The Marines posted their Marine Corps Safety First video to YouTube and X on Friday, September 1, 2017. The video featured a gruff sergeant major as a means to connect with the Marine-based audience, delivering a humorous reminder of how Marines should behave over the liberty period.
"Safety First" connects with the Marine Corps audience by speaking their language and using humor to create an engaging and relatable video. The video begins with Commanding General William F. Mullen III stating the purpose: to ensure the audience is prepared for the weekend. While the narration uses serious language, the video imagery employs comedy to hold viewers' attention as they watch gruff Sergeant Major Michael J. Hendges confiscate and replace commissary customers' items that could lead to an unsafe or unhealthy situation. He ends each encounter by placing a large jug of water on the checkout counter as Gen. Mullen reminds viewers, “Don’t forget to hydrate.”
Despite the message being clearly intended for Marines, no one featured at the checkout counter is in a Marine uniform. They are all wearing civilian clothing while Marines in uniform are visible in the background walking into the store. This speaks directly to the audience of Marines and their families while humanizing Marines to the public. The use of humor to connect with their audience makes clear why it received over 4 million views on YouTube.
Lesson Learned
Know your audience and what they engage with. Use a language and tone that resonates with your audience. That voice might be humorous, serious, informational or instructional. Figure out their language and use it to gain and maintain their attention.
Take advantage of video as a format to cover tricky subjects. Keep it short and sweet, but get creative.