Story telling
On a different topic...this is the very first article that i have written. I'm kinda proud of it. I really relate to the topic and i'm glad i gave myself a chance to explore it. My only problem is that i think that some of the words are not mine entirely. They have been borrowed, as have the examples (not all though). I need a bit more experience, before i write something that i am really proud about i guess...
Any comments on the article and topic are welcome...
Looking at a glass bottle won’t really inspire you to imagine anything extraordinary about it. Now imagine how you would look at it if you knew that this bottle was discovered in the 2000 year old ruins of Pompeii.
This is the power of a story. The ability to make the mundane and ordinary in our lives ‘extra’ ordinary. Imagine this same power if unleashed in our brand building efforts.
A story cannot be confined to the narratives or drama’s that we have been hearing since our childhood. Stories are fundamental to our day to day social conversations; think how we delight in a yarn well spun, a joke or a snippet of gossip.
Stories manifest themselves in every facet of our lives, from the interactive Video Games, Reality TV shows to compelling TV commercials. In fact stories form the fabric of our very existence. “The universe is made of stories, not atoms" said poet Murial Rukeyser, referring to the power of the narrative. Their power lies in the fact that it pulls us into a world in which we might place ourselves, both literally and imaginatively. A world where we can be anyone we want to be. A world in which we write our own script. So our reality or life really exists in the ‘story space’ that we create for ourselves. Our childhood was filled with games where we pretend to be Superman or Indiana Jones. Even though the characters have changed, we are still pretending to play a role in our story.
Stories become a parody of life, which we use to share our experiences, mistakes &learning’s to a wider audience without fear. Universal themes such as the nature of strength and weakness, of success and failure and ultimately the meaning we place on life and death can be safely broached, and the range of emotions from laughter, through sadness and fear safely experienced.
The American Way of Life is a powerful story, which includes everything from principles like freedom and the pursuit of happiness, to stories of cowboys and rags-to-riches heroes, to metaphors like the melting pot and the safety net, to images like the Statue of Liberty and the flag. It is communicated by movies, men in business suits, advertisements, college catalogues, and mall displays -- among many, many other things. It takes immense effort to resist or change it. Anyone or anything which doesn't live within this ocean of a story and move with its currents doesn't seem quite American.
The marketing implication
Thinking of brands as a story moves us beyond using mere adjectives to define them. We could use rich words such as iconoclastic, crusading, rebellious and charismatic. However I could say ‘Robin Hood’ and we would immediately picture the archetypal hero, attaching those same values of champion for the underdog, to the brand. Stories manage to capture our inner most emotions cutting across all boundaries such as age, gender country reflecting our inner most tensions, anxieties, excitement and joy as Harry Potter does for example.
Rolph Jensen, the man who predicted the evolution of the current information society to the ‘dream society’ illustrates the power of a story through the example of a wrist watch. “What is the difference between a cheap watch and highly priced one? Both tell the correct time. The answer is that a watch is no longer a watch; it also bespeaks a lifestyle. We are not paying for a devise to tell us the time, but we are paying for the story – the story about who we are, how we tell this to ourselves and to the other people around us”. This is borne out in Seiko's recent advertising campaign with the endline 'It's your watch that says most about who you are'.
Suddenly advertising seems to be less about selling and more about vivid story telling. Our biggest challenge then would seem to be finding a way to make our product play a part in the story space of our consumers.
With the bombardment of so many messages, choices and products, consumers are looking for something fresh. They now want brand stories that allow them freedom to imagine and interact, that 'connect' with them socially as well as emotionally.
The story gives a company a competitive edge. Allowing the differentiation of 2 companies in the same category to appear as The Masculine man (Thumb Up) and the Regular Guy (Coke). We buy into the story of the brand and the opportunity to become part of that story. So, we buy Nike sports shoes, but not just because they offer a performance benefit. We are also buying a story rooted in the history of sporting endeavour, and a chance to join the gods of sporting prowess. Similarly, Harley–Davidson doesn't just sell motorbikes, but the story of you as a Hell's Angel on the wide, open roads of America … even if you live somewhere completely different.
