Storyselling NantonDicks2
Storyselling NantonDicks2
Storyselling NantonDicks2
Celebrity Press®
Winter Park, Florida
Contents
Foreword ................................................................11
Preface – Jacob’s Turn .............................................. 15
Introduction .................................................................. 21
ACT i
The Power of StorySelling™
How It Works
CHAPTER 1
StorySelling™
In The Beginning ......................................................... 27
CHAPTER 2
The Science of StorySelling™
Hitting the “Love Hormone” ................................... 37
CHAPTER 3
StorySelling™ is Believing:
The Truth About Fact and Fiction ........................ 47
ACT Ii
The Business of
StorySelling™
How It Works
CHAPTER 4
StorySelling™
The Secret to Celebrity
Branding® Success ............................................... 59
CHAPTER 5
Your StorySelling™ Journey
Keying into The Ultimate Story ............................. 69
CHAPTER 6
The Four Most Effective
StorySelling™ Plots
Choosing Your Narrative ......................................... 81
CHAPTER 7
Your StorySelling™
Logline
The First Step to Your Narrative ........................... 91
CHAPTER 8
The Storytelling Behind
StorySelling™
Six Marvelous Steps to
Implementing Your Narrative ................................. 103
CHAPTER 9
Putting Your StorySelling™
All Together
The Branded Film ....................................................... 113
CHAPTER 10
StorySelling™ in Action
The Car Men Case Study ........................................ 125
ACT iii
StorySelling™ in Action
Realizing Results
CHAPTER 11
Cementing Your StorySelling™
Gaining Internal and External Control ................ 143
CHAPTER 12
StorySelling™
and Core Values
The Results Fitness Case Study .......................... 157
CHAPTER 13
Marketing through
StorySelling™
Creating Cumulative Impact .................................. 169
CHAPTER 14
StorySelling™ for a Cause
Boosting Awareness, Raising
Money and Creating Change ................................. 179
CHAPTER 15
StorySelling™ with
Social Media
Creating (and Controlling)
the Conversation ........................................................ 189
CHAPTER 16
The Next Chapter of
Your StorySelling™
Securing Your Brand for the Future .................... 201
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
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StorySelling
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FOREWORD
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StorySelling
Dan S. Kennedy
Author, No B.S. Trust-Based Marketing and 18 other business books (www.
NoBSBooks.com), marketing strategy consultant, direct-response copywrit-
er, and editor, No B.S. Marketing Letter (www.DanKennedy.com)
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PREFACE – JACOB’S TURN
PREFACE
JACOB’S TURN
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StorySelling
The guy with the laptop? His name turned out to be Jim Titus
– and the picture on his display was of his four year-old son,
Jacob Titus. His response to Nick’s compliment was, “He’s an
amazing blessing to us.” He also added that his son had Down
Syndrome.
The conversation continued. Jim told Nick that he worked for
UPS; Nick told Jim about our Celebrity Branding Agency and
how we managed clients all across the country and helped them
achieve high-profile status. He also mentioned his experience in
entertainment, producing award-winning albums and television
shows.
Jim may have lived in Indiana, as far away from the entertain-
ment industry as you can imagine, but he was still very inter-
ested in Nick’s background - for a very specific reason. Because
of his son’s condition, Jim’s family was very involved with the
Down Syndrome Support Association of Southern Indiana. The
organization was going to hold a silent auction during its annual
Buddy Walk event – and Jim wondered if Nick had any “celeb-
rity items” he could contribute. Nick agreed to look into it and
they exchanged email addresses. A few weeks later, Nick sent
Jim a couple of CDs autographed by country music stars Rascal
Flatts and Bucky Covington for the auction, and that was that.
Except it wasn’t.
Four months later, Jim emailed Nick an article his wife had writ-
ten about their son which was entitled, “Jacob’s Turn.” It was
a beautifully written article about Jacob’s experience playing
T-ball that year (which is why Jacob was wearing the baseball
uniform in the photo) and it moved both of us to tears. Here are
a few excerpts from her story:
__________________________
When I signed my kids up this year [for baseball,] I was un-
sure of how it would go. Not for my daughter Lauren, 10 or my
older son Matthew, 8, but for my youngest. I didn’t know how the
coaches would feel about having him on their team. I wondered
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PREFACE – JACOB’S TURN
how the parents of the other children would react and then there
were the kids. What I did know is that my kid loved to play ball
and he would get his chance. My youngest son loves to bat, loves
to run, loves to play catcher. Jacob also happens to have Down
syndrome.”
His coach’s name was Eric Sprigler. The first time he met Ja-
cob he smiled, shook his hand, and asked if he was ready to
play some ball. Jacob assured him he was and so, just like that,
it started. The team had two assistant coaches Brian Hooper
and Kevin Reed. All three of these men were patient and kind.
They seemed genuinely proud of what Jacob could do and how
much he improved. As there should be in t-ball, there were lots of
high fives and people saying “Good job!” and “Nice try!” There
were also more smiles than I could ever count….
But still, how I worried and watched. Watched and worried.
What were the other parents thinking? Were they saying he didn’t
belong? I didn’t have to wonder for long… When Jacob was at
bat he had an amazing cheering section. It seemed to include
everyone watching the game. Jacob would make it to first, every-
one would cheer and he would take a couple of bows. The first
base coach told me he was saying, “Thank you, thank you” as
he bowed. Several parents from our team and from other teams
would take pictures of Jacob for us and send them to us.
As a parent, you put your children out there. You pray that people
will be kind to them. You want them to accept them and you want
them to belong. You sometimes dare to hope that someone might
even notice what a great kid you have and appreciate him for
who he is. It was a beautiful season. Jacob and his family were
given a time we will always remember. It wasn’t a time that was
centered around doctor visits or therapies or special teachers. It
was time for Jacob to just be a kid, like everyone else, swinging
for the fence. His dad and I want to express our appreciation to
the coaches, parents, players, umpires and the community. We
live in such a great place and if “Baseball is life,” then Jacob
will be just fine.
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Jacob’s story was amazing – his skills developed over the season
and his team almost won the championship; the season ended
with the coaches giving Jacob a ball autographed by the local
minor league baseball team, The Louisville Bats, as a special
prize for his hard work and dedication.
We both felt Jacob’s story was important – and we wondered
how we could help the story go viral to somehow benefit the
Down Syndrome Support Association. We finally brainstormed
the perfect answer. That answer? Tell the story in movie form – a
film that could be placed online and potentially reach millions
of people.
Movies are, of course, an expensive proposition – but, luckily,
we also had access to a circle of expert marketers and entrepre-
neurs who would probably be willing to help.
So, we created Marketers for Good (now known as
Entrepreneurs International Foundation), a non-profit
organization whose initial project would be the short film,
“Jacob’s Turn.” With financial backing from all our new
“executive producers,” Nick flew into the Titus’ home town of
Floyds Knobs, Indiana in May of 2010 with a film crew – and,
with the community’s help, they recreated Jacob’s magical first
season playing on a baseball field.
