Personal Investment in a Story
Superbowl Sunday today. Big game. How do I know? Pregame show storytelling. It’s still 3+ hours until kickoff, and I’ve already been thoroughly apprised of the stakes and storylines, over and over.
Imagine coming into this game with no context–as millions of viewers, no doubt, will–how does a network draw them in on a personal level? By fostering an emotional investment; filling them in on the (historic?) back stories:
18-0 Pats seek the ultimate Perfection and a place in the history books; Giants start out 0-2, make playoffs, overcome underdog status against three solid teams to reach the Superbowl. In their last meeting (their last game of the regular season), the Patriots faced their largest point deficit all season against the Giants (i.e. David almost beat Goliath last time around, and he’s determined to follow through this time). Spygate. And that’s just on the team level…
Individually: Eli Manning comes into his own and carries on a family legacy (while big brother Peyton watches). Did (does) Tom Brady have a leg injury and will that affect the game? Uber-veteran Michael Strahan gets another shot at the Lombardi Trophy.
You can’t help but be drawn into the stakes of the game–rooting for (or against) one team or individual. Sports coverage uses this approach all the time to hype games and make people invest themselves in the contest. I watched Wimbledon last year (I really don’t even like tennis) simply because I was drawn in by the storyline coverage. Will the rain delays affect the outcome? Can the seemingly invincible Roger Federer be beaten? I didn’t know (or care) who Federer was, but I could certainly relate to the idea of an upset.
Which begs the question . . . how loyal would our customers be if they knew who we are, where we came from, what we want to accomplish and what stands in our way? How can we get them to revel in our successes and stay behind us through our failures? What will move them to action? Tell them your compelling (and authentic) story. Take the “business entity” hat off for a while and connect like a person (people relate to that).
Enjoy the game, and check back here for thoughts on the ads.
(Just saw a promo pitting New Yorkers against Bostonites, a la the Yankees vs. the Red Sox, accents, Mayoral roots, etc. . . . is there no end to the storylines to be mined from this event?)
This entry was posted on February 3, 2008 at 2:40 pm and is filed under audience, feedback, idea, message recall, personal investment, presentation, storytelling. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
