These stories entertained us, they strengthened our tribal identities, and they educated us. Myth became an important way of defining ourselves and our place in the world.
Even now we enjoy a chinwag down the pub or around the water-cooler, telling tall tales, swapping gossip, engaging in what Mark Earls (‘Herd: how to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature’) calls “social grooming”.
And that’s what marketing really is: brands telling stories about themselves. All the best stories – the ones that have lasted from age to age – contain truths about human nature. So it’s obvious to us, we should want to find the truths hidden inside business brands and reveal them in powerful stories that resonate with people. And to help brands decide what these stories should look and sound like.
We believe that marketing has as much to do with anthropology and tribal behaviour as it does with psychology, sociology, behaviouralism, rationality and desire. We are a social species, influenced more by each other and the cultures we belong to, than by marketers’ attempts to persuade us.
But in B2B, agencies perhaps don’t think about language as much as we should. We know that words matter, obviously, and we take great care over them. But are we making sure they are doing the right thing? Are they telling the right stories? Is there a compelling narrative that will engage people mentally and emotionally?
B2B has long been dominated by the language of war. We talk about “target markets”, “tactics”, and “strategy”. It’s almost as if the audience is the enemy. Our language dehumanises them. We begin talking to faceless corporations rather than people.
Storytelling should be at the core of everything we do. Because when we think in terms of stories, we then think about audiences. We begin to consider the message from the position of the listener and the viewer.
Storytelling also unleashes our creativity, and creativity, as advertising godfather John Hegarty often argued, is the essence of humanity. We are a creative species, inventive and imaginative. And there’s no point coming up with stories and ideas unless we can share them.
We think we would do better if we thought of ourselves as entertainers on a stage, engaging and interacting with an audience. This opens up the possibility of a more emotional and lasting relationship. It humanises it.
So we want to borrow a lot of thinking from B2C and bring a lot of its creativity and insight back into B2B. We accept that a lot of B2B purchases are complex, but we want to break down this idea that the B2B audience is somehow different – more rational, logical, and less emotional than B2C audiences. Liberal arts are as applicable to B2B as to mainstream advertising.
If you liked this post perhaps you also want to read my other post.