Ex: Selfridge’s Executive Director, V. Radice described his store as a 'theatre' to entertain his customers. He has invited famous celebrities and performing artists to that end. His store is described as a place where visitors can acquire a rich emotional experience, and where the product takes on its 'true' role as something that is purchased because it is the manifestation of an emotion.
So we need to be working hard to tap into the collective imagination, to sell not merely products, but ideas, aspirations and experiences that allow our 'creative collaborators' (formerly 'consumers') to express their individuality, and to evolve, create and refine dreams they feel to be their own.
We are moving towards a new era where it won't be the latest technology or newest product, but the story behind the product that will provide the competitive edge. Consumers will pay for the story that sparks the imagination, that reflects how they see themselves and how they want others to see them; and that provides emotional wealth when material wealth is increasingly commonplace. What this means is that not only do we have to continue to create ideas that inspire enduring belief, we have create vivid stories around them to help reach the hearts of our consumers.
Advertising Cases for further reference
MINI
The Mini is a case in point for a promotion based on the power of a story. It’s all about the story around the Mini Adventure. Where the car is portrayed as the symbol of independence and individuality.
The campaign talks to the child in the adult, and invites one to be included in a fun and adventurous world, where online and telephone encounters feel more like 'play' than being sold to. A pre-delivery 3D postcard lets you know that your car is just being polished and will be with you on a certain date, whereon you open the owners manual (more like a photo album of funky pictures of the Mini in various locations and poses) and actually find yourself reading it and smiling:
'So you did it. You went for it, tickled your fancy, took the plunge… Yes, you and your new mini are together at last. And now that you are together, it's time for the real fun to begin …You and your MINI.
Live happily ever after. The End.
Guinness
The Guinness advertising evokes an epic atmosphere to arouse our imagination and bombard us with symbolic tidal waves, mythical horses or raw and primal archetypes of masculinity. Their 'story' is not in any sense predictable because it is not speaking to the conscious mind. One is not 'told' what to think, or feel or how to respond, but rather experiences a connection and responds automatically.
The storyteller allows us to explore 'what is' or what 'might be' in the safe but fertile realms of our own imagination.
References:
Once upon a time, there was a brand: Lucia Rolli and Fiona Jack
You can keep your dream. I want to live in the real world: Market Research Society Conference 2005
Any comments on the article and topic are welcome...
Looking at a glass bottle won’t really inspire you to imagine anything extraordinary about it. Now imagine how you would look at it if you knew that this bottle was discovered in the 2000 year old ruins of Pompeii.
This is the power of a story. The ability to make the mundane and ordinary in our lives ‘extra’ ordinary. Imagine this same power if unleashed in our brand building efforts.
A story cannot be confined to the narratives or drama’s that we have been hearing since our childhood. Stories are fundamental to our day to day social conversations; think how we delight in a yarn well spun, a joke or a snippet of gossip.
Stories manifest themselves in every facet of our lives, from the interactive Video Games, Reality TV shows to compelling TV commercials. In fact stories form the fabric of our very existence. “The universe is made of stories, not atoms" said poet Murial Rukeyser, referring to the power of the narrative. Their power lies in the fact that it pulls us into a world in which we might place ourselves, both literally and imaginatively. A world where we can be anyone we want to be. A world in which we write our own script. So our reality or life really exists in the ‘story space’ that we create for ourselves. Our childhood was filled with games where we pretend to be Superman or Indiana Jones. Even though the characters have changed, we are still pretending to play a role in our story.
Stories become a parody of life, which we use to share our experiences, mistakes &learning’s to a wider audience without fear. Universal themes such as the nature of strength and weakness, of success and failure and ultimately the meaning we place on life and death can be safely broached, and the range of emotions from laughter, through sadness and fear safely experienced.
The American Way of Life is a powerful story, which includes everything from principles like freedom and the pursuit of happiness, to stories of cowboys and rags-to-riches heroes, to metaphors like the melting pot and the safety net, to images like the Statue of Liberty and the flag. It is communicated by movies, men in business suits, advertisements, college catalogues, and mall displays -- among many, many other things. It takes immense effort to resist or change it. Anyone or anything which doesn't live within this ocean of a story and move with its currents doesn't seem quite American.
