- Main character
- Goal (something that is achievable in the context of the story)
- Opposition (different from an obstacle) – Directly opposes achievement of goal
- Context
That’s it. Those four elements are really the foundation of telling a compelling story that connects with an audience. I think the big thing that most companies shy away from is the opposition and struggles that come with a story. There is this mantra of always having to present a company as being the perfect hero without any flaws. This creates a false perception of who they are that they will always have to maintain. Now I don’t manage a Fortune 500 company, but I can tell you that these concepts do have the ability to generate $2B+ in box office sales. Tell me the happy ending part of the recent Marvel movie “Avengers: Infinity War”
Obviously, there are more elements to add in order to spice up your storytelling, but, looking at the core of it all, these four things are pretty darn important.
Let me break it down:
Main Character. You must have a main character or your viewers will be lost. For advertising or marketing the main character might be the product or the consumer, but choosing one person to tell the story through helps to make your story simple and easy to understand.
Goal. This is where a lot of people get lazy. Setting goals is probably one of the most important parts of your story. Without proper goals you don’t have opposition, resulting in no conflict, resulting in forgettable and likely failing at a goal you likely already have — making sales. Vague and interpretive goals are also not helpful here. You need to set tangible goals for your main character that could potentially be achievable by the end of your story so that the viewer can see if the goal was achieved or not when they are done watching. Don’t leave these things up to interpretation, it will only cause more confusion.
Opposition. It may not sound like it at first but this is far different than having an obstacle. Obstacles you can just go around or get passed and they are often times passive in their connection with your main character. If you are advertising something you likely want people to take action is some form or another. If that is the case then why put passive elements into your story. Make it active.
Your opposition needs to also have a goal. The simple way of approaching it is giving the opposition a goal to keep the main character from achieving theirs. But to take it further and add some unique elements to your story dig further for a goal that isn’t so specific to your main character. The most important thing to understand in creating your goals is that they need to be in direct opposition to each other. Only one of them can achieve their goal, otherwise there is no conflict and creating stories in conflict builds the intrigue most people are looking for.
Context. It really is hard to say what the most important part of the story is because, in reality, they are all important and without one element the whole thing kind of flops. So make sure you give people context. Build an understanding around what world or environment your main character is in. Give the back story of why their goal is important to them and what they have to lose if they don’t succeed at their goal. Proper context for a story creates a very specific element to the story that is an asset to the conflict and overall story that the viewers can likely relate to. It raises the stakes.
Story is something that I could go on and on for days about, but I hope this gives a bit more context and understanding to my view that story should not be used in the way people are using it today. Stop making it a buzzword, learn the tools and tell amazing stories.
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If you look up the definition of story, according to Merriam-Webster you’ll find that it says:
story
noun (1)
sto·ry | \ ˈstȯr-ē \
- an account of incidents or events
- the intrigue or plot of a narrative or dramatic work
The misconception I feel is in how the dictionary defines it in their main definition. Story is mostly used in the form of accounts or events or incidents, taking the approach of “capture.” With the idea of capturing an event or a moment in time it immediately gets translated into being a story.
I’m not saying that this approach is wrong, but when most people are speaking of story they are often times referencing the stories that create the engagement level that they are seeking. This engagement level is often times derived from the storytelling behemoths that are creating movies for our favorite entertainment platforms (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, HBO, The Cinemas, etc.). If you want to tell “stories” like the ones that we all talk about over coffee or a beer you have to define story the same way they do.
In the movie world or what we should define as narrative story telling there are some major elements that are usually forgotten when a company is so focused on selling a product. At some point a company needs to stop selling and start engaging.
Let’s break down the elements that help in creating a more narrative-based story. These are the key elements that draw in a viewer and have them fall in love with your brand, product, you, whatever the case may be.
- Main character
- Goal (something that is achievable in the context of the story)
- Opposition (different from an obstacle) – Directly opposes achievement of goal
- Context
That’s it. Those four elements are really the foundation of telling a compelling story that connects with an audience. I think the big thing that most companies shy away from is the opposition and struggles that come with a story. There is this mantra of always having to present a company as being the perfect hero without any flaws. This creates a false perception of who they are that they will always have to maintain. Now I don’t manage a Fortune 500 company, but I can tell you that these concepts do have the ability to generate $2B+ in box office sales. Tell me the happy ending part of the recent Marvel movie “Avengers: Infinity War”
Obviously, there are more elements to add in order to spice up your storytelling, but, looking at the core of it all, these four things are pretty darn important.
Let me break it down:
Main Character. You must have a main character or your viewers will be lost. For advertising or marketing the main character might be the product or the consumer, but choosing one person to tell the story through helps to make your story simple and easy to understand.
Goal. This is where a lot of people get lazy. Setting goals is probably one of the most important parts of your story. Without proper goals you don’t have opposition, resulting in no conflict, resulting in forgettable and likely failing at a goal you likely already have — making sales. Vague and interpretive goals are also not helpful here. You need to set tangible goals for your main character that could potentially be achievable by the end of your story so that the viewer can see if the goal was achieved or not when they are done watching. Don’t leave these things up to interpretation, it will only cause more confusion.
