Tag: Compelling

In recent years, it's become fashionable for marketers to describe themselves as "storytellers" for their brand. But many brand narratives are deadly dull. That's because they lack the one element that every good writer uses: conflict. Every great story, whether a novel, play, film, or TV series, is based on a dramatic conflict—a protagonist's struggle to get what he or she wants in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. That tension is what gets us interested and keeps us hooked: We want to know whether our hero will succeed or fail. Without that element of jeopardy, a story can be flat, predictable, boring. Sadly, much of branded content and brand storytelling is all of those things. The characters and setting are nice, lest they reflect badly on the organization. Wonderful thin...