Through interviews with Jacob’s family, his coaches, his team-
mates and other townspeople – and some beautiful cinematog-
raphy provided by our crew – Jacob’s story was fully realized in
a seven-minute short film that we posted online and that quickly
did, in fact, go viral; it ended up spurring donations to help pay
for some of Jacob’s special therapies and classes, and to top it all
off, the film was even honored with an Emmy award.
But none of this would have happened if it hadn’t been such a
strong and moving story to begin with. When viewers watched
this film, they connected with Jacob and his family in such a deep
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PREFACE – JACOB’S TURN
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
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ACT i
The Power of
StorySelling™
How It Works
Chapter 1
StorySelling™
In The Beginning
So, one day, Gronk was headed back home after a particularly
good hunt. As he dragged a dead bison behind him, he whistled
a happy tune, not realizing it was a few notes away from being
the future theme of “Wheel of Fortune.” The family would be
happy with the dinner he was bringing back. Yep, 15,324 B.C.
was shaping up to be a great year.
As he entered his cave, he left the bison out front for the women
to clean and cook. He took off his hunting fur and put on his
evening fur, then laid down on the dirt for a little relaxation; he
needed to unwind with some entertainment. Then he remem-
bered TV hadn’t been invented yet, there wasn’t even radio, nor
would there be a New York Times crossword puzzle to solve for
about 16,000 years or so. The Nintendo system he built out of
rocks also wasn’t a whole gang of fun either.
So…Gronk stared at the drab, dark cave wall by his head and
sighed. A bunch of kids ran up to him and grunted at him inquisi-
tively, pointing at the dead bison, whose festive aroma was at-
tracting attention. Gronk knew they wanted to know how he had
managed to kill the creature, but he was beat and way too tired to
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StorySelling – In The Beginning
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StorySelling – In The Beginning
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StorySelling – In The Beginning
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The Science of StorySelling – Hitting the “Love Hormone”
Chapter 2
The Science
of StorySelling™
Hitting the “Love Hormone”
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The Science of StorySelling – Hitting the “Love Hormone”
as, of course, you took it easy on the mayo, bacon and cheese!).
But why was Jared necessary to make that kind of impact? Why
couldn’t simple and verifiable health facts deliver the same mes-
sage – and, in turn, motivate the same rise of sales? For that an-
swer, we have to examine the science of StorySelling™. Don’t
worry, you won’t have to memorize any formulas and there
won’t be a test – but you will learn some very surprising secrets
about the power of stories.
1Jorge A. Barraza and Paul J. Zak, “Empathy toward Strangers Triggers Oxytocin Release and
Subsequent Generosity,” June 2009, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
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The Science of StorySelling – Hitting the “Love Hormone”
4 Benedict Carey, “Decoding the Brain’s Cacophony,” The New York Times, October 31st, 2011
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The Science of StorySelling – Hitting the “Love Hormone”
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The Science of StorySelling – Hitting the “Love Hormone”
6Kalanit Grill-Spector and Rafael Malach, “The Human Visual Cortex,” Department of Psy-
chology and Neuroscience, Stanford University, 2004
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(By the way, if you want to see more of your tax dollars at work,
you can check out his full report at: http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/
GetTRDoc?AD=ADA521449 .)
As we’ve hopefully demonstrated in this chapter, a myriad of
scientists and researchers have all come up with the same con-
clusion about stories – that certain ones really do answer primal
needs that we all need to have met.
That’s what makes StorySelling™ so powerful. When done cor-
rectly, it hits the human brain with an incredible impact, most of
which is felt on a subconscious level. It also activates the plea-
sure centers of the brain – which makes you want to hear more.
Jared’s diet breakthrough saga accomplished all that and more. It
made a treat into a health food (“You mean you can lose weight
by eating 6-inch subs?”) and it created the perception that Sub-
way’s food wasn’t just good to eat, it was also good for you.
The campaign was as effective as it could have possibly been,
simply because Jared’s story was true – and yet unbelievable at
the same time.
But, wait - did Jared’s story actually need to be true?
We’re about to let you in on another big story secret: The answer
is no – and in the next chapter, we’ll tell you why.
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StorySelling is Believing – The Truth About Fact and Fiction
Chapter 3
StorySelling™
is Believing
The Truth About Fact and Fiction
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1 John Lennon later revealed, the voice was saying “Cranberry sauce.”
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StorySelling is Believing – The Truth About Fact and Fiction
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StorySelling is Believing – The Truth About Fact and Fiction
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StorySelling is Believing – The Truth About Fact and Fiction
before it does catch up with you. And with social media ready to
blow the whistle at the drop of a hat and virally bust you, your
window for successful deception is very short – as short as a few
minutes, in some cases.
The fact is, even when your StorySelling™ is effective, your au-
dience won’t be as heavily invested in your narrative as they are
in, say, their religion, their politics or their relationships. That
means that, while you can achieve “transportation,” it’s still a
tenuous ride that could be quickly derailed - if the story you’re
telling is ultimately a false one.
We’ll discuss the secrets of authenticity later in this book – but
for now, understand that StorySelling™ offers you your best
chance at reaching people on a deep, meaningful level that can
genuinely motivate them to buy from you. Long term, however,
you can’t misuse that power – or it will come back to haunt you
in ways you won’t want to happen.
This chapter concludes our examination of why stories them-
selves have such a profound impact on us all. In the next section
of the book, we’ll be moving on to discuss how to make your
story as powerful as possible – because you’ll find that when
you tell the right story in the right way, you’ll have all the sci-
ence and history we just talked about on your side.
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ACT ii
The Business of
StorySelling™
How It Works
Chapter 4
StorySelling™
The Secret to Celebrity
Branding Success
®
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StorySelling – The Secret to Celebrity Branding® Success
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StorySelling – The Secret to Celebrity Branding® Success
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StorySelling – The Secret to Celebrity Branding® Success
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StorySelling – The Secret to Celebrity Branding® Success
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Your StorySelling Journey – Keying into The Ultimate Story
Chapter 5
Your StorySelling™
Journey
Keying into The Ultimate Story
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Your StorySelling Journey – Keying into The Ultimate Story
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myths that our ancestors told about heroes, gods and monsters,
as well as the stories that informed religions, held together cul-
tures and inspired movements.
And here’s the startling fact he discovered about all of them;
they all basically told the same story. The versions, details and
the names, of course, changed – but all the narratives followed a
certain pattern that was set in stone…well, back in the Stone Age.
Campbell called this story “The Hero Myth” or “Monomyth”;
we like to think of it as “The Ultimate Story,” because it’s the
tale mankind likes to tell more than any other. It generates an
incredibly strong psychological pull that’s irresistible to an audi-
ence – which is why Hollywood’s biggest filmmakers like to use
The Ultimate Story in their epics. And even though those movies
may seem fantastic and completely irrelevant to our lives (as the
Star Wars movies would seem to be), they still hit our brains in
that sweet spot we talked about in Chapter 2.
