CHAPTER 2

Prof. K.’s Personal Brand Narrative

Memory is not a neutral act. Memory is an act of construction. We don’t remember all the facts; we remember a group of facts that are tied together in a story that makes sense of our reality.

—Rabbi Irwin Kula, as quoted in Making Light in Terezin

As this book is about storytelling, it wouldn’t be right if I went any further without sharing a personal story with you.

Once upon a time, there was a Hollywood screenwriter, storyteller, and script doctor (me) who started to notice that the principles that applied to fixing a story for the silver screen also applied to fixing a story for a CEO’s speech, a TV commercial, a business plan, a manager’s PowerPoint presentation, and a salesperson’s pitch. It is a story about how it became abundantly clear to me through the years that the principles of storytelling, regardless of the endless diversity of stories, are universal and unchanging. It is a story about how I started teaching these precepts to businesspeople who, at first, did not think of themselves as creative, but soon showed great aptitude for adapting and applying these principles and quickly became masterful story-sellers.

Yet, I know there are skeptics out there. The “Yeah, butters” who find different approaches suspect and always seem to be saying:

“Yeah, but can this stuff really be taught?”

“Yeah, but can you really compel anyone to buy anything no matter how good your story is?!”

“Yeah, but what about…?”

Simply put, I think these questions and comments are connected and all revolve around the issue of communication. Whether you want to write a story to sell a bar of soap or you want to write a screenplay to sell to Hollywood, it’s all the same. It all comes down to the story you create.

Good storytelling is always effective. Storytelling works. Think about it. When a bunch of people are all vying for the same position, who gets the job? The person who tells the best story about himself or herself does.

When a company is in trouble, what kind of CEO is able to lead the company out of the red and keep his or her job? Why, of course, it’s the CEO who can truly communicate an inspiring vision for the future of their company.

What about the best salespeople you’ve ever met? What common trait did they share besides good hair and nice shoes? Storytelling skills! Inherent in being a good salesperson is being a good storyteller.

Yes, I admit it. I see the world through a story lens and through narrative-colored glasses. So, now, I think it’s time for me to stand up and publicly state, “Hi. My name is Richard and I am a story addict.”

Yes, I spend eight hours or more a day writing my own stories, consulting with people on their stories, and writing books about telling stories. In more than 25 years of learning about and sharing stories, I have come to know—and can help you to determine—story structure, character development, creating a world, and when a story is (or is not) working. And if it is broken, I can help you fix it.

I make no pretenses of knowing a great deal about many different things, especially in the business world. But I do have many years of expertise in one specific field: storytelling!

I know how to tell a good story and how to teach others to tell a good story. I have spent nearly three decades writing stories, studying storytelling, and teaching about the telling of stories. This book is the culmination of those three decades of work. It is an effort to articulate all that I have learned about storytelling in a clear and accessible manner. And, in keeping with my storytelling theme, much of it will be delivered through anecdotes and narratives.

When you tell a story well, you can make people laugh or cry. You can make them feel good about you, a product, a service, or a concept you are offering. When you tell a story really well, you can get people so excited that they will pay good money to hear that story again or to be part of it by purchasing the product or service being offered.

Remember that the power of storytelling does not apply to only so-called “creative” professions. The lawyer who tells the best story in court is the one who gains the confidence of the jury. The real estate agent who tells the best story about the house she has just put on the market is the one who gets the sale. The public relations professional who tells the most interesting story is the one who gets the press coverage for his client. The teacher who tells the best stories about the subject is always the one whose students are the most attentive and successful.

In essence, we are born to communicate with each other through stories and programmed as human beings to directly process information via stories.

Prof. K.’s personal narrative

So let me backtrack for a second and tell my story. During the past 25 years, I have been fortunate to make a living creating narratives across different genres: fiction and nonfiction, stage plays, and screenplays. In addition, I have been a professor of dramatic writing in the undergraduate and graduate classrooms of USC Cinema School, UCLA Film School, Emerson College, and Ithaca College.

