Do Good Things

I recently received a link to the video embedded below this article. It’s a video by a group calling themselves “The Tank Bangers”. Since I’m not the type to just repost things that are sent to me, I took a look at the video and shared it amongst some divers and marketers I trust in order to get honest opinions.

Before I get into the analysis, this is the point of the video in a nutshell: raise awareness of the underwater world to drive donations to a variety of charities.

Regardless of delivery method, this is a cause I agree with completely. To make it easier for you, here are the groups they will be donating to:

I was already a recurring member/donator with a couple of these groups, but now either have memberships with the rest or made one time donations depending on what they allow. My preference is always ongoing donations, but some systems like Project Aware only allow for one time donations. My only personal exception was I didn’t give to Cancer Research UK but instead to the Knight Cancer Research Institute at Oregon Health Sciences University because it is local to me.

I also plan to buy the song as soon as it is available on iTunes (sorry, I’m an iOS guy).

I recommend making whatever contributions you can, be it money or time, to any or all of these organizations because I too feel they are doing exceptional work.

You’ve Been Waiting for the “But…”

Everyone I know in marketing and diving must be a bunch of nit-picky people, or else it’s just holiday/end of year stress getting to people. Amongst my sample audience, the video has not been well received.

The most common complaint is that it is far too long, which goes along with plenty of YouTube research that suggests videos should be under a minute while this one clocks in at 6:29.
Takeaway: Keep your videos short, people have short attention spans.

Several people said they’d be more than happy to donate, they just don’t want to sit through a long video of a song that doesn’t match their musical tastes, so they’re likely to entirely miss that this video is for a good cause.
Takeaway: If promoting something (an event, a charity, a class), set that expectation right at the beginning and allow your video to build on that idea. Use YouTube Annotations to make links easily accessible.

Dive instructors nit-picked over plenty of unsecured octopuses and a couple of instances where regs were out of the mouth and no bubbles were escaping.
Takeaway: Always do your best to follow best safe diving guidelines

My personal issue is the name “Tank Bangers” since I have a history of silently ~~cutting them off~~ removing them from tanks of those who abuse them.
Takeaway: Nick likes his music loud, but dives quiet.

Ignore All That

Just watch and share the video. It’s almost six and a half minutes of great underwater video and people doing something they’re passionate about. Buy the song (it should be available for all popular platforms soon), donate to The Tank Bangers for all of their hard work who will in turn distribute your donations. Or donate (money or time) to the groups you prefer using the links above.

As divers, we are ambassadors to the sea and unfortunately many of our land-based counterparts aren’t paying attention to what’s below the surface, so we need to lead the charge to take care of our oceans and spread awareness.

Thank you and great job The Tank Bangers.