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 Telling a great story.01.05.10 at 2:43 pm by Hal BucklandIt’s the small things stupid. Every one knows we are swamped in advertising clutter. I can’t even go to the restroom in the office without reading an ad above the john. In Orlando, you can’t look up in the sky because some jackass is writing something with his airplane or there’s a huge blimp that looks like Shamu. Hell, with Southwest Airlines you can fly in the belly of the beast since they are a sponsor of Sea World. Are you smarter than a Neanderthal?If it’s good enough for the Neanderthals, it’s good enough for me. You know the key is a great story told in a very simple way with great graphics and few words. The Neanderthals had it down; stick figures throwing spears at Deer, Wooly Mammoths and some of their other favorite things. Signed with an air brushed hand. The stuff these boys and girls put on the walls of their gathering places has stood the test of time. Not decades but tens of thousands of years. A very simple, message without one word.Still speaking across time and cultures that are radically different. Maybe we should stick with simple stuff we know works. |
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Great point, Hal. I mean, who doesn't love a good pictograph? >
However, sometimes creating desire for travel or a destination requires stimulating the imagination, creating romance with language and painting a vivid mental image for the reader. When they can picture themselves involved in the experience, they can make it theirs, something relevant to them. THAT's good story telling. (Besides, I have to stand up for advertising copy writers everywhere and the value we bring to the creative process!)
Just like Alan, the copywriter, to insist on copy.
I like your style and brashness. Your bit about the Neanderthals is a stretch however. They were drawing on the walls, not marketing. The point is good, though: memorable and supported brands make sense. It used to be called personality. But nobody wants to think of corps as live folks. Maybe we should!
Marketing IS communication and we SHOULD treat companies as we do "live folks" since that is how our brains want to deal with them as. Those Neanderthals were selling a product, were on message, in the most general sense. Marketing laundry soap is more complicated but no different in essence, it is all still communication, one entity trying to tell or convince another of something.