Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Okay, the words “Clooney” and “paparazzi” in this headline may seem to go together. But…genocide? Yet if you do what I do, and search online for old media stories, you’d discover an amazing insight on how to make our speeches more “sticky.” This insight came from a Newsweek cover story on George Clooney (“A 21st Century Statesman”).
Here’s the backstory. Starting in the mid 2000s, George has been investing his celebrity power in compelling public and political attention to the plight of Sudan. This is the same country that experienced the genocide of 400,000 people in Darfur. Warring rebels, militias, and government forces have continuously wreaked human carnage along the border of Sudan. But here’s the thing. Those same factions are wary of world scrutiny. Enter George Clooney. Or more specifically, George Clooney’s satellite.
The deal is this: privately funded and publicly accessible satellite imagery (The Copernicus Programme Sentinel Satellites) are continuously focused on Sudan’s border to search for troop movements, bombed or razed villages, or any other visual evidence of impending violence to civilians. In essence, that’s the descriptive but rather clunky and unmemorable pitch you read on the Copernicus Programme website. In stark contrast…when talking about “his” satellite, George gets the messaging job done in six memorable words.
“I’m like the anti-genocide paparazzi.”
Boom. Working humor and genocide into the same sentence is rather impressive. This is an example of one of my Sticky Speaking techniques I call “Verbally Viral.” What that means is that an audience member can hear your key message once, in a sticky single sentence, so it can be repeated instantly and identically to someone else. Hence, it goes verbally viral at the conference you’re speaking at. Your line becomes the callback everyone knows and says.
Let’s break this down. The Copernicus Programme Sentinel Satellites aren’t just a technology solution. They’re a strategy of focusing attention on those who absolutely do NOT want attention. That fact provides a bold emotional component to this message that can’t be realized with boring terms like “satellite imagery.”
Contrast that with George’s simile. The sticky magic appears with the use of the word paparazzi. It simultaneously communicates both the content and emotion of intrusive documentation. Just like in George’s life or the Kardashians’ (yes, they’re still click bait), the cameras are in the subject’s face … and are inescapable.
Yet the interesting twist in this case is that we have no sympathy at all for the subject (that would be the government forces and militias … not the Kardashians). In fact, we now value the paparazzi. What’s normally a negative is transformed into a positive. Plus, since George is normally stalked by paparazzi, we also appreciate the irony of it all.
I don’t yet have confirmation from Mr. Clooney that he’s used this “I’m like the anti-genocide paparazzi” line at every fundraising event he’s ever done for the Copernicus Programme Sentinel Satellites. But I’m pretty sure that’s true. (NOTE: I DM’d George, but haven’t heard back.)
When it comes to being sticky, no matter what other examples or stories George may say or share, THIS is the takeaway line people remember. Its stickiness allows them to answer the key question:
- “What is George Clooney’s charitable project all about?”
- “Being an anti-genocide paparazzi.”
That, fellow NSAers, is how you go verbally viral. In your next speech, what sticky line are YOU saying?
Brian Walter, CSP, CPAE, Cavett is President of Extreme Meetings® and Sticky Training™