It’s Earth Day, and your mother could care less
Yippee, it’s Earth Day. The annual celebration of the best of our intentions to help change the world and save our planet. And yet our ecosystem remains rather indifferent to…
Why theater of the mind is so powerful in content marketing
I ruined my Christmas when I was twelve. Our mom and dad always hid the presents against the full-length mirror between their master closets in their bedroom. We all knew…
Content marketing for the “Attention Economy”
This article first appeared in the American Marketing Association blog, Elevate. The goldfish has an average attention span of nine seconds, which now is one second longer than the…
Infographic: Storytelling is not just for campfires
I’m curating infographics about storytelling in business on Pinterest. New Fathom Events created this graphic that does a nice job of explaining why storytelling is so important, but does not…
Budweiser’s Super Bowl spot wins with simple, proven story structure
Aristotle would laugh at the basic story structure of the new Budweiser Super Bowl spot. It’s a winner because our minds simply can’t resist the Story Cycle. Watch and see if…
The 15-minute competitive advantage for every marketer
For most chief marketing officers, it’s difficult to see through the day-to-day anguish of this transformational market to truly innovate. In her article, “Find the 15-Minute Competitive Advantage,” Rosabeth Moss…
Are you this sanctimonious sustainability jerk?
Modern Family guest star, Jesse Eisenberg, portrayed one of the most hilarious over-the-top environmentalist that I have seen. If you’re a passionate chief sustainability officer, please remember to tell stories…
How to Excite the Moral Molecule in Your Audience to Make You More Trustworthy
When you tell a good story, you change the chemistry in your audience’s brain. For instance, when you create conflict in your story, the steroid hormone cortisol is released to…
How UPS’ viral story has our brains hopped-up on oxytocin and why it matters to marketers
I have been studying neuroeconomist Paul Zak’s work on storytelling and how it actually changes the chemistry in our brain. When we’re seduced by a good story, we produce cortisol,…
Did powerpoint bring down two Space Shuttles?
Do you remember where you were on February 1, 2003? Let me remind you. As you were leading your peaceful terrestrial life, the space shuttle Columbia was disintegrating over the…