But why do we react to them so strongly? What makes us get
so involved with a story set in outer space with spaceship dog-
fights, princesses and giant furry sidekicks? Simple. The plot
of The Ultimate Story actually reflects universal concerns that
all of us face throughout our own lives. Yes, the conflicts may
be taking place in outer space, but they’re still similar to chal-
lenges we deal with here on Mother Earth. And we want to see
the “hero” of The Ultimate Story conquer his problems and suc-
ceed – because that gives us hope that we can do the same. His
win becomes our win. That’s why the Ultimate Story has such a
profound effect on all of humanity – and also why it will have a
profound effect on your audience.
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Your StorySelling Journey – Keying into The Ultimate Story
you’re probably not even familiar with. It’s his story that really
grabs people – his autobiography is still a huge best seller.
The fact is Steve Jobs lived a life that unknowingly fulfilled all
the requirements of Campbell’s Ultimate Story. And we’re about
to prove it.
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Your StorySelling Journey – Keying into The Ultimate Story
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Your StorySelling Journey – Keying into The Ultimate Story
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The Four Most Effective StorySelling Plots – Choosing Your Narrative
Chapter 6
So this young actor was down to his last dime. Although he had
gotten a few decent roles in movies, he still wasn’t making the
rent. He had hocked his wife’s jewelry and even acted in a soft-
core porn movie in a desperate attempt to stay afloat while he
worked on his career.
But now he had an idea for a movie - a great movie. He was de-
termined to write the screenplay. He knew it would turn things
around. First, however, he needed a few bucks. He went out on
the street and sold his dog. It was about all he had left and he
only got fifty bucks for it.
He returned to his crummy apartment and kept typing for over
24 hours straight – not stopping until he had finished the script.
He knew a producing team that liked him and would read it
when it was done – so he wanted to waste no time. He hurried
over to their offices with the pages.
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They read it. And they went crazy over it. They offered him over
a hundred thousand dollars for it – more money than he had ever
seen in his life.
And he said, “Fine…as long as I play the lead.”
The producers looked at him like he was nuts. Was this guy seri-
ous? He was a nobody. They couldn’t make him the star.
But he wouldn’t budge.
Meanwhile, the producers showed the script to a couple of stu-
dios to make sure it was commercial. The studios loved it too –
and they wanted to make it, as long as an established star played
the lead. They passed it around – some of the biggest superstars
at the time expressed interest. The producers went back to the
actor and said, “Look, Paul Newman wants to be in this thing.
We’ll up the price. You can be in the next thing you write. But
sell this one to us now.”
The actor, who wasn’t quite sure where his next meal was coming
from, again refused. Either he played the lead – or he didn’t sell.
Finally, the producers backed down. They loved the script too
much – and they decided they could make the movie for a low
enough budget that they could at least make their money back.
They made the deal – the actor starred in the movie – and the
film’s success took the world by storm.
If you haven’t guessed by now, the movie was Rocky and the
actor was Sylvester Stallone. Tony Robbins, among other mo-
tivational speakers, has used this story over and over again to
demonstrate the power of positive thinking and why you have to
commit yourself to your goals. Stallone’s struggle to realize his
dreams was an inspiration to everyone who heard it.
Only one problem with all this…the story is almost completely
fabricated.
When the first “Rocky” film was released way back in 1976,
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The Four Most Effective StorySelling Plots – Choosing Your Narrative
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The Four Most Effective StorySelling Plots – Choosing Your Narrative
The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Indiana Jones movies
both exemplify this time-honored storyline.
4) The Voyage
In “The Voyage,” the hero finds himself sent to a magical
place, where everyday rules are no longer in play. At first,
the trip is fun until something dark makes itself known,
which the hero must conquer. In the process, he or she
overcomes some internal problem, and then returns home.
Prime examples of this plot are The Wizard of Oz and
Gulliver’s Travels, and even the children’s classic, Where
the Wild Things Are. More modern examples would be In-
ception and even The Devil Wears Prada.
5) Comedy
This is a pretty obvious category. We’ve all seen enough
comedies to know they’re usually about situations that
are...well, funny; big misunderstandings or people out of
their element trying to pull something off they shouldn’t
try to attempt or pretending to be something they’re not.
Think of Woody Allen in his early films faking it as a la-
dies’ man, or, more recently, Will Ferrell being the buffoon
in any number of scenarios (half of an ice skating team in
Blades of Glory, an egotistical newscaster in Anchorman,
etc.).
6) Tragedy
Tragedy, of course, is the other side of comedy - it’s all
about the unhappy ending and involves very bad things
happening to the protagonist, frequently including his or
her death. Shakespeare was big on tragedy - Romeo and Ju-
liet, Hamlet and Macbeth are all plays where pretty much
everybody we like dies. These days, movies like Scarface
and Goodfellas serve as our modern-day tragedies.
7) Rebirth
Rebirth is the storyline that snatches triumph from the
jaws of the tragic defeat. It’s Ebenezer Scrooge buying the
Cratchit family a turkey on Christmas morning in A Christ-
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The Four Most Effective StorySelling Plots – Choosing Your Narrative
Now, let’s delve into this Final Four in more detail to show how
Stallone capitalized on them - and how you can too.
StorySelling™ Plot #1: Overcoming the Monster
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Your StorySelling Logline – The First Step to Your Narrative
Chapter 7
Your StorySelling™
Logline
The First Step to Your Narrative
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Now, it was almost midnight and the agency head was begin-
ning to panic. They had to have the slogan in place tomorrow to
show the client. So he paced around at home trying to think of
something - anything - that might work.
And for some reason Norman Mailer came to mind.
He had recently read Mailer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The
Executioner’s Song about the murderer Gary Gilmore, who Mail-
er had gotten to know when the convict was on death row. And he
suddenly remembered what Gilmore’s last words were before they
flicked on the switch of the electric chair where he was seated.
“Let’s do it,” Gilmore had said.
The agency head remembered those words and how brave they
had seemed to him, even coming from the mouth of a ruthless
killer. It was a strong statement. And it seemed to him like it was
exactly the kind of statement they needed.
But “Let’s” was wrong. Everything wasn’t a group activity.
It should be “Just.” “Just do it.”
He thought that just might work for Nike.
Believe it or not, the above is a totally true story. Dan Wieden,
one of the partners in the innovative Wieden Kennedy ad agency
(the ad agency’s work propelled Nike to be named “Advertiser
of the Year” twice at the Cannes Film Festival, the only com-
pany ever to have that honor), was completely stuck for a Nike
slogan – until he remembered Gary Gilmore’s last words.
But that’s not how the creation of “Just Do It” was told for about
twenty years. For obvious reasons, Wieden and Nike didn’t
think it was a great idea to make public the fact that Nike’s fa-
mous slogan was inspired by a cold-blooded murderer. Instead,
Wieden just said it came about by accident in a meeting with
Phil Knight, the head of Nike – until he finally admitted the truth
in a documentary a few years ago.
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Your StorySelling Logline – The First Step to Your Narrative
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Your StorySelling Logline – The First Step to Your Narrative
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You can see the difference. The first headline is just a descrip-
tion; the second headline tells a story.
