The value of a good story
29th November 10
Last Thursday (on Thanksgiving, if you are so inclined) the great and good and up-and-coming of London’s planning community gathered at the British Library for the APG/Campaign Battle of Big Thinking, an annual event that pits mind against mind for the chance to be crowned the Biggest Brain of All.
BBH London was well represented, with Peter Sells sharing thoughts on ‘The Fall of Capitalism, Bloody Revolution and the Destruction of Civil Society ….. And it’s Effect on KFC AM sales in the Tyne Tees Region” and winning his category in style. I apparently offered what was described as ‘an entertaining after-dinner speech’ on “What I have learned in 39 days in the advertising Business” and didn’t win my category which was won by an excellent pitch for a planner-owned product by PassionBrand. We’ll put these presentations up when the videos of the day become available.
But the star of the show and a very, very close runner up to the eventual overall winner was James Mitchell, who provoked and entertained the audience with his smart thinking and charming discourse on advertising, caring and storytelling.
So here is the extended remix of James’ talk – put on some headphones, hit play, enjoy and be provoked.
True story: I’ve been reading Heroes and Outlaws and was thinking about the lack of good stories in advertising. Two days ago I bookmarked an old AdAge story about the Taster’s Choice ad campaign because it was the best (only?) example I could come up with of an ad really using the art of storytelling in a compelling way.
Today as I listened/watched the first 26 slides of your preso I kept thinking, “Oh, this is going to work perfectly with my blog post on the Taster’s Choice advert and storytelling!”
Then as slide 27 began, I realized where you were going.
This is a terrific presentation and the kudos you are receiving are well earned. I’ll be sure to give you proper credit!
Hi Rick, thanks for the terrific reply
It’s gratifying to see Story raised as an issue of importance by many different people. And as you say, it’s actually pretty hard to find many great examples. Perhaps that’s another project in the making: to find and showcase the best of commercial storytelling, with all its constraints and concerns. I’ll about what you raised on your blog where it belongs – under your post (which if anyone hasn’t seen it, is to be found at http://www.rickliebling.com/2010/11/30/its-time-for-the-advertising-industry-to-rediscover-storytelling/)
For my part, I thought people might like some thoughts on the day itself…
The BOBT (as twitter calls it) is a strange event. The battling nature swings between jovial and real, and with a perfectly open brief, the question as to what constitutes ‘big thinking’ is a debate that’ll never be laid to rest. Some tackled it with newness, some with magnitude of problem, some just by throwing a bit of style over an old debate. I think what was ‘effective’ for different people might be very much a matter of personal taste.
For me, tension and catharsis were the themes of the day. The best talks seemed to come from a place of frustration: why can’t a good bit of strategy solve problem x? Why are we still using process y, after all this time? And these grievances were aired to an empathic, understanding audience. So many conferences are about dispassionate message transmission but the Battle Of Big Thinking, for all its combative overtures, was a day with a lot of love to share indeed. So yay
[...] really enjoyed this slideshare on storytelling and advertising. This was presented by James Mitchell of BBH at the APG Battle of Big [...]
[...] end. For a really well reasoned presentation on the power of storytelling, check out this number by James Mitchell that was posted by BBH Labs yesterday. As part of his presentation, James highlights perhaps the single greatest use of [...]
Nicely, its exactly about knowing what’s right and what’s completely wrong.