As the CEO of Purplefeather, the past year has been a blast! We watched in awe as ‘The Power of Words’ video circled the globe with its message, inspiring millions of hearts to connect and recognise that we can make a difference.
Exactly one year ago, I came back from a short break in Germany to find that the video had climbed from a couple of hundred views on YouTube to over a million in just one weekend. And just to prove that it wasn’t a statistical error, there were 3,500 emails in my inbox on the Monday morning from people all over the world who wanted to congratulate and/or work with Purplefeather. Wonderful, surreal and terrifying all at the same time. Particularly as there were only two of us in the business at the time!
Since then we’ve received over 10,000 emails and the video has been seen by over 13.5 million people. We affectionately call it our 24-hour salesperson. It played a part in the Arab Spring and it was even picked up by Canadian politicians who were keen to align themselves with its message. One of my most treasured emails tells of the hope and inspiration it gave to soldiers in Libya.
The Power of Words won an award from the North Atlantic Film Council of America and was shortlisted for the inaugural Lovie Awards alongside contenders such as U2 and The Huffington Post. We were recently invited to apply for a Webby Award, and are still awaiting the results.
The video has been shown in schools, churches and training organisations around the world. The CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi in Brussels featured it as one of his favourite ads in his book about advertising and a comic book was created about the video by prisoners in New York.
We have been asked to spearhead several campaigns – a world peace movement, international students’ rights campaign and Canadian cultural festival. We have been approached by businesses large and small, from a monumental aerospace company in Florida to a man making doormats from lobster trap rope. My favourite emails came from children who’d seen it at school, and people who’d been caused to think differently about the words they use.
Wow – we’re still trying to catch our breath!
But perhaps the most heart-warming consequence of the video’s success from my own perspective has been the commissioning of my book ‘Change Your Words, Change Your World’ by Hay House which was published in the UK today – a dream come true. You can get hold of your copy and read the full incredible story on Amazon.
Published by Hay House 2nd April 2012
I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who’s supported us with their encouraging messages, and would be honoured if you would share the book with your friends and write a review if you have time.
We really do have the power to change our world!
