Digital storytelling part 1 writing

Digital Storytelling:
writing By Pietro Polsinelli

2

Who am I

Pietro Polsinelli Twitter: @ppolsinelli

Blog: http://pietro.open-lab.com E-mail: ppolsinelli@open-lab.com

I’m applying storytelling to:

Web apps for team & personal productivity,

Videogame marketing

Videogame design

Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012

3

Today’s workshop

Intro
Writing Exercises part 1
On writing
Writing Exercises part 2
Feedback


4

Storytelling is so popular…

But what we do here is not actually “pure” storytelling,
its “storytelling for…”. That is, writing and telling
stories for ends which are not literary.

There are definite and precise techniques for
storytelling.

Narrative techniques can be acquired with a lot of
exercise, developing a specific sensitivity. Here you
can give it a first try.


5

Introduction: why digital storytell?

Many of your former colleagues
work (part or full time) is companies
that are “startups” in some sense. In
interactive educational tools,
videogames, music production
services, ... .

As a “jack of all trades” you will
need stories. Stories are presented
in many forms, but are mostly
created in written form.

Movies scripts, comic scripts, videogame scripts.


6

Here for…

Learn to detect / create / analyze / use / apply
storytelling.

Detect: not only ads

Create: exercises

Analyze: schemas

Use: used more widely than you may believe.


7

Ambiguity alert!

Applying storytelling can mean working on:

A product / service / company with a story at its heart,
that unfolds and guides work and developments.

Creating a short, sticky story that somehow “points” to
a product / service / company. Auto-conclusive story.


8

Storytelling gives…

A product / service / company with a story at its heart,
that unfolds and guides work and developments.

Storytelling gives coherence, sense. We have
stories in “continuity”.

Creating a short, sticky story that somehow “points” to
a product / service / company. Auto-conclusive story.

Storytelling can get and keep people’s
attention. We have auto-conclusive stories.


9

Acquiring storytelling sensitivity
helps in both cases
And in many kinds of
“stories”.

A soundtrack tells a
story.

A video.

A podcast.

A comic.


10

Learn to write

Its possible.

You learn by example,
practice, feedback.

Things are born interesting
or are made interesting?


11

Books: this is just the beginning


12

Exercises part 1

Write on paper what you will say if I’d ask you to
present yourself to this group.

3 Min.


13

Exercises part 1

Write on another paper your product / service idea –
how you would present it in a few sentences.

10 Min.


14

Concreteness in writing – part 1

1. Write down as many things white in color you may think of.

15 Secs.

Story Story tell(Software) product
tell your your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012

15

Concreteness in writing – part 2

Write down as many things white in color that may eventually end up in
your fridge you may think of.

1.15 Secs.

Story Story tell(Software) product
tell your your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012

Listing features vs. telling
stories

17

The USP approach

I here give a first negative definition of my approach, by contrasting with
some existing marketing habits.

The Unique Selling Proposition (a.k.a. Unique Selling Point, or USP) is a
marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a
pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It
states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer
and that this convinced them to switch brands.

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unique_selling_proposition


18

The USP approach

USP is like classical economics: assumes perfect information and
rational choices. Users are neither informed nor rational.

This fragmented approach does not help users in getting their insight.
Lacking a unified anthropological model of and for the user, this will not
work.

Marketing recipes draw a simplistic picture of the marketing project.

A USP tends to obscure your real motivations, your agenda. A purely
functional description will leave out what is most interesting.

This also shows that deep limitations of AdWords based approaches:
you story is missed, you can’t do a contextual presentation.


19

Rational choice models

A few years ago, we had a brief discussion about the power of ads. A
friend of mine was skeptic about that, he stubbornly held that ads had no
effect on him. This is an example of illuministic optimism which is
factually false.

How wrong this belief is is shown by data from many possible fields
(next slide).

What matters for us is that this kind of wrong modeling of human
behavior leads to wrong marketing models: models based on the rational
choice idea.


20

Learn more

The political mind, A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its
Politics , George Lakoff

Idea Framing, Metaphors, and Your Brain - George Lakoff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CWBjyIERY


21

Establish the context

You should not talk in terms of differences with the competition (this too
is a mistake which several marketing “experts” make). This is the
traditional mistake of political weak candidates. Your point is to tell a
completely different story.

Obama stopped saying “Bush is doing this and that” He started saying:
“This is MY story. This is a NEW story.”

Story mark: by telling a good story, its you establishing the context. this
way you can win in the most unlikely situations

By fighting on features, you are adapting to a context where its the
others setting the context -> you are going to lose.


22

The storytelling approach

You are bringing a ship across a hill in the jungle: your effort *deserves
to be told*.

You product is a free creation, shaped from the learnings you can get
from early shipping.

The basic point of this marketing technique is simply to tell the truth, and
bring it across in its subtlety and complexity. It’s useful if what you are
saying is not trivial, if there are ideas to be expressed. Articulating your
proposal in a story instead of a USP is much more conductive to express
it integrally.

The MBA typical idea of “competitive advantage” results empty for this
perspective. The union of story and execution is no single competitive
advantage.


24

Learning from “classical” storytelling

The first point is NOT saying
clearly (for you) what you
provide, and neither to talk
about users’ advantages.

The first point is getting
attention and start telling

YOUR STORY.


25

Unifying power of storytelling

Your aim is to create an opportunity for a “magic”
meeting of needs, tastes, choices. You are facilitating
it, but you are not the cause.
Unifying power of the storytelling approach: if you defined your story, this
gives unity to the expression of your idea in different media (see Licorize
in the examples). Once you have a story, it becomes easier and more
interesting to write articulated connections. And to write other, connected
stories touching other fields.