From there, I started lecturing extensively to aspiring storytellers at writer’s conferences and film festivals around the country. Then, many writers who heard my lectures started hiring me to privately consult with them on their stories. For many years, this was my focus. I wrote, taught, and coached writers. My work with storytellers was essentially limited to the world of Hollywood production companies, wanna-be Hollywood screenwriters, and a few playwrights and novelists.

Several years ago, I was asked to be one of the featured speakers at a conference on storytelling. There was no pay for the presenters and I would have to cover all travel, meal, and hotel expenses through the weekend. However, the conference was one I thought would be well worth the time and expense. I believed it would enable me to share my skills and “tricks of the trade” with a specific audience that was seeking help with manifesting their aspirations. At the same time, I thought it would help build my storytelling lecturing business by reaching those in the industry who wanted to hire experienced teachers of the craft. So I agreed to participate.

Only 12 people showed up for my lecture in a room that seated 200. Though I gave it my all and my talk went well, it was admittedly a bit deflating. Despite being excited to present and grateful for the positive response from those who did attend, I must confess I felt an initial sense of disappointment in sharing my passion with only 12 people, none of whom approached me that day about my story-consulting services.

I drove back to L.A. and tried to forget about it. Then, a few days later, I got a call from one of the other speakers, one of the leading storytelling experts in Hollywood. She said she’d recently gotten a call from a major global brand that wanted to fly her to an exotic foreign country to teach a week-long seminar on storytelling. Though she wished she could go, she already had a booking that week. She told me she had been one of the 12 attendees at my lecture during the previous weekend and that she’d recommended me for the job. She wanted to know whether I was interested in talking to them.

Was I interested? Yes!

Her recommendation led to my getting not only that job but a whole series of jobs with that company, as well as with other companies. In fact, it jump-started a whole new path in my career—helping businesses and entrepreneurs to achieve and sustain greater success with storytelling. And it was all because I presented at that one conference, which I’d originally thought had not been worth my time.

The lesson to me was abundantly clear: We are always writing our own stories in our head, and the story I had been writing in mine was short-sighted. I had come to believe that because I had spent a good deal of time and money on the conference and hadn’t gotten any immediate consulting jobs from it, it wasn’t worthwhile. Well, that story turned out to be erroneous!

Often in life, we don’t know what will come from our efforts. Even though there were only 12 people in the audience, I still gave 110 percent in my lecture. As it turned out, one of those 12 people was impressed enough that she recommended me for a job, which ended up changing the course of my life.

So I rewrote my story in my head and learned a good lesson. When you’re doing your job, you never know how your efforts might have a positive impact on others and, in turn, on your own life. In other words, when you interact with others, there is always a chance that the person you are sitting next to in a workshop, on a plane, or in a restaurant, for example, could be instrumental in furthering you along an exciting new path in your life.

My story, part two: the sequel

My story doesn’t just end there. After all, I had a job to do working with a team of global brand managers for a huge multinational hair care brand and a group of ad executives at J. Walter Thompson (JWT). They were all seasoned professionals in a realm that was new to me. So, before we first spoke, I was nervous. How could I really help them? Yet, at the same time, I must admit that I was also quite intrigued by the challenge. I set up a date and time for a phone conference to discuss things further.

In my initial phone conversation with the global brand director and the JWT worldwide director in charge of hair care, they both asked me only one thing: “As a Hollywood story expert, do you believe it’s possible to tell real stories, compelling hair dramas—you know, stories about the real hair problems that real women face on a daily basis—in less than 30 seconds? Can it be done? Will it work?”

I answered, “Absolutely! As long as you’re willing to follow the basic precepts of good storytelling.”

“Okay then, fine,” one of them said. “But remember. In a 30-second commercial, once you include our product shot and product demo, you really only have 22 seconds left.”

“No problem.” I replied. “A story is a story, whether it runs the two-hour length of a feature film or only 22 seconds. It’s just that the less time you have to tell the story, the more adept you must be at establishing your characters, the conflict, and the three-act structure.”

As if in a Hollywood movie, the next thing I knew, I was in a fancy hotel in Havana, Cuba, of all places, lecturing in a large room filled with both brand and ad execs from all over the world. I was articulating the principles of story to them, and we began to create a classic structure that would work for 22-second hair dramas. But, alas, we hit a bump.