The marketing implication
Thinking of brands as a story moves us beyond using mere adjectives to define them. We could use rich words such as iconoclastic, crusading, rebellious and charismatic. However I could say ‘Robin Hood’ and we would immediately picture the archetypal hero, attaching those same values of champion for the underdog, to the brand. Stories manage to capture our inner most emotions cutting across all boundaries such as age, gender country reflecting our inner most tensions, anxieties, excitement and joy as Harry Potter does for example.
Rolph Jensen, the man who predicted the evolution of the current information society to the ‘dream society’ illustrates the power of a story through the example of a wrist watch. “What is the difference between a cheap watch and highly priced one? Both tell the correct time. The answer is that a watch is no longer a watch; it also bespeaks a lifestyle. We are not paying for a devise to tell us the time, but we are paying for the story – the story about who we are, how we tell this to ourselves and to the other people around us”. This is borne out in Seiko's recent advertising campaign with the endline 'It's your watch that says most about who you are'.
Suddenly advertising seems to be less about selling and more about vivid story telling. Our biggest challenge then would seem to be finding a way to make our product play a part in the story space of our consumers.
With the bombardment of so many messages, choices and products, consumers are looking for something fresh. They now want brand stories that allow them freedom to imagine and interact, that 'connect' with them socially as well as emotionally.
The story gives a company a competitive edge. Allowing the differentiation of 2 companies in the same category to appear as The Masculine man (Thumb Up) and the Regular Guy (Coke). We buy into the story of the brand and the opportunity to become part of that story. So, we buy Nike sports shoes, but not just because they offer a performance benefit. We are also buying a story rooted in the history of sporting endeavour, and a chance to join the gods of sporting prowess. Similarly, Harley–Davidson doesn't just sell motorbikes, but the story of you as a Hell's Angel on the wide, open roads of America … even if you live somewhere completely different.
Ex: Selfridge’s Executive Director, V. Radice described his store as a 'theatre' to entertain his customers. He has invited famous celebrities and performing artists to that end. His store is described as a place where visitors can acquire a rich emotional experience, and where the product takes on its 'true' role as something that is purchased because it is the manifestation of an emotion.
So we need to be working hard to tap into the collective imagination, to sell not merely products, but ideas, aspirations and experiences that allow our 'creative collaborators' (formerly 'consumers') to express their individuality, and to evolve, create and refine dreams they feel to be their own.
We are moving towards a new era where it won't be the latest technology or newest product, but the story behind the product that will provide the competitive edge. Consumers will pay for the story that sparks the imagination, that reflects how they see themselves and how they want others to see them; and that provides emotional wealth when material wealth is increasingly commonplace. What this means is that not only do we have to continue to create ideas that inspire enduring belief, we have create vivid stories around them to help reach the hearts of our consumers.
Advertising Cases for further reference
MINI
The Mini is a case in point for a promotion based on the power of a story. It’s all about the story around the Mini Adventure. Where the car is portrayed as the symbol of independence and individuality.
The campaign talks to the child in the adult, and invites one to be included in a fun and adventurous world, where online and telephone encounters feel more like 'play' than being sold to. A pre-delivery 3D postcard lets you know that your car is just being polished and will be with you on a certain date, whereon you open the owners manual (more like a photo album of funky pictures of the Mini in various locations and poses) and actually find yourself reading it and smiling:
'So you did it. You went for it, tickled your fancy, took the plunge… Yes, you and your new mini are together at last. And now that you are together, it's time for the real fun to begin …You and your MINI.
Live happily ever after. The End.
Guinness
The Guinness advertising evokes an epic atmosphere to arouse our imagination and bombard us with symbolic tidal waves, mythical horses or raw and primal archetypes of masculinity. Their 'story' is not in any sense predictable because it is not speaking to the conscious mind. One is not 'told' what to think, or feel or how to respond, but rather experiences a connection and responds automatically.
The storyteller allows us to explore 'what is' or what 'might be' in the safe but fertile realms of our own imagination.
References:
Once upon a time, there was a brand: Lucia Rolli and Fiona Jack
You can keep your dream. I want to live in the real world: Market Research Society Conference 2005
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