26


You may articulate your idea through many media and means:
 blog post
 home page of your site
 Podcast
 Video
 Mockumentary
 Cards
 e-book
 ipad app
 iphone app
 generic mobile app
 Tweets
 facebook etc.


27

Marketing stories

“Potential customers cannot buy
what they cannot name”

Journalists cannot write about something that has no novelty: you’ve got
to serve them the concepts, the story, the novelty. A new feature is not a
novelty.


28

Marketing stories

“Most people resist selling but enjoy buying”.

If you manage to define the buy situation,
victory is in your hands.

We’ll get back to this later.


29


USP get old fast: stories don’t.
Storytelling supports seriality: it is a wonderful way to put criticism and
failures to our use.

Like Balsamiq failed release -> visibility and positive remarks.

Berlusconi prostitutes -> that’s how I am -> hero’s flaw, adds to heroicity.


30

Coherence

Having a story gives you a sense of coherence, will
also make you stronger against the 2% of skeptics.

Alienating the 2%
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/11/alienating-the-2.html


31

Simplicity

Warning: Sun exposure is
dangerous

To

Sun exposure: how to get old
prematurely


32

How startups can learn to
pitch the press

http://pietro.open-lab.com/2011/04/08/how-startups-can-learn-to-pitch-
the-press/

Some mistakes Brad lists:
 the 1000 word e-mail
 lack of a story
 pitching on Mondays


33

The importance of a good ending

Imagine a coffee machine that when
the coffee is ready makes a bright
light.

People talk & remember endings.

http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahn
eman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_
memory.html


35

Base schema for product narration


36

Consumer’s fatal flaw

Reading and knowing your
audience fatal flaw is the first step
in building any marketing strategy.


37

Existential myths

 The myth of “salvation”

 Myth of “cure”

 Myth of “evasion”


38

Themes for the existential myths

 Cure/protection rhetoric
 Power/possession rhetoric
 Exploration/curiosity rhetoric
 Auto confirmation/self-celebration rhetoric
 Negotiation/projectuality rhetoric


39

Gossip stories are a GREAT way to
see the basic schemes in action
(read Barthes’ Mythologies)


41

Balsamiq - http://balsamiq.com
The reason for success for a
long time escaped me - yes,
he told an interesting story of
the startup trip but that is not
the key.

What/where is the narrative?
Which is the fatal flaw?


42

Balsamiq

Fatal flaw: prototyping is hard, and a great
source of conflict. More detailed it is, more
likely it is to generate conflict.

-> Smooth corners: a tool that is easy to use
as play, and does not go much beyond play
(though it is very useful).


43

Balsamiq

Messages:

“We are not working, we
are playing”

“The prototype is not
definitive”


44

Balsamiq

Messages:

 “How can you not love this Winnie-
the-Pooh like mockup?”

The tone of communication is “back to
draw like when you were a child”. Gets
tons of tweet “loving this”. It is a
communication strategy built-in the
product.


45

Licorize: our stories

I've read I don't know how many times
this reaction to Licorize on Twitter:
"this is exactly the product I was
looking for!”

This anthropological fit is actually also
a construction, a construction of
Licorize' storytelling. The perfect fit is
felt because the story works, the
identification works. Of course just a
good story without a high quality
product and design would not make it.


46


We did alienate the 2%: the very first reactions were very bad. Negative
review, lacking USP, unclear … . How I reacted? I did nothing. I changed
nothing.

But soon, very soon, the voice that really matters – people, many
people, appreciated it. The comfort of numbers, and the comfort of
competent reviewers.

The first 2% is not the real press.

The press: they don’t react using their Lizard Brain. They look carefully –
trust them.

We didn’t do permission marketing. We had a story and the press (which
today does not mean paper press) took it and talked about it.


47



48

Theme

Major:
 Auto-confirmation
 Myth its more “salvation” than “evasion”. But
introducing playfulness gives hope to work, seen
as oppressive – this is the fatal flaw.

Minor:
 Design -> seduction
 Exploration


49

Did work: Licorize
Result: 50 positive reviews (by
meaningful sites) in 90 days,
thousands of tweets. And they both
keep coming.

Reviewers fell in love with the story –
which we had written for them.

Also a bit of luck helped – Delicious
crisis.


Multiple entry points 50

Multiple stories and media:
 Curation, GTD, e-books, info overflow
 Video 1 minute
 Instructional detailed videos
 User guide 100 pages
 Examples usage in the application


51

What is the morale of the (story)
product?
Licorize: no bookmark is an island.

37'signals Basecamp: people have now an online life
and need very simple management.

Most products have no clear morale.


52

Licorize: other’ stories

http://licorize.com/projects/ppolsinelli/blogBookmarks/licorizeBuzz


54

Base schema for product narration


55

Exercise part 2

[Distribute schemas]

Write again about your product / service idea – how
you would present it in a few sentences.


56

Blind idea clinic – 1 minute after

Rewrite the beginning. It can be better.


58

“Made to Stick” scorecard

Check Message 1 Message 2
Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Story


More…
59

Some links:

http://licorize.com/projects/ppolsinelli/Storytelling-for-
software-marketing


Digital storytelling part 1 writing

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Ähnlich wie Digital storytelling part 1 writing

Ähnlich wie Digital storytelling part 1 writing (20)

Mehr von Pietro Polsinelli

Mehr von Pietro Polsinelli (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Digital storytelling part 1 writing