Sometimes the best way to talk about something is not talking about it… to talk all the way around it, and imply it, and thereby make it all the more central. That’s what Nike did in this ad (take a look, it’s just a minute long).

[youtube link=”http://youtu.be/_hEzW1WRFTg” width=”590″ height=”315″]

There are a few reasons Nike did this:

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First off, it’s cool. You get to fill in the blank yourself, and see the cleverness of never actually mentioning London, England or the Olympics.

Secondly, it’s because of the restrictions on advertising for the Olympics. Nike didn’t want to play along with these extensive restrictions, so they found a way to make an Olympics video without mentioning the Olympics.

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This can be done in our communication as well. Sometimes the best way to talk about something, to get it on the table, is to NOT say it. If you communicate in this way the “inside information” the listener gets from you makes you the master of your domain. It’s amazing how long this can go on. There are two variations.

One way to do this is to never speak what the subject is. This is the purest form, as the listener is in on the joke all the way through. The second is to not mention the subject till the end. This lets the cat out of the bag at the end, and enables the communicator to start getting more specific about the subject. The Prophet Amos bascially did that in the first few chapters of his book (and sermon). It’s a wonderful way to circle the mountain a few times before striking.

Have you communicated anything this way, or seen it done?

Find your greatness…