Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal, put out an interesting article regarding marketing in the business world. The interesting thing about his article is that he's not talking about writing, but he might as well be. In "Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Weapon," the discussion centers around the human need for connections to myths and stories, and how a proper marketing strategy contains a story that people want to relate to.
How do stories work in the business world? Well, let's look at the E*Trade baby commercials, shall we?
These commercials are all about an infant who is excited to be using E*Trade to manage his stock portfolio. At first glance, it seems a little weird, but these are the lessons we learn from the commercials, and the reasons we remember the company, the brand, and the product. 1) E*Trade is so easy to use, even an infant can use it. 2) People connect over E*Trade and make decisions that will set them up for life. 3) Adults take the E*Trade baby seriously (getting advice from him) because he is the "smart one" of the group. 4) The commercials, and what happens to the E*Trade baby & his friends, are like mini-soap operas. Everyone is watching them to find out if E*Trade baby's girlfriend is cheating on him, or why Mom took away the cell phone.
Another example of storytelling: Back in the '90s, McDonalds had a series of commercials where kids were getting disguisted by the "grownup sandwiches" being introduced by the fast food chain. The idea behind the advertising campaign was to show that kids wanted to be kids and eat kids food, but McDonalds was introducting adult food that only adults would eat. The problem with this story telling mechanism is that it told everyone watching the commercials that the new sandwiches were gross, disgusting, and no one wanted to eat them. It's hardly a wonder the campaign failed (and many of the sandwiches disappeared off menus a few months later).
My SO likes to say "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story." This is true both in writing and in marketing. You want to establish a connection to your market that keeps you in the forefront of their minds. J.K. Rowling did it with her "wrote Harry Potter in a cafe" story. James Patterson did it with his "read this book or Alex Cross dies" commercials (and his appearances on ABC's Castle). Think about what you can do for yourself, how you can distinguish your products, your brand, and your business with a story.
Gottschall's article is an excellent read, one that I highly recommend to everyone, whether you are an author, a technogeek, or a business person. It's also very good advice to anyone looking to establish their brand.
