If great marketing is about telling stories, who's telling the memorable stories here: Hmm?
Watch the following videos.
Why are they memorable?
#1: WARNING: The following video is innocuous. Really. No, really.
#2: WARNING: The following video contains strong language. Really. It does.
Quite a head spin, eh? Pure fun. Perhaps the reason each of these has made the rounds on YouTube past millions of viewers (though you may not have seen them, since they hail from other continents.)
Why is it that the Brits and the Aussies seem to be able to nail this sort of advertising? The art of "the twist" plays on our own expectations--we begin to create our own story from the elements within the plot laid out before us, and believe we know what is coming. The unpredictability makes it fun, and very memorable.
In video #1, Fox Sport Australia used prurient thoughts of the viewer against them to comic effect. In video #2, a very long set up (4 minutes!) culminates in a completely unexpected line that at once seals the plotline AND grabs our funnybone and twists until we say 'uncle'. Robbie Williams (one of my favorite vocalists, btw) used this video as a means to promote his album a few years ago, and it certainly did it's job--and it fit his particular brand perfectly.
But - What makes these so effective?
In each, the story unfolding during most screen-time draws you unwittingly down a carefully crafted path and then takes a sudden turn.
And, who makes these stories so memorable?
YOU DO.
Each allows you to make the punch line memorable by allowing you to create the expectation of a different story in your mind first.
This same technique can be used in your marketing also--OK, perhaps not is so blunt a fashion, no. But, think about areas of your business where your customers have come to expect the ordinary or status quo and then surprise them with something wonderfully different and better, to take their breath away. It will make your firm, your product, your service, truly memorable also.
(Yes, I can help...)
Mike Compeau
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