As happens in all dramatically interesting stories (more on this later), conflict and tension arose. I began getting a heck of a lot of opposition from some of the executives. This story thing was new and different and, well, a bit uncomfortable for many of them. And they were resisting it!

You see, 80 to 90 percent of all commercials are not story-based; they are premise-based. In other words, there is a much greater comfort level with TV spots that convey specific product benefits to the consumer and that do not tell stories.

The executives asked for an example of a modern, premise-based TV commercial. So I screened an award-winning commercial for Tabasco sauce set in the Louisiana backwoods. The thrust of the commercial is based upon what the good people at Tabasco want you to know: Their product is hot!

They dramatize this product benefit by showing you a hot afternoon on the bayou. A mosquito sucks the blood of a Cajun guy who has just ingested a meal covered with Tabasco sauce. The mosquito then flies away. A moment later, the hot, Tabasco-sauce-filled blood overpowers the mosquito and he explodes. Bam! (You can find this commercial and others like it at YouTube.com.)

It’s a funny spot. (I was not involved in making it; I was just a fan.) More importantly to the people at Tabasco, it is a good dramatization of what they need you to understand about their product: Their sauce really is hot, hot, hot!

But is it a story? No. And, if it were rewritten into a story, could it be an even better commercial? I think so. Let me explain further. In this spot, the main character is the Cajun guy who is hanging out. If we rewrote the spot so that at the beginning we see that he is plagued by mosquitoes biting him and terrorizing him all day and night, we would feel for him and understand his dilemma. Then, when he fails to defeat the mosquitoes with conventional means and decides to use Tabasco sauce instead, we would cheer for him when he achieves victory. This, then, is an example of taking a good spot and adding story elements to make it great.

The JWT executives heard my argument and got it. They soon came to see that what they were resisting and had seen as a potential problem was really an opportunity. Because so many of the commercials around the globe are not story-based, there is a huge opening here for something different and more impactful: good storytelling.

The previously mentioned global brand director saw this opening and that is why he had brought us together. He believed in the power of story and he urged us to capitalize on it. So we did. Led by his vision and the backing of a courageous, pioneering ad agency, we forged ahead to get to the heart of some hair stories.

Together, we worked to create a new kind of commercial storytelling that fit the world of hair care: real stories based upon real women with real hair problems. We vowed to develop 22-second hair dramas that could do more than just demonstrate the qualities of a new shampoo and would also, through story, convey brand characteristics, product insights, and specific personality traits and sensibilities.

Our goal was clear and simple. By telling a good story about this brand of shampoo, we would ensure that when consumers walked by and saw it on the supermarket shelf next to several other brands, they would have a positive emotional response to it, caused by the commercial stories they had seen and enjoyed.

As a result, they would prefer this brand, choosing it over others. In other words, our hair dramas fostered a feeling of kinship toward the brand, an emotional closeness, creating a loyalty to this brand. Every marketer’s dream come true, right?

The success of our intentionally adding storytelling to the ad campaign was confirmed, yet again, in a recent conversation I had with an executive who no longer works with the brand but did years ago. She said there was a huge spike in sales when we did the hair dramas. Then, when a new team was brought in and they went back to the old-school mode of showing models flipping their hair and animation of molecules onscreen, sales plummeted and the brand never really recovered.

Storytelling, if done right, can help captivate and capture the brand’s target market. But the key thing here is that the storytelling must be done right. You must clearly establish the insights and themes you want your stories to convey, and then you must execute them perfectly to effectively communicate that information. In doing so, you can differentiate your product from all the rest and really story-sell.

I must admit, though, that during this time another bump in the road kept reappearing over and over again. Many “creative” execs at the agency did not like the idea of being bound by the rules of storytelling. They tried to reject what they thought of as a strait-jacket that limited their infinite creativity.

I refused to accept this. Rules are not a negative thing. As this book will make abundantly clear, you do not have to break any rules to be creative. There is tremendous room inside the box; there are millions of sonnets out there. And the rules aren’t straitjackets; they’re merely inspirational guidelines!

Speaking of rules, many of the basic tenets of dramatic structure came into being for only one reason: They work! They were first outlined by Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago, and they have not changed much since then because our underlying human nature hasn’t changed much since then. Aristotle stated that drama functions in the following three act structure:

Act 1: Set up/inciting incident/dilemma.

