I have just finished the excellent “Story Wars” by Jonah Sachs.
The by-line tells it all: Why those who tell – and live – the best stories will rule the future.
Make Complex Stuff Compelling
The author is the man who made the Story of Stuff and other great online campaigns. He helped make complex issues , clear, emotional and worth fighting for. In his own words, he “makes complex stuff, compelling”.
Dull to Compelling – How Do You Do It?
He helped turn around issues long championed by worthy causes and NGOs, that only the converted could understand, into hard hitting, often funny, and deeply penetrating stories that win people over.
Great Stories – How To?
We know good stories work. The best, like the works of the Brothers Grimm, are timeless and go across cultures. Sachs explains why these great stories work.
The Values at the Core of Legandary Campaigns
What interested most was how Sachs explains the importance of great campaigns, and great campaigns are value based campaigns.
Listerine
[youtube]http://youtu.be/k04A0zhcc0Y[/youtube]
Daisy by LBJ
[youtube]http://youtu.be/9Id_r6pNsus[/youtube]
Real Beauty from Dove
[youtube]http://youtu.be/gm1uNgHw6Xo[/youtube]
Courage By Nike
[youtube]http://youtu.be/ONuQ_CeY2mU[/youtube]
1984 By Apple
[youtube]http://youtu.be/OYecfV3ubP8[/youtube]
Obama 2008
[youtube]http://youtu.be/5aVocVdp9h4[/youtube]
The Story of Stuff
[youtube]http://youtu.be/gLBE5QAYXp8[/youtube]
The Moral of the Story
Sachs looks at these campaigns, and considers the moral of the story, and the values they convey. I quote from his analysis.
Listerine ‘s Moral of the story is that “Halitosis makes you undesirable” and the Values it celebrates are ” Safety, sex, self-esteem”.
In the great political ad, ‘Daisy’, the Moral of the Story is that ” Vote for Johnson or you and your children will not be safe” and the value is “safety”.
Dove’s Really Beauty moral of the story is that “Truth is beauty and the truth is, everyone is beautiful”. They celebrate the values of “Truth, Beauty”.
Nike’s Courage puts forward the clear moral that “Everything you need is within you. Work hard to achieve.” and celebrates the values of “wholeness, perfection.”
Apple’s 1984 ignites the moral that”Creative nonconformists rule” and celebrates “uniqueness”.
Obama’s 2008 campaign tells us that “Working hard together, we can solve our problems” and talks the values of “Wholeness, perfection”.
Finally, the Story of Stuff’s storyline moral is “You can understand a complex, broken system and once you do, you can help fix it” and promotes the values of “richness, simplicty, wholeness”.
Good Stories Everywhere
The lesson from the book, is even if you think your issue is dense, complex, unemotional and can’t be made compelling, your likely wrong. If you want to win over, persuade, and draw people to your cause you can. Tell them a good story that is true and interesting, be sincere, and you can do it.
Today, technology allows value based campaigning to be brought into the households and workplaces of most people on our beautiful planet. Few firms and NGOs are yet using it to its full potential.