Here are a few other examples of obituary headlines that would
reflect a lifetime of successful StorySelling™:
CEO BATTLED CHILDHOOD POVERTY TO
BUILD SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
INTERNET MARKETER MADE CLIENTS
INTO MILLIONAIRES
INNOVATIVE DENTIST USED CUTTING-EDGE
TECHNOLOGY TO HELP PATIENTS
REAL ESTATE AGENT’S CHARITY WORK BONDED
HER TO COMMUNITY AND CLIENTS
You see what we mean? These headlines differentiate their
subjects and make them more than just another professional.
They’re known for something specific and beneficial that they
accomplish. So go ahead. Work on that second obituary. It’s
okay, we’ll go return a few phone calls…
Finished with the second one? Awesome. Now, take a look
at the first one you wrote and compare it with your second
one. If they’re pretty similar, you’re in good shape; if they’re
very different, however, you’re looking at the distance that
StorySelling™ will need to transport your Celebrity Brand. You
want to get it to a place where that second obituary is the default
perception customers have about you; it’s that perception that
will not only bond them more strongly to you or your company,
but also attract a multitude of new clients on a consistent basis.
Now, many of you may have had difficulty coming up with that
second obit. You weren’t sure what to write – or aren’t happy
with what you ended up writing. Whatever the case is, we assure
you, you’re not alone; remember Dan Wieden pacing the floor
at midnight. So, if you’re having trouble coming up with your
logline, let’s drill a little deeper and see if we strike oil.
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Your StorySelling Logline – The First Step to Your Narrative
2 Visibility will most likely be something you’ll have to create down the line, so don’t worry a
great deal about that at the moment.
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These are the main crucial areas you can explore to create your
own logline. Some of these areas overlap and you may end up
tapping into more than one of them for your final composition
(as long as you keep it simple!).
Now, only you can decide what is the right logline for your
StorySelling™ narrative. Again, however, it’s useful to do a re-
ality check by showing your choice to friends and associates, as
well as any branding consultants you might employ, to ensure
your logline is both authentic and impactful. Remember - just
because it works for you doesn’t necessarily mean it will work
for your customers, so feedback is essential.
Once you’ve decided on your logline, consider it the foundation
of your StorySelling™ efforts; from here, you’ll build an overall
narrative that strengthens your Celebrity Brand and allows you to
create powerful extensions of that brand that will carry through
into everything you do on a professional – and sometimes, per-
sonal – level (just as Trump’s and Branson’s brands do).
In the next chapter, we’ll explore how you put together that narra-
tive. And don’t worry, it won’t end up being your obituary – it’ll
be more like your Celebrity Branding® birth announcement!
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The Storytelling Behind StorySelling
Chapter 8
The Storytelling
Behind StorySelling™
Six Marvelous Steps to
Implementing Your Narrative
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But DC Comics, the perennial industry leader, had just had some
success with a new superhero group title, The Justice League
of America, which brought together Batman, Superman and a
bunch of other costumed crusaders – so Stanley’s uncle sug-
gested that he create one as well. Stanley wasn’t happy with the
whole idea. As a matter of fact, he was ready to quit the whole
business. Superheroes were kind of silly and they had been out
of fashion for years. He didn’t want to write another copycat
comic: he was convinced he needed a career change if he was
ever really going to make his creative mark.
So he went home and talked through his frustrations with his
wife. She was frustrated with those frustrations and finally told
him, “Look, don’t just quit. You’ve been going through the mo-
tions for years, doing what everybody else was telling you to do.
Do this one the way you want to do it, put everything into this
new comic and see what happens. You can always quit later.”
Stanley thought about it and finally decided, why not? He didn’t
have anything to lose – he might as well go for it. So, using his
pen name of Stan Lee, he created The Fantastic Four with art-
ist Jack Kirby - and was as shocked as anybody when the sales
figures came in a few months later; kids were buying up the new
comic like crazy. His uncle, always ready to drive whatever was
successful into the ground, quickly ordered him to make more
superhero comics, so Stan did. In short order came an incredible
creative burst that produced Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk,
The X-Men, Iron Man, The Mighty Thor and The Avengers – it
was like something inside Stanley had been finally unleashed.
And that something began to find its way into every part of
the business. Stan rebranded the whole line, calling it “Marvel
Comics,” and gave every cover the same distinctive design. He
pushed the boundaries of traditional comics publishing and sto-
rytelling in every way; in-jokes abounded, and adventures were
continued from issue to issue for the first time, just like soap
operas. Stories were also more adult; they were an entirely new
combination of the boy-girl dramas Stan had concocted for his
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4) Rebirth
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Stan Lee’s big mistake during his first twenty years in the comic
book business was seeing it as a job and not an opportunity.
Most of you reading this book have probably made that same
mistake at one time or another – it’s the difference between an
employee and an entrepreneur. When he finally saw that he had
the power to make something completely new happen with his
comics, he used that power – and found out that it packed a lot
more punch than any that The Hulk ever threw.
When you develop a strong StorySelling™ narrative and
implement it correctly, as Stan did, it feeds on itself, it grows
stronger and stronger, and it opens up more and more layers of
opportunity as you move forward with it. There were very few
businesses in 1961 sillier, more inconsequential and perceived to
have less of a future than comic books – and yet Stanley Lieber
took that business and transformed it in such a dynamic way
through StorySelling™ that, a half-century later, it’s paying its
biggest dividends ever – both for himself and the company.
And for that, we salute Stan with the one word he uses as a sign-
off in whatever he writes: “Excelsior!”
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Chapter 9
Putting Your
StorySelling™
All Together
The Branded Film
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way possible; the person merely speaks to the camera and ex-
plains who they are or what they do. This is effective as a quick
introduction to a website, or explaining a specific product or ser-
vice, but, as far as StorySelling™ a brand goes, it only can do so
much – especially if it ends up looking more like a hostage video
than a real movie.
A successful Branded Film, in contrast, boasts high production
values and an impactful emotional story. It raises the bar for the
entrepreneur who really wants to present the most polished and
professional brand possible, while, at the same time, make the
strongest possible emotional connection to both customers and
non-customers.
This is just the route the Justin Bieber management team took
to boost their client’s already red-hot profile when they released
the Bieber documentary, Never Say Never, to theatres in 2011.
This was the ultimate Branded Film event - and was a giant fi-
nancial success as well, grossing over 70 million dollars in the
U.S. alone. As Forbes put it, “Never Say Never was a brilliant
way for the Bieber brand team to tell its story and, just as bril-
liantly, get it out there when the media wind was at its back.
When you’re on a roll, do what you can to keep the momentum
going.”1
Of course, when you go to the time, trouble and expense to pro-
duce a high-level Branded Film, you want to make sure you have
an effective marketing plan in place in terms of how you present
that film to your audience. In our next chapter, we’ll show you
one that worked like gangbusters for one of our clients.
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Pixar Story Point #1: Once upon a time, there was _______.
Everyday, ______________. One day, __________________.
Because of that, ___________. Because of that, __________.
Until finally, __________________.
