Do you want to show up more creatively for your clients and your colleagues, your family, and your friends?
Do you want to default to thinking about opportunity versus focusing just on problems?
Discovering Hope is full of proactive steps you can take right now, to achieve a more positive mindset or to help maintain the positivity you already have
Getting Positive reveals that more optimism is close at hand
The Power of a Story Told Well
At the EFFIE awards last week, which is all about business effectiveness (aka, selling stuff), the campaigns that won plaudits were invariably engaging and meaningful. As significant, the themes were easily understood.
What did the audience respond to? Great story telling with a âheroâ the audience could relate to and care about.
âTruth well toldâ sounds simple, but even if you have perfect understanding of your audience and your story, itâs surprisingly hard. Weâre all in the story telling business and I believe most (all?) of us could all benefit from better ways to do that.
Nearby are a range of links which are both examples of effective narrative and methodologies that can enhance it.
What do you think? In your opinion, what one factor has been key for you in helping create a great story?
Sincerely,
Stuart
PS. Out June 28th âThe Practical Pocket Guide to Account Planningâ by Christopher Kocek, provides a straightforward, no nonsense approach to understanding what Account Planners do on a daily basis and how they do it. Congratulations to Chris! Anyone else have announcements?
Articles and commentary that might be of interest…
- Where Does Your Brand Story Fall In The Storytelling Matrix?
- The Decline And Fall Of Product Placement
- Storytelling That Moves People
- How To Tell A Story With Data
- 5 Secrets To Use Storytelling For Brand Marketing Success
- Using Storytelling And Brand Values For Real Customer Engagement
- Brand Storytelling In 4 Steps
- Entrepreneurs Who Master Storytelling Win More
- Brand Storytelling And The Hero Of Your Brand
- Shared Values In Brand Storytelling
- The Drivers Of Brand Storytelling Strategy
- Coke, Nike Succeed With New Style Of Brand Story-Telling Online Add To …
- Case Study: The Art Of Storytelling Around An App
An Introduction – Narrating your Success
The challenge and the fun of creating engaging brand stories can be fun and challenging or simply challenging! I know this as I talk to your peers on a daily basis. You know it because you live the challenge!
In 2013, more than ever before, we are under pressure to deliver results and we work in an environment where initiatives successes and failures very public.
The best storytellers will thrive as will those that are able to adapt their stories on the fly, using real time media to be relevant to existing and future customers.
targeted at strategic planners, and aims to inform, inspire and occasionally entertain. Weâll provide examples of great strategic ideas, process (not too much of this) and perspectives that might help you be successful with your agency partners, internal and external. The links nearby give some insights and approaches that were suggested as a means to stay ahead of the pack.
Content will evolve based on your feedback on what you find helpful â any thoughts welcomed!
Sincerely,
Stuart
Articles and commentary that might be of interest…
- The brand new year: Key trends
- Global: Top 6 Marketing Communications Trends in 2013
- What changes we will see in marketing communications in 2013?
- A model for always-on digital marketing
- Advertisers should act more like newsrooms
- How to create personalized experiences without being creepy
- Itâs all about the story. The science behind narrative success
- Marketing communications â Meaning and its process
- The truly strategic marketing communication campaign
- How to motivate your customers to take action
- Wife puts up nasty billboard to get revenge on cheating husband
Anticipating 2014
Happy New Year one and all.
We all have a perspective on âbig data,â âID security,â âselfiesâ and the âPolar Vortex!â But, what are you anticipating for the year ahead?
Your ideas, your anticipation could be the difference between an average and a great year.
Please find below a few perspectives, trends and forecasts that will, to a greater or lesser extent, consume your personal and professional lives in the year ahead.
All success.
Stuart
Articles and commentary that might be of interest…
- Cultural Marketing, Total Market, How and Why?
