Plotting the course of storytelling over the past 200 years
In The Seven Basic Plots, Christopher Booker argues that storytelling has changed dramatically over the last 200 years, and that he focus on the inner state of a hero(ine)’s inner state and eventual transformation has shifted to a focus on more outward (material) transformation, gradually moving the plot away from the primal archetypes towards more ego driven narratives. For example, in the film Limitless (2011) a Faustian bargain at the start of the film evolves into a wish fulfilment fantasy in which the hero suffers no ultimate penalty for his bargain nor does he undergo any serious ‘transformation’ or ‘enlightenment’. Read more »
“Who are you going to believe: me or your own eyes?” - Groucho Marx
In About Face, Dan Hill makes a clear and compelling argument for the use of emotion in advertising and it’s power to drive changes in behaviour. The book is full of useful examples and anecdotes and some statistics too. In one study by Omnicom, emotional engagement with customers resulted in 20% higher return on investment than mere awareness in advertising. In another review by Pringle and Field (based on 880 case studies from the UK’s Institute of Practitioners Advertising Effectiveness Awards), ‘soft sell’ ads that inspire strong emotional responses in their audience make more money (almost twice as much as ‘hard sell’ ads with more fact-based and rational arguments). And more emotional ads also reduced price sensitivity, created greater differentiation and were more important in more mature markets. Read more »
“It is impossible for ideas to compete in the marketplace if no forum for their presentation is provided or available.” - Thomas Mann
“Always within an arm’s reach of desire.” - Robert Woodruff (former chairman of Coca-Cola)
Getting connected
In the final chapter of How Brands Grow, Byron Sharp focuses on the key to great marketing: making your brand easy to buy. There are two aspects to making brands available which are covered extensively throughout the book: mental availability (something discussed at length in this blog previously) and physical availability. He argues (based on empirical evidence) that product innovation only works when a brand is salient and well distributed, through distinctive and clear branding and breadth and depth of distribution. Read more »
As we have seen previously, the basis of new memories are new physical connections in the brain. The more elaborate the connections, the more meaning they have, and the more specific the context, the stronger and more long lasting is the memory. Read more »
We are all ‘live wires’
How does the brain make connections? Brain scans show areas of our brain ‘lighting up’ when we make decisions (although beware that more activity doesn’t make the decision more important). But what is really going on? There is a huge amount of activity (electrical and chemical) going on within our brains. Read more »
“All right, brain. I don’t like you ad you don’t like me – so let’s just do this and I’ll get back to killing you with beer.” - Homer Simpson Read more »
“Vision without execution is hallucination.” - Thomas Edison Read more »
“Our lives are frittered away by detail; simplify, simplify.” - Henry David Thoreau
“Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.” - Edward Tufte
Read more »
“The story – from Rumplestiltskin to War and Peace – is one of the basic tools invented by the human mind for the purpose of understanding. There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” - Ursula K. Le Guin
Read more »
While the lessons of the two Dan’s (Pink and Ariely) are important for all our interpersonal relationships, they are arguably most important when we seek to change behaviour in an organisation. Change management often involves training programs and workshops which are used to influence and change behaviours (I have run many of these myself). The following lessons from behavioural economics are critical to success:
Read more »