No, this isn’t Pixar’s version of Mad-Libs; filling in these blanks
allows you to flesh out the backbone of any story. When you’re
constructing your narrative for your Branded Film, you want to
make sure the story keeps moving forward – and has a begin-
ning, middle and end. If you watch Michael Moore’s first movie,
Roger and Me, you’ll see his attempts to personally confront the
head of GM becomes the running narrative – you are hooked
because you want to see if he’s ever able to pull it off. Part of
the criticism surrounding this film is that Moore rearranged the
chronology of events – that, in fact, the meeting with Roger
Smith happened before other incidents in the film - but he did
make that choice to make sure his StorySelling™ worked to the
maximum effect.
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Pixar Story Point #5: What are the stakes? Give us reason
to root.
As all of the plotlines we’ve discussed make clear, audiences get
more invested in a story when there are big challenges that must
be overcome. What are the challenges you can portray in your
Branded Film? They could be in your personal story or they could
be an integral part of your business (for example, an investment
counselor trying to protect his clients’ savings in a difficult eco-
nomic time). StorySelling™ requires some tension – that tension
comes from facing obstacles that can seem insurmountable.
Pixar Story Point #6: Get the obvious out of the way—
Surprise yourself.
Nobody wants to watch a movie where they can already guess
the ending – unless there are enough surprises along the way
to make it fun and interesting. It’s all too easy to do what’s ex-
pected in a Branded Film – that’s why we always try to come at
our subject matter from unexpected directions and you should
too. Obviously, most of these kinds of movies end up as suc-
cess stories, because you want to StorySell yourself as someone
who’s good at what he or she is doing. What you do along the
way to get to the positive feel-good conclusion, however, should
be as unexpected as possible – and reveal things that the audi-
ence never saw coming. For example, even though the entire
plot of Roger and Me was obviously going to culminate in Mi-
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StorySelling in Action – The Car Men Case Study
Chapter 10
StorySelling™
in Action
The Car Men Case Study
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After a few more social media teases, Tracy finally put out the
first press release, with the headline, “Owner of Frank Myers
Auto Maxx Tapped as Feature Film Subject.” But before he put
it out, he made sure to bump up the buzz an extra notch by call-
ing up all his media connections and giving them a heads-up that
something big might be in the wind.
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Besides the newspaper story and press releases, Tracy also in-
vited area people to actually be a part of the film, with social
media updates like the following:
Nick came in with the crew (and, of course, Tracy had a news
crew waiting for our arrival at his house) and spent about two
and a half days filming around Winston-Salem and interviewing
Tracy and his family, keeping our StorySelling™ principles in
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Keep in mind, this was like a free commercial for Tracy and his
dealership, airing constantly on a news channel as a news story,
so it had the weight of credibility - and this is in addition to the
fact that the movie was featured in a piece on the front page of
the local newspaper. That’s the beauty of the Branded Film - its
value goes far beyond the film itself just because of its existence.
Local media are always looking for exciting stories happening
in the area - and the production of a local film about a local
business is a guaranteed attention-getter. Tracy’s existing media
relationships definitely helped, but, in any case, the making of
Car Men would have been a big deal.
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You should notice that, once again, just like he did with the local
media, Tracy got the movie theatre to not only host his movie
premiere for free, but he also inspired them to promote it to the
hilt. And Tracy didn’t stop there. Once we set the date of the
premiere, which was November 17th, 2011, he put out his own
press release giving the details of the big night and also saying
that people had to quickly request their tickets because seating
was going to be limited to first come, first served. Another stroke
of genius - because he instantly created scarcity and a higher
value to the premiere tickets.
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one in the time slot. It even beat the NFL pregame show on
CBS.” To me, it was unbelievable and unheard of. So we
were more than excited.
This started another snowball rolling downhill, because Tracy,
of course, publicized his huge ratings in another press release
- and, suddenly, two other local affiliates wanted to air the
Branded Film. Since the NBC affiliate didn’t ask for any kind
of exclusive deal, there was no problem with that. Those two
stations actually began running the program repeatedly - again
absolutely for free - weekday mornings in the 6 am - 7 am time
slots, as well as on Saturdays and Sundays.
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Now Tracy was not only selling copies of the DVD to those
who wanted to order it for $9.97, but he was also able to use
that DVD as a marketing tool to potential customers. Potential
leads often called in for more information - and Tracy’s people
would get their address and send them out the DVD, along with
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ACT Iii
StorySelling™
in Action
Realizing Results
Chapter 11
Cementing Your
StorySelling™
Gaining Internal and
External Control
So, in the middle of 1999, the entrepreneur had just cashed out
of one Internet start-up and was thinking about what his next
venture would be – when a friend left a message asking him if he
was interested in investing in an online business that would sell
shoes. Even though the dotcom bubble was at its peak, he was
inclined to delete the voicemail and move on. It sounded like, as
he put it later, “the poster child of bad Internet ideas.”
But, when he was confronted with the fact that footwear was
a forty-billion-dollar-a-year business at the time, and that mail
order sales already accounted for five percent of those sales, he
rethought the offer and decided to make the investment after all.
They structured the company with a “drop shipment” business
model – meaning that they have customer orders fulfilled by dif-
ferent vendors who had their own inventory and the warehouses
to store it in. That way the new venture wouldn’t need a lot of
infrastructure and the risk was relatively low.
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The “dotcom bubble” popped big-time the very next year – but
the shoe company was still standing. It brought in over a million
dollars in sales in 2000 and quadrupled that amount in 2001.
The entrepreneur began to see that this could work – and decid-
ed to become more involved as Co-CEO. The company opened
a small warehouse/fulfillment center and began to service some
orders themselves. And he began to develop both a vision and a
goal for the company.
The goal? To achieve one billion dollars in annual sales by the
year 2010 – and to make Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Com-
panies to Work For” List. The vision? They would no longer be
a company that just sold shoes: they would be a company that
provided the best possible customer service – that just happened
to sell shoes.
To fulfill that vision, they would have to eliminate drop ship-
ping entirely – otherwise, they could not control the complete
customer experience. Drop shipping at that time accounted for
a quarter of their total income – but, in his mind, the long-term
vision was more important than the short-term loss, so he took
the hit.
They retrained their customer service agents out of any bad hab-
its they may have picked up at other companies, such as keep-
ing calls as short as possible to make as many sales as possible.
Instead, agents were directed to give customers lengthy advice,
even to the point of sending them to competitors’ websites if
they couldn’t meet their needs. The company also put new hires
through a four week “customer loyalty” training program – and
then, after that program was completed, they made those new
hires an incredible offer.
The company would pay them two thousand dollars to quit.
Why? Well, if the new employee didn’t really care about what
company they worked at, they would take the money and run.
However, if they responded to the company culture, if they felt
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like this was the place for them, they would stay and be dedi-
cated to the company’s vision.
Over 97% turned down the two grand.
And those that stayed were treated very well: The company
provided their employees with free lunches, no-charge vending
machines, a company library, a nap room, and free health care.
The employee satisfaction level rose and so did the customer
satisfaction level. The good vibes spread.
By the year 2008, the entrepreneur met one of his goals two
years early – the company hit one billion dollars in annual sales.
And the next year he met part two of his goal, as the company
made the Fortune list of the 100 best companies to work for.
