I opened a frozen food package of broccoli stuffed chicken to heat up in the microwave. On the box, I read the story behind the founder of the microwavable chicken company. And then the box  invited me to check its website to read more about the founder and its great heritage.I was baffled and amused. I asked myself: “Finish this James Baldwin novel, or read about the chicken guy; watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, or read about the chicken guy“…it was a tough choice, but I never made it to the chicken guy’s website.This experience made me realize how many advertising campaigns are using stories as a creative approach. Whether it’s “tell us your story,” or “share your store,” or send photos and videos illustrating your story, products everywhere are searching for narratives, like mothers seeking lost children.

So, what makes a good narrative? Hemingway wrote, “In order to write about life, you must first live it.” That lessons applies directly to marketing. How do we create real experiences of products and services that produce true narratives we want to share, rather than create perceptions of products and services using just a clever creative approach?

If that frozen chicken I microwaved was story-worth good, I would not only have visited their website, but I would have also bought a few more of them.

Photo used with Creative Commons License and from lab2112′s photo stream. 

“You must always work not just within but below your means. If you can handle three elements, handle only two. If you can handle ten, then handle five. In that way the ones you do handle, you handle with more ease, more mastery and you create a feeling of strength in reserve.” — Picasso

Photo: Holga: The Road Ahead. Used under Creative Commons Licence.

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