Daily Archives: August 13, 2007

A storied approach,

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Dan Pink is an author with a great thesis for today’s marketers. It’s his contention that right-brainers will soon rule the marketing world. I fancy myself a right-brainer and am, therefore, quite happy.

 
Here’s a quote from Mr. Pink’s book “A whole new mind.”
 
“In the age of abundance, appealing only to rational, logical and functional needs is woefully insufficient. Engineers must figure out how to get things to work. But if those things are not also pleasing to the eye or compelling to the soul, few will buy them. There are too many options. Mastery of design, empathy, play and other seemingly “soft” aptitudes is now the main way for individuals and firms to stand out in a crowded marketplace.”
 
I’m a particularly big fan of Dan’s notion that the best way to sell is to do so through storytelling. Today some really smart larges corporations are teaching employees not through manuals and rote memorization, but through storytelling. The best ads communicate using stories…and the best brands build relevance through the same mechanism. Don’t recite product function or benefit, embed it in a story.