Story Telling is Engaging, Emotional and Memorable

By Craig Arthur 

In a Saturday paper that looked like a party olive, over-stuffed with price and product advertising, this was refreshing, the only ad I read. (See image below)

No prices, logo or hard sell, none of the norm, instead an intriguing photo and great copy.

The First Mental Image (FMI) .

“People gazed in wonder as the snow stopped in mid air and began falling upwards.”

That sentence caused my hand to freeze in mid-page flip… ok, you have my attention, now where are you going to take me?

"Blizzards were common in this city, and the weather a favourite topic of conversation, but no one could recall seeing anything like this.

A white quiet descended over the busy streets.
In the cafes, waiters preparing for the lunch crowd ceased wiping crumbs off the tables.

While in cars, noses were squashed against frosted windows in an effort to see.
By the time the alarm sounded – as piercing as a young boy’s wail – it was too late.
Disaster had befallen this once beautiful city.
As the sky began to ebb away, the people realised that the snowstorm would be their last.
Then again, it may not have been this dramatic.

But to an imaginative five-year-old-boy who’s accidentally dropped his favourite snow dome, it could seem that way.
And it’s interesting how a newspaper, like the one you’re holding now, can make a broken snow dome so involving.

If you’re an advertiser and believe that your brand is more interesting than a broken snow dome, why not engage people with newspapers?
Imagine the story you could tell."

Broca is surprised…. the Last Mental Image loops back to the First Mental Image… the story is complete.

That little trip into my imagination was well worth the 2 bucks entry fee charged by the paper.

Full marks to the agency BMF that wrote the copy for the campaign. Brilliant.
And high-five to Australian newspapers for having the courage to be different. (The normal media ad is all chest thumping and tortured statistics.)

However from a strategy perspective this ad could apply to television stations, radio stations and magazines just as it does to newspapers.
Engaging copy (story telling) "works", regardless of the media it rides.

The last two lines hold a message for all advertisers. With a little nip and tuck - Confiscate 'newspapers', inject 'your ads', and we have a message all should listen.

" If you’re an advertiser and believe that your brand is more interesting than a broken snow dome, why not engage people with newspapers? your ads? Imagine the story you could tell."

Now there's a thought.