Why Flight Safety Cards Might Hold the Secret to Better Storytelling
It hit me at 8,000 metres above sea level. Somewhere over the Tasman, I pulled out the safety card—I always do, partly out of superstition, partly because I’m obsessed with how brands distill information when clarity is life or death.
Look at a flight safety card. It has no room for fluff. No indulgent metaphors. Yet it tells a story—a clear one—with stakes, action, and resolution. There's a narrative arc in twelve pictures and a diagram of a life vest. It made me wonder, why does so much branded storytelling still waffle like it’s being paid by the word? In a world drowning in content, more brands should design like they only have 15 seconds and a captive, mildly terrified audience.
Here’s where it gets spicy. Airlines update these cards constantly. A 2023 version might remove a hat on a character in row 12B because headwear could obstruct visual recognition. That level of detail, that care, is what content marketers vaguely gesture at when they say ‘clarity is king’. I’m not saying we create ads like we’re prepping for takeoff, but I’m also kind of saying exactly that.
The next time you sit down to write a social caption or script a new reel, ask yourself: could this explain an exit-row strategy mid-turbulence? If not, simplify it, visualise it, distill it. Somewhere between a flight card and a storyboard lives the future of storytelling for brands that value attention like oxygen.
Look at a flight safety card. It has no room for fluff. No indulgent metaphors. Yet it tells a story—a clear one—with stakes, action, and resolution. There's a narrative arc in twelve pictures and a diagram of a life vest. It made me wonder, why does so much branded storytelling still waffle like it’s being paid by the word? In a world drowning in content, more brands should design like they only have 15 seconds and a captive, mildly terrified audience.
Here’s where it gets spicy. Airlines update these cards constantly. A 2023 version might remove a hat on a character in row 12B because headwear could obstruct visual recognition. That level of detail, that care, is what content marketers vaguely gesture at when they say ‘clarity is king’. I’m not saying we create ads like we’re prepping for takeoff, but I’m also kind of saying exactly that.
The next time you sit down to write a social caption or script a new reel, ask yourself: could this explain an exit-row strategy mid-turbulence? If not, simplify it, visualise it, distill it. Somewhere between a flight card and a storyboard lives the future of storytelling for brands that value attention like oxygen.