Drones in baggy grey uniforms stomp in formation as a weird techno-beat pulsates around them.
On an enormous video screen, a grey Big Brother pontificates about unity, ideology, and blah blah blah.
Suddenly a woman, chased by security guards, breaks through the crowd. She is a shock of color with her blonde hair, orange shorts, and white t-shirt. And she carries a sledgehammer.
Perhaps you remember the voiceover as we watch her race toward the video screen:
“On January 24th Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.”
Finally comes the iconic moment when the woman spins around and heaves her sledgehammer into Big Brother on the video screen, and the screen explodes in a flash of light.
Yes, this is the famous television ad for the Apple Macintosh, a commercial which first aired in January 1984 during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. Created by Lee Clow and his team at the Chiat/Day advertising agency, and directed by film director Ridley Scott, who had just made the hit movie Blade Runner, the Macintosh ad created a sensation. As Walter Isaacson reports in his biography of Steve Jobs, that very evening all three major television networks and fifty local stations carried stories about the ad. Eventually, TV Guide and Advertising Age would hail it as the greatest commercial of all time. And meanwhile, it helped make the reputation of the world’s most famous personal computer.
Why did the Macintosh ad create such a sensation?
Because it showed us a dramatic world populated by intriguing characters.
Because it compelled us by conflict.
And because it brought that conflict to a riveting climax.
In short, the Macintosh ad told us a story.
And it did it in less than 60 seconds.
What would you rather experience? Sixty seconds of “Buy my new computer!” Or 60 seconds of a short film?
I thought so.
This is why your marketing needs to become enthralling, memorable storytelling.
But telling great stories involves more than knowing how to plot and create characters. These are essential ingredients, but more is necessary. For storytelling to be insanely great, it also has to be effective as ethical persuasion.
What does that mean?
The word “ethical” comes from the Greek word ethos, which most literally means “accustomed place” or “habitat.” One’s ethos is where one lives–not only physically, but also morally, socially and psychologically. Stories are forms of persuasion in that, through word and image and sometimes music, they try to convince us of the truth about something. As forms of ethical persuasion, stories try to convince us that a certain space or outlook should become our true “accustomed place.”
With the Macintosh ad, Jobs didn’t just want to create a TV commercial; he wanted to draw us into an ethos.
As Isaacson writes:
“the concept of the ad had a special resonance for [Jobs]. He fancied himself a rebel, and he liked to associate himself with the values of the ragtag band of hackers and pirates he recruited to the Macintosh group. Even though he had left the apple commune in Oregon to start the Apple corporation, he still wanted to be viewed as a denizen of the counterculture rather than the corporate culture.”
But the Macintosh ad resonated with so many, not because everyone who saw it was persuaded that he belonged to the hippie (or former hippie) counter-culture–though no doubt many who saw it were so persuaded. The ad resonated with so many because it hit upon a fundamental truth about being human, namely:
That human beings are not made to be drones in service to Big Brother–political or corporate.
That a truly human life prizes creativity and individuality over mindless compliance to those who would seek to control us.
Who doesn’t want to be a shock of color in a grey world?
The Macintosh ad was successful because it compellingly tapped into this truth about our “accustomed place” as human beings. And the Macintosh itself was successful because it delivered on its promise to be a powerful instrument of creativity and individuality.
Interestingly, too, the resonance of the ad depended to a great extent on the connection with George Orwell’s novel, 1984. The Macintosh ad manifests the techniques of great fiction, but it also pays deeper respect to the craft of storytelling by playing upon the themes of a great novel. Someone at Chiat/Day knew their literature, and that knowledge became a huge payoff for the Macintosh campaign.
Now, what story do you want to tell?
Are you ready to start thinking about how to incorporate “the art of the storypreneur” into your own business?
It doesn’t have to be in a television ad or even using video. In fact, storytelling craft can and should be incorporated into every medium your business uses to tell its story: blog posts, email newsletters, podcasts, ebooks, tweets, and every line of copy you feature on your website.
According to a February 2013 article on Forbes.com, “brand storytelling isn’t a new concept, but with the explosive growth of social media and content marketing, the opportunities to tell stories as part of direct and indirect brand marketing initiatives have become a strategic priority.”
A strategic priority.
Now that we all have the opportunity to develop a digital media channel, telling great stories isn’t a luxury only the big brands can afford. We can all be storytellers–and the media we can employ is in many instances free.
However, as the Forbes.com article went on to say, “the best brand storytellers understand the critical elements of fiction writing, which are skills that few marketers have been formally trained to do.”
So does this mean that, along with everything else you have to do, you have to take a course in fiction writing?
No. But it may mean that consulting with someone who is a published author of fiction for both adults and children, someone who also taught literature and the philosophy of literature at the university level for a number of years, could be of great use to you and your business.
The free content here at The Comic Muse is at your disposal, and I hope you will find it useful in helping you master the art of the storypreneur.
But if you’d like to contact me directly, feel free to do so by emailing me at [email protected].
Let’s talk about how you can be a shock of color in a grey world.
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