In a recent Wall Street Journal article titled How to Avoid a Bonfire of the Humanities, a supposedly “tech-savvy, empirical, ferociously competitive” Silicon Valley high-tech entrepreneur said:
In order to become a more central component of business strategy the vernacular, thinking and application of communication needs to mature – from a content and media tool to a more versatile business instrument.
In 1999, I attempted to launch a content production venture called Transmedia Productions. Its vision was to develop and market narratives, which would span various media (yes even internet!). It also aimed to somehow engage audiences in “co”-telling the story.
Did you catch any of those AT&T ads during the Olympics in which a winning swimmer or runner time was actually in the spot like right after somebody won a race? It wasn’t that immediate (though I remember it so), but it was nevertheless an incredibly brilliant example of how the artifice and invention of marketers could produce stories that were as real as reality.
I know I’m a dim bulb, but being a liberal arts grad is both blessing and curse. It’s wonderful to see the world in terms of poetic metaphor and meaning. It’s also a distraction that can lead me to overestimate my own skills as a communicator, as well as misjudge anybody’s interest in hearing what I have to communicate.
Guy Kawasaki, at a Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture Series at Stamford, shares insights on why start-up businesses should tell a story and plant many seeds. I believe that any company (not just start-ups) interested in getting their products (or services) out there or wanting making a difference will find his few words of wisdom very useful. You will find this very applicable in a Design Thinking context as well. Enjoy!
Last week my post at Copyblogger, How to Write Weapons Grade Copy, focused on the power of stories to hold the attention of a customer. Here’s a heartwarming ad from the UK department store John Lewis that shows how even a rather long (1.5 minutes) ad can keep a viewer engaged:
Visual storytelling is nothing new. We only need to look to the earliest signs of humanity for proof—simple paintings on the walls of caves tell the story that people are a visual tribe.
According to Wikipedia, the stock phrase "Once upon a time..." has been in use in some form since at least the 14th century. And its prevalence is not just limited to the English language - the Wikipedia page lists variants in dozens of languages from around the world - as also the modern variants, "A long time ago..." and even "Not so long ago..."
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