- Cultural Predictions 2014
- Data point: Having immersed themselves in tech, consumers are starting to fear and resent it
- New research from strategic brand and planning consultancy Onesixtyfourth, reveals five transformational trends for 2014, which businesses need to embrace if they want to be brand-leaders
- 2014 Predictions: Branding & Social Culture
- Top 5 viral advertising trends of 2013 â What comes next?
- Reporter’s Notebook: The quantified selfie
- Mindshare report reveals 10 cultural trends that will define entertainment
- Top 11 Marketing Trends For 2014 Market Research
January Strategy Newsletter
‘Narrate’ January newsletter for creative, digital, brand, media, connections, channel, communications, innovation and any combination of the aforesaid strategists, now available.
http://sparkin.createsend.com/t/ViewEmailArchive/i/147929037F109B9A/C67FD2F38AC4859C/
Best wishes,
Fancy a Laugh?
Peter Dabell (CEO, Ace Matric) tells us âSome form of humor is used in one in five commercialsâ and âmost of the top Super Bowl ads of the last three years used humorâ.
Why? Because funny advertising lowers our guard and our resistance to âbeing soldâ, and we accept that in exchange for our attention we will be entertained. Yet, Nielsen research suggests there is âlittle correlation between humor and effectivenessâ, and indeed, it carries a risk of alienating some consumers.
For humorous advertising to have a chance of working it must tap one of the ten humor archetypes (*) that connects with human emotions. And the advertising must be built on substance with humor used as a supplement; funny is pointless without a clear association with the brand.
Which brand do you think has most effectively harnessed humor? Let us know. If your answer is the same as Ivan Wicksteed, Chief Marketing Officer of Old Navy and is selected from âcorrectâ responses, you will win three free career planning sessions in 2014.
Enjoy.
Stuart
Articles and commentary that might be of interest…
- Volkswagen Airs the Funniest Ad of the Year to Date
- Top 10 Funniest Ads 2013 YTD
- * Emotional Branding Tricks of Funniest Commercials: Using Exaggeration
- How Funny Advertising Lowers Our Guard
- Humor in Marketing: Why funny ads are more than a good joke
- Ha! Ads That Make You Laugh Donât Really Make You BuyÂ
- 40 Humorous Print Ads
- You Choose â The Funniest Viral Ad of The Year
- 10 of the funniest, perviest, dumbest, and strangest smartphone commercials
- The Secret Behind Oreo’s Social Media Marketing
The Age of a “Story Well Done”
A story is not just heard; it is experienced. And told well, they resonate â audiences connect with the content and can act upon it. But stories often fail to resonate though lack of: Credibility, Relevance or Impact.
Resonance is seldom achieved via mainstream media alone. Also needed today is third party referral by people who know you and your needs better than any corporate marketer. The consumers.
In his book âTrue Storyâ, Ty Montague introduces the idea of âstory doing.â Itâs not a new idea, but Montague explains the concept well: a product or service succeeds today not simply by pushing a story, but by engaging and motivating the audience from the very early stages of development. Facebook executives say such product evolution is âsocial by designâ, putting consumers at the center of building brands.
Mainstream is effective for generating awareness, but some âstory doingâ brands have evolved without ever using it: Starbucks, Amazon and Red Bull come to mind.
What do you think is the one factor preventing your client from being more of a âstory doer?â
Stuart
Articles and commentary that might be of interest…
- Where Does Your Brand Story Fall In The Storytelling Matrix?
- The Decline And Fall Of Product Placement
- Storytelling That Moves People
- How To Tell A Story With Data
- 5 Secrets To Use Storytelling For Brand Marketing Success
- Using Storytelling And Brand Values For Real Customer Engagement
- Brand Storytelling In 4 Steps
- Entrepreneurs Who Master Storytelling Win More
- Brand Storytelling And The Hero Of Your Brand
- Shared Values In Brand Storytelling
- The Drivers Of Brand Storytelling Strategy
- Coke, Nike Succeed With New Style Of Brand Story-Telling Online Add To …
- Case Study: The Art Of Storytelling Around An App