Tony Hsieh, the entrepreneur, had built Zappos into an incredible
inspiration to the business world with its unique customer ser-
vice ethos. And in November 2009, Amazon bought the company
for close to 1.2 billion dollars total with the understanding that it
would still operate independently with its vision left intact.
Organizational StorySelling™
In the first two sections of this book, we analyzed why stories
have such a powerful effect on people - and what elements you
need to take into account to create your own narrative for your
StorySelling™ purposes.
This section takes us to the final stage of StorySelling™ – put-
ting it into action in your day-to-day business activity. This stage
begins by determining how to implement your StorySelling™
both internally, within your organization, and externally, when
communicating with your customers.
We began this chapter with the Zappos saga because it is a per-
fect example of how to accomplish both tasks to the ultimate
extent possible. We’ve helped many of our clients gain access
to Tony Hsieh and his StorySelling™ philosophy over the years,
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The real takeaway we want you to have from this chapter is you
should never look at StorySelling™ as a kind of coat you can
just put on and take off when convenient; instead, it has to be
seen as an integral part of both your internal and external busi-
ness image. While some lapses in your StorySelling™ narrative
are inevitable, they should be minimal and quickly corrected.
Because your internal/external StorySelling™ structures are re-
ally going to be of primary importance moving forward, we’re
going to spend a little more time on it. We recognize that many
of you reading this book aren’t doing business on the scale of a
Zappos (at least, not yet!) – so next, we’ll share a case study of
a smaller entrepreneur who built his unique success based on his
StorySelling™ core values – and really got his business in shape
in more ways than one!
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Chapter 12
StorySelling™
and Core Values
The Results Fitness Case Study
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out creating a unique narrative was what would set his busi-
ness apart (and, by the way, as Alwyn is Scottish, you’ll have to
imagine everything he says having a “wee bit of a burr”).
Nick: Let’s start with how you figured out the marketing of
your business, because we all know that the higher you
climb, the more the marketing advantage really allows
you to set yourself apart.
Alwyn: Absolutely. There are three main parts to any business
and I liken them to the three legs of a stool. First, you
have marketing, which is your lead generation stuff.
People have to know about you. People have confused
marketing with advertising; it’s way more than that. It’s
about getting your message out there. It’s not just ads.
Second, you’ve got sales, where you can convert these
leads to clients, and then, third, you have operations.
The problem with most businesses is that people tend to
focus more on operations and they lose everything else.
You’ve got to focus on all three! The three-legged stool
falls over if you take one leg away.
Now, fitness has been around for centuries, but most fit-
ness trainers are what we call “first-generation”: They
didn’t learn under another trainer, so it’s a very young
field. Very quickly I realized that we had to stop pretend-
ing that this was a hobby, and realize this was a business.
So - I started to look at what could I do to make my busi-
ness different. And it was difficult. You’ve never seen a
personal trainer on a television show in a positive light,
right? Whether it’s a reality show, a comedy show, or
dramatic shows like Law and Order or a CSI, they are
always shown in a negative light.
So, my primary question was “How do we change the
way fitness is done?” Well, there’s a little town in Scot-
land called Bathgate. Bathgate has a population of
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Nick: I love those and they are so true. Let’s talk for a second
about where you think that people should begin with cre-
ating their own core values for their storytelling, because
these are such high level ideas. Where would you suggest
somebody start? Where did you start?
Alwyn: You have to realize that they are not rules. They’re who
you already are. You already have core values and you
just haven’t sort of verbalized them. I started by thinking
“What do I believe in, what’s important to me?” I re-
member some friends of mine were going to watch a soc-
cer game on TV at this sports bar near my house and I
was flying back from Scotland that afternoon, but I said,
“Yeah, I’ll come down.” They said, “You won’t come
down, you’re going to be tired, you’ll be exhausted, you
won’t be there.” I landed and I was tired and I was ex-
hausted - but I went because it’s important to me that I
do what I say I’ll do. I knew that no one would be mad if
I didn’t go, but I would be mad at myself.
So it starts with what do you believe in, what’s impor-
tant to you and who do you respect and why. If you start
thinking about people who you respect, maybe Richard
Branson, Donald Trump, Sugar Ray Leonard, anybody
like that, even the pastor at your church, ask yourself,
“Why? Why do I respect them?” It’s usually because they
represent a core value. There is something about them
that you respect.
And also get input from your team and what you think the
organization is all about. What’s your higher purpose?
The real part is that it’s a commitment to your people. If
your business has eleven core values and you have an
elite staff member who only takes ten onboard, they have
to be let go. You have to live and die by these because if
you don’t, it’s going to come back and bite you.
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Your entire team must have every core value on the list
to really create your culture. The same goes for clients.
If a client or a customer is not for you, if they are ruin-
ing the culture or draining the energy, they need to be
let go as well. If your customer is negative or is not a
part of your culture and your energy and your place, this
will come back and haunt you, because they will infect
other people and they will ruin what you’ve built so hard
to protect. Most people don’t put poison in their body
because it will kill them eventually. Don’t put poison in
your business because it will kill you eventually.
The last part is that you’ve got to start talking in this
language. It’s about constant feedback and a relentless
reinforcement of how we’re talking in core values. I’m
not going to reprimand a staff member or write them up
based on an incident. It’s got to be based on one of the
eleven core values.
But you also have to build an environment to support
those values. If it’s impossible for everyone to work as a
team, that’s on me, that’s not on them, right? So they can
write me up. When we do our performance evaluations,
we just grade on core values – and they grade me on core
values too.
Nick: Interesting, and how often do you do that?
Alwyn: We do that every quarter, every three months. Now, if I
take care of our culture and I take care of those rules,
everything else falls into place. Retention is good, sign-
ing up people is good. Our marketing is all about our
message, and our message is about who we are. I could
do graphs about scientific training and physiology and
overload, but that doesn’t tell you anything about what
it’s like training with us.
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Nick: And no one gives a damn because they are really there to
be treated well, to have a great time, and to get results,
right?
Alwyn: Yes, and again this culture is the missing link. Everyone
with a business is just helping people who have a prob-
lem. It’s not about our product, it’s about us being the
solution.
Nick: Right. Whether it’s a weight problem, a fitness problem,
or, say, a transportation problem if you’re a car dealer,
it’s about fixing problems.
Alwyn: It’s just people have a problem and we are the solution
and that’s it. There are a lot of businesses out there that
are solutions in search of problems, unfortunately. They
come up with great ideas that nobody actually wants.
Nick: That happens all too often.
What’s impressive about Alwyn’s approach is his thoughtful-
ness in creating his core values and his absolute commitment to
making those core values come alive for his clients and his staff.
His narrative of doing fitness in a completely different way has
paid off for him – because it’s more than a narrative, it’s how he
actually runs his business both internally and externally. Do the
same and you can share in his level of success.
And once you do have your StorySelling™ ready to go, it’s time
to get into the nuts and bolts of your marketing campaigns. We’ll
look at how you can maximize those marketing results in the
next chapter!
