They've been patient. Waiting. Holding all those stories to themselves, waiting for the day we sat down on the floor around their feet and turned our ears back to listen.
Meanwhile, our marketing has gone wide and thin. Instead of taking a potential client deep, we took them long. That meant quick Tweets and fluctuating Facebook posts, tossed out like seed in the wind. They spread far, while often never burying much beyond the top soil.
Now Audi has been the first to step up and ask Grandpa to tell us a story. Does it work?
Here's how Michael Staires accurately put it:
Back in 2005, Daniel Pink told us it would happen. He said that the future would belong to the storytellers. I'll bet even ten years ago if the creative director walked into the Audi boardroom and told the directors that he wanted to do a series of ads based on Herman Melville's "Moby Dick," with no references to horsepower or fuel economy or even plush leather seats or stereo system they would have fired him on the spot. How can you sell cars without extolling the features of the car?What can we learn from this? A few things:
You tell a story. That's how.
1. Moby Dick is a classic.
2. Pretty boys may have outlived their selling power.
3. Audi is a marketing genius.
A good story will get attention every time. Extra emphasis on "good".
It needs to appeal, to enchant, it needs to promote while not selling. It also needs to entertain. If you aren't having fun with your marketing campaign, neither are your potential customers. What we call "professional", which subconsciously we really mean "dry, boring, plainly conveyed, and safe" is often a mistake we make out of fear of trying something new, something no one's seen before, something some will love and others will not. It's a gamble!
But it'll get attention. And the story, even more than glitz, glitter, and online neon, still gets attention.
So what do you do if you don't have a budget for videos? Ah. I'm so glad you asked. You create a newsletter campaign so dynamic, so enthralling, it's a one-page page turner.
If only there was a business copywriter who believed that "business is people and people are stories". Where oh where does one find such a writer?
Thanks Tara for the mention! I loved the commercial and immediately made the connection with the novel. Only later did it occur to me that they hardly talked about the car. Heck, they hardly even SHOW the car! But you come away feeling that the Quattro is very cool. Handles well in snow. It's mysterious and people are trying to catch you when you drive it! So much more effective that seeing a Chevy truck bust through snow drift. So played.
ReplyDelete