I want to tell you a story

Seth Godin's latest blog is about how whatever you do in the course of your work tells your customers a story about your business. It reminded me that I didn't post my recent article from Encore magazine about the story your marketing tells. Here it is-

“I want to tell you a story.” Like many comedians, Max Bygraves understood from the start of his career the power of the story to attract and keep an audience’s attention. I discovered recently, having been involved in marketing a new shop, that the best window dressers too aim to tell a ‘story’ in their displays.

This doesn’t mean the literal kind of narrative you might see in Selfridges windows at Christmas. Put simply, it’s that the colours, the props and the products themselves should work together to say something. This ‘something’ might be suggesting certain garments and accessories that will go well together on a night out or it might be ‘Don’t forget to buy a present for Mother’s Day’.

When marketing entertainment, we need to tell a story if we want to sell tickets. The flier or brochure cover says instantly in the colours, the style and the words what the show or venue is about. Bright colours will put across fun and excitement- check out Really Useful Group’s Joseph poster. Black and white for a drama or pop star will suggest something moody and sophisticated. Think of the marvellous image David Pugh produced for Rebecca or the consistent effectiveness of Chicago’s marketing even after ten years.

An image can make the story or end it. As the old Chinese proverb says, ‘one picture is worth a thousand words’. (Actually the saying was coined in the 1920s by Fred Barnard, an American PR man, who said it was an ancient proverb to give it more cachet. Marketing people, eh?)

We work in show business so we know how much appearance helps. Think of when TV producer Jack Good came across this weedy bloke with a very good record and put him in sexy leathers- Gene Vincent never looked back. At the other end of the scale, Brian Epstein took The Beatles out of their jeans and leather jackets and put them in suits and ties to say to people- we may be revolutionary but we’re loveable and family-friendly too.


The picture or pictures must tell the story of the show- I’m involved in publicising a show called Tango! Tango! at the moment and the main photo is a sensuous shot of an entwined couple, not on the dance floor, but isolated in a cavernous space with one shaft of light picking them out. It says everything about the all consuming passion of the dance.

How pictures are arranged makes a big difference. This is sometimes known as design— a word that is clearly unknown to many promoters and venues! Throwing a lot of images into the advertisement or brochure page is a bit like saying ‘People like country music, rock’n’roll and hiphop so if I put them on the same bill I’ll get three times the audience.’ The images must work together to tell the story and should literally move the eye around the page in a journey that will keep the attention and reveal the story of the show or venue. In this case, the story is about the content of the show and must create a desire to see it and it’s also the information about where and when it can be seen.

The most obvious way of telling a story is through words- whether in a press release (we even talk of newspaper ‘stories’), in brochure copy, in a mailing or even in an advertising slogan. ‘Lie, Cheat, Steal… all in a day’s work’ says the poster for Glengarry Glen Ross at the Apollo.

‘Feel The Magic’ was a phrase I used. It didn’t merit serious analysis for meaning but the two words (I mean the first and third!) instantly conveyed the appeal of going to the theatre. Whether it’s two or two hundred words, every one should say something about the product and lead the reader on a journey. Like Max’s stories, you must grab the attention, keep them interested and lead to a punch-line- in our case, get them to buy a ticket.