December
13, 2011
It was 10 years
ago today. I have been telling stories
to the grandkids this week and it reminded me of something I spoke about 10
years ago at a conference in one of my favourite cities – Toronto. I thought it might be worthwhile giving it
another airing.
===
Last week I spoke to the nextMEDIA conference in the beautiful Carlu
Center in Toronto. I was asked to speak about creating Lovemarks in the digital
age. I showed how the power of stories is the most important element of digital
communications, no matter what you are told about search optimization, email
fulfillment, discount turnover, price transparency, screen resolution yada
yada; these are all technical details.
The more platforms we invent, the more stories we need. Stories are
critical to winning in the "Lifestream" we are in. When you're a
marketer with an annual sales target to hit, stories are your best friend for
connecting with consumers. Here's how:
Great stories are fast workers, outstripping our reason
and logic, with their compelling truth. In the Age of Now you have to get your
story across quick and clean.
Great stories touch us. They locate our inner
fears, hopes and dreams - vampires and werewolves included!
Great stories are contagious. The three things to ask
when judging creative work are:
a. Do I want to experience it again?
b. Do I want to share it?
c. Do I want to improve it?
Great stories bring people together for shared experiences. Sport is
an innovator. The 2012 London Olympics will bring the next wave of interactive
and collaborative television.
Great stories reframe the market. Lady Gaga reframed weird
as wonderful. Steve Jobs reframed presence into absence. Facebook and Twitter
have reframed Madison Avenue by literally moving into the street.
Great stories introduce us to great characters, people
we want to spend time with. And some you don't.
Great stories make us laugh. Humor is the short cut to
the heart.
Great stories create a bigger meaning. To do this you must have a
consistent equity across screens, across borders, across retail end-to-end.
Tactical promotions and micro-digital CRM plays have their place, but all too
often brand managers slip into off-message tactical promotions.
Great stories Surprise with the Obvious. They
make you think "Why didn't I think of that?" Apple's retail stores
are so obvious! The Start button of the Prius is so obvious. To develop a pen
that could write in space, NASA spent millions on advanced technology. The
Russians used a pencil.
Great stories are crafted. If you want your talent to
shine, give people Responsibility, Learning, Recognition, and Joy.
Great stories result from continuous practice. Like
ideas, you have to produce lots of small ones all of the time. This is
dedicated work, like Gladwell's 10,000 hours. Perfect practice. Big ideas are
scarce, strung out over time, investment hungry. Shelve the idea of writing the
'Great Canadian Novel.' Fail fast, learn fast, fix fast.
KR