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Chapter 13
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StorySelling™
Creating Cumulative Impact
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day’s slick advertising – and who, instead, gives his devotees the
“No B.S.” truth on marketing. He has taken his old-school ap-
proach so far as to state that he doesn’t even use email or the in-
ternet – he does all his electronic communication by fax! Dan’s
“herd,” as he calls them, loves his eccentricities – as a matter of
fact, they help bond his followers closer to his brand, as they feel
they “know” Dan on a special level that outsiders don’t.
If your StorySelling™ narrative is powerful enough, you should
be able to follow Dan’s example and use your values and per-
sonality consistently in your marketing to attract more and more
into your own “herd.” You’ll build more of a personal relation-
ship that takes you beyond simple business-customer transac-
tions to something more lasting and powerful.
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• Radio ads
• Brochures
• Promotional items
• Social Media
• Internet marketing
• Online videos
• Magazine Ads
• Holiday Cards
• Logos and Design Elements
…and whatever other marketing efforts you’re planning or al-
ready have in place. The idea is to plant the seed of your narra-
tive – even if it’s just a slogan – wherever you can.
Let’s return to the story with which we began this chapter: This
was how, when consumers thought of Tang in the sixties and sev-
enties, they connected it with the story of astronauts drinking it on
NASA missions. That association only happened because General
Foods hammered home this message again and again, through the
type of ads we showed you in the beginning of this chapter, until
that narrative was firmly implanted in American minds.
That couldn’t have happened with one single advertisement – it
had to be done through relentless repetition. An old marketing
axiom has it that, at the point when you’re finally completely
sick and tired of your own message, that’s just about the time
that the public is just beginning to pay attention to it. You deal
with your marketing constantly, so it’s very easy for you to over-
dose on your own message. However, your public is a different
story, and your message is only one of thousands they going to
be exposed to on an everyday basis.
That’s why you need to create a cumulative impact through rep-
etition to really stand out with your StorySelling™ marketing.
If you don’t think repetition has power, consider the case of the
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Chapter 14
StorySelling™
for a Cause
Boosting Awareness, Raising Money
and Creating Change
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StorySelling for a Cause – Boosting Awareness, Raising Money and Creating Change
Advantage #1:
StorySelling™ creates empathy
As we’ve discussed in previous chapters, a well-told story
causes the listener to empathize with the “hero” – and to feel
what that hero feels in his or her struggle to overcome obstacles.
When a documentary tackles a cause, the organization fighting
for that cause becomes this “hero.” We see the odds it must face
in trying to do the good deeds it has set out to accomplish – and
we end up rooting for it succeed, just like we’d root for Rocky
to win a fight or Iron Man to take out a super-villain threatening
the world.
Similarly, when you tell the story of someone who represents
the cause in a powerful way, you create a strong emotional bond
with that cause. There have been numerous very effective anti-
smoking ads over the years featuring long-time smokers who are
dying from their tobacco habit. Academy Award-winning actor
Yul Brynner even recorded a commercial specifically produced
to run on television after he passed away from cancer, in which
he warned viewers, “Now that I’m gone, I tell you: Don’t smoke,
whatever you do, just don’t smoke.”
How many times more powerful is that than a spot made up of
statistics and charts about the health risks of smoking? Hard to
calculate, but easy to imagine.
Advantage #2:
StorySelling™ puts a face on
an abstract cause
There is a reason that both the Humane Society’s effort to help
abandoned animals and charities that solicit sponsorships for im-
poverished children in other countries relentlessly run commer-
cials with long close-ups of those they seek to help with some
kind of well-known emotional song (“You Are So Beautiful” by
Joe Cocker and “I Will Remember You” by Sarah McLachlan)
playing throughout the commercial. They’re effective – it’s hard
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to turn away from needy kids (or sad dogs!) without feeling you
have to do something to help them. This is StorySelling™ at
its most basic – putting a face (or in this case, many faces) on a
cause that you can identify with emotionally.
If you want a pre-online example of how powerful a face can be
to a cause, look no further than the AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s.
The virus had claimed many lives and seemed to be out of con-
trol, but then-President Ronald Reagan still made no mention of
it. However, when his Hollywood friend, actor Rock Hudson,
passed away from the disease in 1985, the President finally ad-
dressed the topic and said it was a priority for his administra-
tion. At the time, actress Morgan Fairchild said, “Rock Hudson’s
death gave AIDS a face.”1
Advantage #3:
StorySelling™ inspires action
For a cause, this is probably the most important advantage
StorySelling™ brings to the table. We began this chapter by
discussing the Kony 2012 video. When it went viral, so did the
cause – to millions of people who didn’t even know who Kony
was. And Invisible Children’s donations tripled for the fiscal
year ending in June of 2012.
Even Oprah gave the charity two million dollars!
Putting StorySelling™ to
Work for Your Cause
These are pretty heavy-duty advantages to contribute to any
cause; that’s why so many marketing experts recommend that
nonprofits use storytelling in order to make the most impact. If
you’re wondering how to make StorySelling™ work for your
cause, here are a few of the most effective ways:
• Show Those Who Need Help
As we just noted, causes try to raise money in many in-
1 “The Show Goes On in Aids Battle,” BBC News, November 24th, 2003
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people to know about the good you’re doing in the world, Face-
book is a prime mobilization platform. People want their friends
to see them doing something good – those types of activities are
very palatable in this medium because it’s a place users expect
to be engaged in this way.”4
As we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, few people
knew anything about the Uganda situation – until they woke up
one morning in March of 2012 and suddenly saw Kony 2012
popping up left and right on all their friends’ Facebook walls.
Social media is where people like to hear about – and have the
opportunity to participate in – doing good in the world. That’s
why it’s the perfect place to tell everyone about your cause.
And actually, it’s a pretty good place to do your own Celebrity
Brand StorySelling™ as well. In the next chapter, we’ll give you
some tips and tricks on how best to bring your StorySelling™ to
life through tweets, status updates, boards and “shares” - through
the primary communication gathering places of our time!
4 David Hessekiel, “Cause Marketing on Facebook: Truths, Tips and Trends,” November 8th,
2011, Forbes.com
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Chapter 15
StorySelling™ with
Social Media
Creating (and Controlling)
the Conversation
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What they did have, however, was their cars – which were a
source of amusement to everybody that knew them, because
they all drove Hondas. In the words of Hwang, “We always joke
that maybe it’s because we’re all Asian.”
So they shot video of themselves playing their various instru-
ments squeezed inside their vehicles – and they then edited it
together and posted it on YouTube. And, to their surprise, the
video started racking up hits. A lot of them.
So many hits that it reached the attention of Honda’s advertising
agency. They thought the video was cool and hired the band to
put on a special show for six hundred members of Honda’s high
level management. It felt like it could be the most important
night of their band’s life.
The band was ready to rock on that magic night – but they were
informed that the company had called an emergency meeting.
Most of the management couldn’t make it to the concert. Which
is why they were standing onstage in the theatre Honda had
booked, ready to play a full show for the only two people who
were available to come.
Finally, a Honda representative told them the company was can-
celling the show altogether. The band was devastated – until he
told them the second piece of news. They never really intended
to have the band play for Honda management in the first place.