Opposition. It may not sound like it at first but this is far different than having an obstacle. Obstacles you can just go around or get passed and they are often times passive in their connection with your main character. If you are advertising something you likely want people to take action is some form or another. If that is the case then why put passive elements into your story. Make it active.
Your opposition needs to also have a goal. The simple way of approaching it is giving the opposition a goal to keep the main character from achieving theirs. But to take it further and add some unique elements to your story dig further for a goal that isn’t so specific to your main character. The most important thing to understand in creating your goals is that they need to be in direct opposition to each other. Only one of them can achieve their goal, otherwise there is no conflict and creating stories in conflict builds the intrigue most people are looking for.
Context. It really is hard to say what the most important part of the story is because, in reality, they are all important and without one element the whole thing kind of flops. So make sure you give people context. Build an understanding around what world or environment your main character is in. Give the back story of why their goal is important to them and what they have to lose if they don’t succeed at their goal. Proper context for a story creates a very specific element to the story that is an asset to the conflict and overall story that the viewers can likely relate to. It raises the stakes.
Story is something that I could go on and on for days about, but I hope this gives a bit more context and understanding to my view that story should not be used in the way people are using it today. Stop making it a buzzword, learn the tools and tell amazing stories.
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If you want to tell “stories” like the ones that we all talk about over coffee or a beer you have to define story the same way they do.
Going off my last post on the fact that story is not a buzzword I feel I need to share a bit about what story actually means to me.
If you look up the definition of story, according to Merriam-Webster you’ll find that it says:
story
noun (1)
sto·ry | \ ˈstȯr-ē \
- an account of incidents or events
- the intrigue or plot of a narrative or dramatic work
The misconception I feel is in how the dictionary defines it in their main definition. Story is mostly used in the form of accounts or events or incidents, taking the approach of “capture.” With the idea of capturing an event or a moment in time it immediately gets translated into being a story.
I’m not saying that this approach is wrong, but when most people are speaking of story they are often times referencing the stories that create the engagement level that they are seeking. This engagement level is often times derived from the storytelling behemoths that are creating movies for our favorite entertainment platforms (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, HBO, The Cinemas, etc.). If you want to tell “stories” like the ones that we all talk about over coffee or a beer you have to define story the same way they do.
In the movie world or what we should define as narrative story telling there are some major elements that are usually forgotten when a company is so focused on selling a product. At some point a company needs to stop selling and start engaging.
Let’s break down the elements that help in creating a more narrative-based story. These are the key elements that draw in a viewer and have them fall in love with your brand, product, you, whatever the case may be.
- Main character
- Goal (something that is achievable in the context of the story)
- Opposition (different from an obstacle) – Directly opposes achievement of goal
- Context
That’s it. Those four elements are really the foundation of telling a compelling story that connects with an audience. I think the big thing that most companies shy away from is the opposition and struggles that come with a story. There is this mantra of always having to present a company as being the perfect hero without any flaws. This creates a false perception of who they are that they will always have to maintain. Now I don’t manage a Fortune 500 company, but I can tell you that these concepts do have the ability to generate $2B+ in box office sales. Tell me the happy ending part of the recent Marvel movie “Avengers: Infinity War”
Obviously, there are more elements to add in order to spice up your storytelling, but, looking at the core of it all, these four things are pretty darn important.
Let me break it down:
Main Character. You must have a main character or your viewers will be lost. For advertising or marketing the main character might be the product or the consumer, but choosing one person to tell the story through helps to make your story simple and easy to understand.
Goal. This is where a lot of people get lazy. Setting goals is probably one of the most important parts of your story. Without proper goals you don’t have opposition, resulting in no conflict, resulting in forgettable and likely failing at a goal you likely already have — making sales. Vague and interpretive goals are also not helpful here. You need to set tangible goals for your main character that could potentially be achievable by the end of your story so that the viewer can see if the goal was achieved or not when they are done watching. Don’t leave these things up to interpretation, it will only cause more confusion.
Opposition. It may not sound like it at first but this is far different than having an obstacle. Obstacles you can just go around or get passed and they are often times passive in their connection with your main character. If you are advertising something you likely want people to take action is some form or another. If that is the case then why put passive elements into your story. Make it active.
Your opposition needs to also have a goal. The simple way of approaching it is giving the opposition a goal to keep the main character from achieving theirs. But to take it further and add some unique elements to your story dig further for a goal that isn’t so specific to your main character. The most important thing to understand in creating your goals is that they need to be in direct opposition to each other. Only one of them can achieve their goal, otherwise there is no conflict and creating stories in conflict builds the intrigue most people are looking for.
Context. It really is hard to say what the most important part of the story is because, in reality, they are all important and without one element the whole thing kind of flops. So make sure you give people context. Build an understanding around what world or environment your main character is in. Give the back story of why their goal is important to them and what they have to lose if they don’t succeed at their goal. Proper context for a story creates a very specific element to the story that is an asset to the conflict and overall story that the viewers can likely relate to. It raises the stakes.
Story is something that I could go on and on for days about, but I hope this gives a bit more context and understanding to my view that story should not be used in the way people are using it today. Stop making it a buzzword, learn the tools and tell amazing stories.
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