Monthly Archives: June 2010

Learn The Art of Storytelling And Build Your Brand’s Mythology

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Storytelling is an compelling method to build brand mythology according to the CMO of Newsforce Dana Todd.  Consultant, speaker and author Tom Peters agrees citing Rolf Jensen that, “companies will thrive on the basis of their stories and myths.  Companies will need to understand that their products are less important than their stories.”

There are 5 elements of storytelling that you must consider when crafting your branded content strategy.

1. Audience

You must know your audience, deeply.  Drill down and look to see what connects them.  Understand what drives them, what they do for fun.  Understand them as human beings.  Use shared collective experiences and create emotional connections.  Also consider their environment.

2. Plot

There are commonly used master plots that are very popular and resonate with the most people.  Make choice of plot relevant to your audience and marry the central plot to your value proposition.  Sex sells and can get you immediate attention but it doesn’t build a brand promise.  Avoid complex plots, keep it simple.

3. Narrative Structure

Plan to express your plot repeatedly in different ways – creatively – through the use of multiple narratives specific to the environment.  Don’t clutter your narrative with too much detail… stick to the core.  Remember that repetition & exaggeration have always been basic elements of storytelling.

4. Characters

Your characters tell your stories for you.  Answer this question: “If your brand had a face and a personality, how would it act?”  You’ll have a much larger sense of your brand narrrative by doing this exercise.

Understand that the character can be the bad guy like the Lamosil toe fungus monster.  Disgusting, but it works.  The character might exemplify the brand attributes, the personification of your brand image.  Characters can be objects, or invisible.

Ask: “What is the perfect way to personify what we do for our customers?”

5. Tone

Tone is the layer that ties everything together.  Define the tone early and stick with it.  The right tone connects at a human level, not just as a smart thing to do.

How to Develop the Campaign

Define the budget and success metrics upfront, then do the business case.

Identify who the ideal customer is, and what you want them to feel that will compel them to give you money.

Don’t Scrimp on This Process! – 20 hours of interviews, qualitative research.  If you interview 20 people, you will start to see patterns.  Get inside their heads, really understanding customers as people will help you to find stories to connect with them as people.

Simplify, simplify, simplify!  Pare ideas down to a single word if posssible – make sure it matters to your target audience.

Sketch simple narratives that illlustrate the word then flesh out the sketches against the vehicles they’ll be served in (display, social, search, PR, print, etc. )

Tie it all together with tone and consistent use of word-images.

Finally, BE AFRAID OF MEDIOCRITY!

Vision and commitment are key.  Plan for 3 years minimum commitment to a storyline.

Is Murphy’s Law a restatement of entropy as stated in The Second Law of Thermodynamics?

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Is Murphy’s Law an idiomatic expression to describe in layman’s terms the application of the second law of thermodynamics? I think it might be and let me explain why.

First allow me to briefly restate Murphy’s law.  The first law of Murphy is ‘Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong’ and according to Brian Tracy the first corollary of Murphy’s first law is that of all the things that could go wrong, the very worst thing will go wrong, at the very worst time, and cost the very most amount of money.

Second, allow me to attempt a quick summary of the second law of thermodynamics.  The second law of thermodynamics governs the change in energy states of matter such that an ordered state having higher energy requires an energy input to achieve.  Not only that, but since energy is prone to radiating all about the place rather than directing itself solely upon the task at hand, creating order requires expending far greater energy than what the difference between the ordered and dis-ordered states.

This is due to the ordering process not being completely 100% efficient.  Consequently further energy must be expended to make allowance for the energy that is lost to the environment via friction, infra-red radiation, or anything else that doesn’t contribute energy to the ordered state of the object.

Perhaps the simplest application of the second law of thermodynamics and a common experience for most of us is the natural decomposition of fresh fruit and vegetables.  This is the second law at work in your refrigerator.

But how do these two concepts relate exactly?  I see a parallel development of argument simply expressed in more or less defined arenas.  Which is to say that the second law of thermodynamics is more rigidly defined and Murphy’s Law less yet the effect is the same.

The second law, sometimes called entropy, is far better equipped to explain the efficiency of an engine.  In the classic example the caloric input of energy from fuel is measured and the resultant output of vehicular movement likewise measured and calculations performed to determine the expected efficiency.  Not a task amenable to humor or cynical reflection.  However in contrast to the exacting application of entropy, Murphy’s law however can be applied to any situation involving entropy without the need for algebra.

A charming aspect of Murphy’s law is that it provides a parallel description of entropy in situations less amenable to measurement, like the hoisting of a tent.  Imagine a big tent on a hill for your daughters first wedding.  The truckie dropped it off this morning, but was supposed to stay and set it up but had to leave to rescue his boat that had blown off it’s moorings in the bay around the peninsula.

First you notice the wind that you’d barely noticed prior to beginning erecting the tent suddenly becomes gusty and problematic.   Then the tent peg that you were sure was for the awning, turns out to be the one for the door, and finally the puny little pegs you found first prove no match for the gusting wind and it soon ends up thirty-feet down a muddy hill in a heap.

It is only with the help of the new in-laws that you finally erect the tent… only after splashing mud over your white shirt and realizing that your keys are missing, to be found the next day, under the tent.

Probably stating the obvious really, but I thought it sounded kind of interesting.  I’m happy to hear your comments.  You can email me, send me a public tweet or even call if you feel so inclined.

The inspiration for this post was listening to John Wooden and Tony Robbins.  I’ve got to give it to John Wooden, the world-famous basketball coach for UCLA,  all around good guy, and peak performance role model.  God bless him for reminding me to read the good book, and for his advice about conditioning, balance and everything else too.

If you’ve not signed up to Tony Robbins email list, you probably should.  You can sign up here.  He sent an email broadcast containing a link to download his Powertalk with John Wooden which I’ve put here since he says he’ll take it down in a couple of days.  Also John gave a presentation at TED.com that you can watch it here.