The real gig? Playing for the entire country on ABC’s late-night
talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, whose studio just happened to
be across the street.
The band’s mood quickly changed from despair to joy – and,
with absolutely no preparation time, they raced over to Kim-
mel’s studio, where they played their hearts out for their first
national audience.
The above incident happened on Tuesday, September 18th,
2012, and was an integral part of Honda’s social media cam-
paign, “Honda Loves You Back,” which was designed to gain
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the brand some traction with younger demos and also to create a
viral video that would spread across social media like wildfire.
And it worked.
Honda received a ton of “old media” coverage for the Jimmy
Kimmel stunt - and their Facebook page currently has two-and-
a-half million “Likes.”
As we touched on in the last chapter, social media StorySelling™
requires some different techniques than traditional StorySelling™
– but it also can provide a bigger (and more cost-effective)
pay-off when successful. In this chapter, we’ll talk about how
to create a compelling conversation on Facebook, Twitter and
other social media outlets – and why it’s a necessity, in today’s
marketplace, to take advantage of these mostly-free and all-
powerful tools. We’ll also put up some red flags you should
avoid when implementing your StorySelling™ in social media
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top site users with $500 to bring their Pinterest boards to life.
• Returning the favor when a man mowed a Honda logo into
his backyard – by mowing the man’s name into the lawn of its
corporate headquarters
Now, none of the above efforts have anything to do with directly
selling cars – but all of them do create an extremely positive
conversation about the Honda brand.
John Watts, the American Honda senior manager of digital mar-
keting, gave some insight into the company’s strategy at the
2012 Advertising Age Social Engagement conference. “People
are valuing kindness over exclusivity in a brand,” said Watts,
who also added, “Your storytelling must be an extension of your
brand. Authenticity is not reality. Authenticity is not testimoni-
als. Authenticity is not a spokesperson, a celebrity who may not
even buy your product. Authenticity must be earned.”
Let’s talk about how you can use StorySelling™ to start earning
your authenticity.
Conversation Starters
In the last chapter, we talked about how social media is perfect
for cause marketing, simply because people enjoy being a part of
efforts they feel are positive and important, and they can feel like
they’ve done something simply by “sharing” stories about them.
These kinds of causes are, by their very nature, authentic – so
cause marketers don’t have to worry too much about building
trust. Anyone building a Celebrity Brand, however, does. You
don’t ever want to be seen as a one-note marketer on Facebook
or Twitter, where your statuses could be mistaken for spam. Oth-
erwise, you’ll lose followers faster than a politician caught tak-
ing a bribe.
The way you avoid that situation is by providing value in your
social media StorySelling™ – and also not making it all about
you. You need to be a combination of teacher, entertainer and
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Chapter 16
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years is their popular “Bean Boot.” It still looks like the same
boot as it was in 1912…and yet it’s not. James L. Witherell, who
wrote the recent best-seller, L.L. Bean: The Man and His Com-
pany, explained to The New York Times just how the company
kept things current without sacrificing their brand story: “About
10 years ago, they completely redesigned, modernized and up-
dated the boot. The material is now better, it’s more comfortable,
it lasts longer. But what was important to them was that it look
exactly the same as it always has.”2 (Italics are ours.)
In other words, L.L. Bean understood their customers wanted
to feel as though the company’s products were the same – but,
at the same time, also wanted them improved and up to current
standards, as contradictory as that sounds.
One more example of how you stay the same – without getting
left behind. A frozen yogurt place named The Bigg Chill has
been in operation in Westwood, Los Angeles (near the UCLA
campus) for over twenty years – and, on most nights of the
week, they still have a line of people waiting to be served that
extends out the door.
A few years ago, however, the rise of the new tart yogurt chain,
Pinkberry, briefly took a bite out of their sales. The manage-
ment thought about changing their décor, which favored warm
80’s-style colors, to the more pristine white interiors of the new
fro-yo success stories – but finally realized they didn’t want to
change their identity. Instead, they spent a few months creating
a “Chill Berry” flavor, designed to compete directly with Pink-
berry, and promoted it. They kept their core story intact – and
offered an extra competitive product that helped them survive
the brief assault on their customer base.
Remember – when Tony Bennett came back, he was the first
performer to use the new digital recording technology. Just be-
cause you’re a brand with some history doesn’t mean you have
to become history.
2 Nicole LaPorte, “A Brand Keeps Its Cool (and Endures),” The New York Times,
September 3, 2011
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About Nick
An Emmy-Award-Winning Director and Producer, Nick
Nanton, Esq. is known as the Top Agent to Celebrity
Experts around the world for his role in developing and
marketing business and professional experts through
personal branding, media, marketing and PR. Nick is
recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Com-
pany Magazine’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the
topic at major universities around the world. His book Celebrity Branding You®,
while an easy and informative read, has also been used as a text book at the
University level.
The CEO and Chief StoryTeller at The Dicks + Nanton Celebrity Branding
Agency, an international agency with more than 1800 clients in 33 countries,
Nick is an award-winning director, producer and songwriter who has worked
on everything from large scale events to television shows – with the likes of
Steve Forbes, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield (The Secret, Creator of the Chicken
Soup for the Soul Series), Michael E. Gerber, Tom Hopkins, Dan Kennedy and
many more.
Nick is recognized as one of the top thought-leaders in the business world and
has co-authored 26 best-selling books alongside Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield,
Dan Kennedy, Dr. Ivan Misner (Founder of BNI), Jay Conrad Levinson (Author of
the Guerilla Marketing Series), Super Agent Leigh Steinberg and many others,
including the breakthrough hit Celebrity Branding You!®.
Nick has led the marketing and PR campaigns that have driven more than
1000 authors to Best-Seller status. Nick has been seen in USA Today, The Wall
St. Journal, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Inc. Magazine, The New York Times,
Entrepreneur® Magazine, Forbes, FastCompany.com and has appeared on
ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX television affiliates around the country, as well as
CNN, FOX News, CNBC, and MSNBC from coast to coast.
Nick is a member of the Florida Bar, holds a JD from the University Of Floida
Levin College Of Law, as well as a BSBA in Finance from the University of
Florida’s Warrington College of Business. Nick is a voting member of The
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS, Home to The
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About JW
JW Dicks, Esq. is America’s foremost authority on us-
ing personal branding for business development. He has
created some of the most successful brand and market-
ing campaigns for business and professional clients to
make them the credible celebrity experts in their field
and build multi-million dollar businesses using their recognized status.
JW Dicks has started, bought, built, and sold a large number of businesses
over his 39-year career and developed a loyal international following as a
business attorney, author, speaker, consultant, and business experts’ coach.
He not only practices what he preaches by using his strategies to build his
own businesses, he also applies those same concepts to help clients grow
their business or professional practice the ways he does.
JW has been extensively quoted in such national media as USA Today, The
Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Inc., Forbes.com, CNBC.com, and Fortune
Small Business. His television appearances include ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX
affiliate stations around the country. He is the resident branding expert for
Fast Company’s internationally syndicated blog and is the publisher of Ce-
lebrity Expert Insider, a monthly newsletter targeting business and brand
building strategies.
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