I am afraid Jacey Eckhart has the wrong idea of why the Macho Spouse prefers video. When I first introduced her to my project to support male spouses and their families using video rather than written articles, stories and blogs, Jacey was excited.
“This is a great idea cuz men don’t read!”
What? Wait, that's not why I use online video. Truth be told, I've met a great number of intellectual male military spouses who hold advanced degrees and love to read. So has Jacey. What she meant was that industry standards indicate men don’t read self-help. If that is true, how do you get the best info about making a military family work to guys?
I say video is the way to go. I am a seasoned video producer with over 15 years of experience creating award-winning marketing and educational content. After our latest PCS, I decided to use my experience and skills in video production to create content that deals with the concerns of men.
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We need rich, deep, sophisticated content on topics as complex as marital communication problems, masculinity issues, societal expectations, fears of suicide, fears of a spouse being sexually assaulted, career planning, child care, financial planning, and basic military life information. Macho Spouse videos include insightful interviews and real-life stories from other male military spouses, military family research specialists, marriage counselors, and military spouse career experts.
The amount of time it would take to write and read such in-depth perspectives on these subjects is too great. There is no way I could hold an internet audience's attention for that long, especially young men and women. But with a fully-produced 5-10 minute video, I can deliver these same stories with just as much detail and information while keeping my viewers entertained.
The final reason I chose to use video is simple ... because it's cool! An online, interactive, educational video experience for male military spouses and their families just sounds more appealing than a book.
And this is where Jacey's statement that “men don't read self-help material” holds some truth, but it's not just men. Response to the Macho Spouse videos has been overwhelmingly positive by both men and women. Everyone seems to enjoy the uniqueness of an engaging video that allows them to decide what information is important while actually being able to see and hear the information in full context. I understand the written word also provides a similar capability, but without the “cool factor.” I invite you to see for yourself at MachoSpouse.com .
Jacey may have had it right from the beginning maybe men don't read self help. But I don't see it as a knock on our ability to understand and grasp the written word; I see it as a choice. Give me video every time.
Chris Pape is the founder of Macho Spouse and a multiple, national award-winning video producer with over 15 years of experience developing educational and marketing videos for public school systems, large corporations, small businesses and state governments. Chris is happily married to an active duty Air Force officer who is currently instructing ROTC at the University of South Carolina. When he is not dotingly taking care of his wife, Chris is busy developing his organization, Macho Spouse, an online resource and educational video series for male military spouses and their families.
