Thinking Outside the Elevator

July 3, 2015 by Mark Rovner

I am not a raging fan of “elevator pitches.” Somehow the very concept leads one to try to cram as many words into a single outbreath as humanly possible. Guaranteed not to inspire.

So I was especially excited to see this summary of alternate pitches by behavioral economics guru Daniel Pink.

The premise behind the elevator pitch is sound – in today’s ADD-addled world you have nanoseconds to get your audience’s attention. But Pink reminds us that if you are fundraising or marketing, you need to use that nanosecond to engage emotions, not to recite a bunch of bullet points.

Among his novel approaches:

  • The One-word Pitch
  •  The Question Pitch
  •  The Pixar Pitch
  •  The Rhyming Pitch
  •  The Twitter Pitch
  •  The Subject Line Pitch

Give the elevator a rest!