversations than the original video itself, as well as offer you an opportunity for creating yet another advocate. But you have to be agile and open to being creative and innovative in the way you provide your response. Much more on that in Chapter 5. One great example would be Tiger Woods’s video game. When a cus- tomer found a glitch in the game in which Tiger walks on water, he posted the video on YouTube describing the glitch and saying that no matter how good Tiger is, he can’t walk on water. Tiger responded by posting a video in which the golf ball lands on a lily pad in the middle of the lake . . . and Tiger walks out on water, swings, takes the shot, and lands it right in the hole. The message read: “It’s not a glitch. He’s just that good.” It’s worth a watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1st1Vw2kY. The video has had over 6 million views. Absolutely brilliant marketing! Agile and inno- vative responses connect with the customers on an emotional level. Just before Christmas 2012, Ekaterina had her own encounter with the “wow” experience when her casual tweet to REI, “What is the best gift suggestion you have this year?” was answered through a video. Not only was the video custom made for Ekaterina, it was made within 30 minutes.