Do your ideas have character?

My love of words started with letters. More specifically, letter people. 

Do The Letter People ring a bell? If not, I’d like to tell you about a magical time in ’70s education when there were inflatable “letter people” that bell-bottomed kids could wrestle with, share a seat with at the tiny lunch table or arrange into words. 

Every communication comes from characters. 

The Letter People was a gloriously simple concept. Each letter of the alphabet was represented by a different fictitious character, and each character had a unique personality to help kids associate with and learn that letter. In addition to the inflatable characters that were offered to schools, there was also a television series that ran on PBS. 

If you’ve never met Miss A, please allow me to introduce you to her musical stylings about sneezes: 

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at that concept meeting. 

I can almost hear the conversations that must have gone down — probably in a conference room full of Marlboro smokers in chukka boots. 

Some stuffy guy in a wash-and-wear suit challenges the hippie creatives with “OK, folks. We’re here to brainstorm how we can get kids to better engage in the elementary learning environment, specifically in learning the alphabet. But before we begin our regimented brainstorming process [which involves a creative-inspiring easel and large sheets of paper with colored markers], does anyone have any ideas?” 

We’re here to brainstorm how we can get kids to better engage in the elementary learning environment, specifically in learning the alphabet. 

One groovy chick with bright blue eye shadow jokes, “Just put the letters on those inflatable punching bags that kids love to hit.” 

There’s an uncomfortable silence from those at the director level. 

Murmurs of side conversations ensue as various executives extinguish their cigarettes in a show of collective focus. 

Light bulb goes on. Candor changes. Et cetera, et cetera. 

Oh, the characters in communications. 

I’ve been producing various marketing and training pieces for roughly 20 years. Aside from Rosetta Stone, I have yet to discover a learning tool as engaging or effective as The Letter People. 

I wonder how many people who played with The Letter People as kids caught the communications bug, one tiny character at a time, and ended up going into a related career. It would be impossible to measure. Regardless, it’s an impactful idea. 

UPDATE: I recently connected with the company that created The Letter People! (Which, for a writer who was born in the '70s, is akin to meeting a rock star.) Abrams Learning Trends is still producing stuff that kids dig. Check 'em out.  

What’s the simplest, craziest idea you’ve heard that ended up getting the green light? What was the impact or result? 

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Jeff Thomas is a professional creative in Orlando, Florida. He’s been a writer ever since he started writing.