Act 2: Develop story further/crisis/decision and action.

Act 3: Climax/resolution.

Just look at every hit TV show and blockbuster Hollywood film and you will see that they all follow certain basic story parameters and precepts. Yet, even though these stories follow these certain circumscribed parameters, they are each very different.

Rules can be liberating if they are understood and not seen as confining. They give you structure. And they allow you tremendous freedom within this structure.

So, in each group that I worked with, we resolved to follow the rules but also try to stretch them a bit. I was impressed with the corporate culture of the companies I worked with. Female and male executives and entire sales teams yearned to put their own personal stamp on the creation of spots that told real and unique stories, rather than simply having every single one featuring slow-motion shots of gorgeous women flipping their gorgeous heads of hair. It’s easy to go online and find many bad examples of hair flip commercials, as well as a bevy of spots that make fun of such ridiculousness.

JWT copywriters from around the world generated a series of new hair dramas. Stories—moving, powerful, emotional stories—were told in 22 seconds or less. I’m thrilled to report that one of the first hair drama spots we worked on together, entitled “Lecture Hall,” was voted by Chinese viewers as one of their 10 “Most Admired Commercials” for that year. And it was the only personal-care brand to make the list, along with brands like VW, Pepsi, and Intel. The success of the campaign was a real tribute to all the people, both marketing and advertising agency execs, who worked so hard to do something different.

At this point you may be wondering, “Well, that’s great if you are a big corporation that can afford to hire a creative agency like J. Walter Thompson, but what if you are a small business with only a minimal marketing budget?”

Well, for starters, the secrets of storytelling are accessible to anyone who has an open mind, a willingness to look at your story from different perspectives and then rework it, and a desire to learn and grow.

Think about it. If, through storytelling, you can integrate your product’s brand benefits into your audience’s larger life purpose, then haven’t you created a deep connection that can really pay off?

Do you, as a marketer, have the bravery to subsume your brand into your story? Do you have the courage to write a new story that incorporates the product benefit in the context of your consumer’s life? And if you can pull this off, don’t you think many of your customers will want to have a long-term relationship with you?

In summary

There are universal rules behind good storytelling, but now with the rise of new media forms and social media, the way you need to tell stories has changed. We used to focus on product benefits. But today, in a world where consumers are inundated with choices, if you want your products and services to be noticed and adopted, you must go beyond functionality and be rooted in a purpose that engages people.

A product or service must go beyond a transaction or list of functions. You need to provide an experience that adds value to someone’s life through fulfilling a need or satisfying a desire. You need to connect with your customers via a strong brand narrative that translates into all forms of social media.

Every touch point that a consumer has with you and your product must revolve around your Brand DNA and the narrative that emerges from it.

I created this book so that I can share my more than 25 years of knowledge of storytelling with you and that we might co-create a new brand narrative for you that will spark discussion, engage emotions, and foster loyalty.

Brand narratives are more than just a group of facts about you. They must place these facts in an emotional context that engages consumers. And narratives are the world’s oldest and most effective way to do this.

Together, let’s explore the stories being told in the business world today. The age of the one-way narrative street is over. We are seeing stories as the basis of a conversation in which you have a chance to frame the narrative and set the tone for the conversation in which stories are shared by all: brand creators, marketers, users, and customers.

True, you cannot dictate the conversation and, thus, control your consumer’s stories. But if you understand the need for story and why it conveys the Brand DNA of your company, that story will become the touchstone for all conversation about your company or product. And there are rules as to why stories work and what you can do to improve their emotional impact.

So rewrite and activate your brand by learning about the story you are telling and how you can improve that story so that it will both frame the conversation about your product and company, as well as inspire consumer stories that build off your narrative.

Don’t let the conversations on social media overtake you and alter the way the world sees you and your product. Instead, dictate the rules of the conversation and create the discussion.

After reading this book, you will be able to use your new game-changing knowledge of storytelling to set the tone for offline and online narratives that will lead to the future success of your company and product.

And always, “Be bold. Be brave. Hook ‘em by telling better stories.”