Jonah Sachs, Winning the Story Wars, tells why those who tell – and live – the best stories will rule the future shows how marketing can do better in the 21st century world. It can be something more than a mere sales pitch to middle-aged suburbanites looking for a quick fix for home repairs and life hacks. He believes that stories, if told the right way, can make the world a kinder, gentler place. The myths of old will re-emerge one day soon into a new age of blissful cooperation and global wealth. Winning the Story Wars is a book about marketing, the art of stories and, most important, the brand called “You”.
Somewhere in a “Digitorial” Galaxy…
What better way to discuss storytelling than to tell a story from your childhood about making a Star Wars movie. Throw in a memorable buddy called Louis, a sequel called the Meatrix, and you’ve got everyone thinking about stories in a cool way. Making movies from a young age taught Sachs the value of engaging his audience using pop culture icons with a humane twist. At the end of each flic, the veggies win over the hamburgers and fries, thus making the world a better place. Even better, it also starts a life-changing conversation to reclaim old myths into fresh marketing – because that’s what the future will be like.
In this new world – or galaxy – consumers have entered a new age of digitorial broadcasting. That’s right, digitorial. Sachs came up with the new word himself. He believes that the old school broadcasting era is replaced with a synthesis of oral traditions combined with digital technology that spreads around the globe in seconds. This change ushers in an opportunity to bring mythologies from eons ago into your laptop computers or tablets, as preferred by you, the customer. So, with that being said, let’s learn more about Sach’s notion of storytelling, in general.
How Stories Aren’t So Cool Sometimes
Stories come in all shapes and sizes because human beings do too. They probably originated in Africa, for obvious reasons, and transformed into fairy tales, legends and finally, religion. Our brain evolved to communicate with stories, which, put simply, anthropomorphize information so that we can relate to them better. The human face brings about a familiarity that captivates our attention. But that human face changes in many ways. A betrayed look, a sad one, a heavy-set face or one filled with joy, all give clues to a story that could grab someones attention long enough to impart an important message.
Gem Razor Blades by Mickey Mantle Ad
Sachs doesn’t hesitate to label past marketing effort as inadequacy marketing due mainly from corporation’s attempt to sell products by making you feel bad about yourself. Everything from cigarettes to asphalt to nuclear bombs c/o the sixties suburban (“To Serve Man”) revolution and on. It was all about making you feel incomplete without the right shampoo bottle. The marketing ensured consumers see a familiar person to role-model their product so that anyone without it would feel anxious and isolated from their group. So the world turned on its axis of need and greed until we finally saw what happens when the emptiness crept into our Western lives.
Making Stories Cool Again
Before getting into some nifty storytelling techniques, Sachs gives us three general rules for great marketing:
1) Tell the Truth, 2) Be Interesting and 3) Live the Truth.
With these three rules in mind, Sachs offers a counterargument to inadequacy marketing called empowerment marketing. With this style of selling, he draws upon Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to help storytellers find their truth by exploring values. The needs are: Wholeness, Perfection, Justice, Richness, Simplicity, Beauty, Truth, Uniqueness and Playfulness.
This powerful branding can easily reach an audience in a good way, not the uncool way of making people feel inadequate. Even better, and yes another list, is connecting one’s brand with the soul of the consumer through Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey Map. This includes: Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests, Allies and Enemies, Approaching the Dragon’s Den, The Ordeal, Seizing the Treasure, The Road Back, Resurrection , Return with Boon and (New) Ordinary World.
That’s a mouthful of marketing, but put it this way, you’ll never rinse Scope the same way again. And, forget Scope, everything from the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter, can benefit from re-contextualizing your cause so that others can see how they fit into it. That’s powerful marketing. Sachs doesn’t hold back in communicating the hope and optimism that comes with his brand of storytelling.
Freak, Cheats and Familiars
To make it more interesting – or to “Be Interesting” as Sachs puts it – three more clues help bringing a zing! into your marketing story. Freaks, Cheats and Familiars are three archetypes that Sachs invokes to make the ordinary wonderful. Freaks are novel human beings, people who are different enough to be interesting, but not so different to be creepy. Cheats are the rebels who go against the norm. Familiars are people we can latch onto. Use these archetypes to tell make a lasting impression on potential consumers who want a product or serve to fulfill one of these three functions.
The last part of Sachs training is bring it all together into three story types: Genesis, Symbolic or Documentary stories. Genesis stories are coming-of-age or origin stories. Symbolic are allegorical. Documentary is journalistic.
To Live the Truth is to Live the Myth
The other definition of myth is a tall tale, an embellishment of sorts. That’s the darker side of marketing, also called inadequacy marketing. Myth, however, is meant to be uplifting, joyful and revealing. Our greatest stories help us cultivate our potential with the intention to bring more love and peace into the world. Without these, societies fall apart. Hence, to be honest and truth with your marketing is the best approach to selling and saving the world. Honest representation means to build a true relationship with consumers that need your product or service to live better lives.
Perhaps Sachs most controversial statement in Winning the Story Wars is this: Modern-day myth-makers are marketers of this age. Their purpose is to use mythology to uplift their consumers to achieve new depths of self-honesty and community spirit. Their work is to bring millions of people together under a single cause. Myths are power – psychic power. It is the power of the human soul to move people towards a better frame of mind. We need to withstand the harshest tests and strive for the most loftiest goals. Winning the Story Wars brings humanity full circle: the prehistoric human meets the digital mogul who harnesses the same energies from storytelling to bring peace and happiness to his or her tribe.
Back on Our Home World
Multi-media messages inundate our world like never before. We have been saturated, perhaps close to breaking point, with consumer ads and campaigns by the thousands. Luckily, there is a way – an ancient way, even – that can help us organize this information. Storytelling for the masses via the digitorial broadcasting. Since prehistoric times, we have told and retold stories to friends, family and prophets. Over time, certain patterns developed, changed and re-birthed themselves. We are experiencing a rebirth now as digital technology ushers in a new age of communication that promises a better, calmer world despite the frenetic pace these messages often impose on us. We’re getting there. Our new prophet, Jonach Sachs, promises a way back into the Promise Land with newfound glory and aspiration. Winning the Story Wars – Why those who tell – and live – the best stories will rule the future is a good read for future marketers and consumers ready to take on the new age.