Winning The Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell -- and Live -- the Best Stories Will Rule the Future

Why those who tell – and live –the best stories will rule the future.

Jonah SachsFree Range Studios

@Care2Team #C2Webinar

Justin PerkinsCare2

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The fundamentals of breakthrough storytellingBY JONAH SACHS

CEO | FREE RANGE STUDIOSWWW.FREERANGE.COM

Survival of the fittest

Transmission is a web

Everyone owns ideas

Ideas get passed or they die

Survival of the richest

Transmission is one to many

Ideas are proprietary

Doesn’t rely on audience participation to spread

Survival of the fittest

Transmission is a web

Everyone owns ideas

Ideas get passed or they die

What will survive the landscape of

our new oral traditions?

Stories.

=

Inadequacy Marketing

“[Myths are about] the

maturation of the individual from

dependency to adulthood through

maturity and then to the exit; and

then how to relate to this society

and how to relate this society to the

world of nature and the cosmos. ”

– JOSEPH CAMPBELL

MATURES

TO BECOME

Myths that Survive the

Oral Tradition

Marketing’s

Five Deadly Sins

Entertainment

THE 2012 ELECTIONS

Entertainment

FIJI GREEN

Entertainment

JAMES HANSEN

The Structure of a Story

The Structure of a Story

The Structure of a Story

Inadequacy Marketing

Fear, Vanity Greed, Status

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

PerfectionThe need to master a practice through hard work.

NIKE

TruthThe need to tear down falsehood.

VOLKSWAGEN

WholenessThe need to be part of a community beyond oneself.

OBAMA 2008

SimplicityThe need to find meaning hidden behind complexity.

STORY OF STUFF

UniquenessThe need to express individuality/creativity.

APPLE

JusticeThe need to resist abuses of power.

DOVE REAL BEAUTY

Empowerment Marketing

Perfection, WholenessUniqueness, Justice

Simplicity. Truth

Of course, values alone

don’t make a story.

The Hero’s

Journey

The Hero

The Hero

• Is not you

• Is your audience

• Is unlikely for the role

• Is dissatisfied with a

“broken

world”

• Is jaded and has the

chance

to just muddle through

• has an inner calling to live

values

The Mentor

The Mentor

• Is your brand

• gets the hero moving toward her

destiny

• makes change appealing

• never makes change mandatory

• Is a real, tangible person

• fits a recognizable archetype

The Hero’s Journey

The Gift

The Gift:

• is the wildcard that makes the

impossible possible

• is something unique, beautiful

and entirely unexpected

The Moral of the Story

The Moral:

• is the truth behind every

communication

• provides brand consistency

• makes intuitive sense but

stretches what we know

The Moral of the Story

Making it all come alive

BROADCAST STORIES

+ +

Freaks, Cheats

and Familiars

THE MEATRIX

+ +

Fill your stories with human-like characters that break the pattern of our expectations.

Tell stories about villains who break cherished norms or rebels who defy hated ones.

Tell stories people can instantly identify as their own. Give them easy entrance points.

There are easy ways to start

checking your work and moving

minds to action.

Is your story strategic?

}Is your story interesting enough?

jonah@freerange.com@jonahsachs

thank you! questions? contact us!

Jonah Sachsjonah@freerange.com@jonahsachs

Justin Perkinsjustin@care2team.com@elperko