Pixar Loves a Good Story and So Should You
June 27th, 2008 by Shannon Newton
We took the kids to Pixar’s WALL-E tonight and it reminded me of the importance of a good story in every bit of content. (BTW, an excellent film, I highly recommend it). Many companies mistakenly believe that weaving a good story comes second to the information they are trying to convey.
Nothing could be further from the truth. We, as humans, have been learning in the form of story for more years than most of us can imagine. Using that built-in instinctual way to learn is the best way to convey information.
Here are the major parts of a story and an example of even a mundane piece of content, like a CEO’s quarterly earnings report, can follow the story process.
- Exposition: the beginning of the story where the stage is set. The situation of the characters in the story is explained to include the setting.
- Rising Action: a series of situations that builds tension toward the final conflict for the main character of the story.
- Climax: the turning point in the story where success or failure for the main character hinges. Often a lesson learned during the rising action pays off here.
- Falling Action & Resolution: (aka denoument) The final conflict is worked and the struggle is finished. A new “normal” is set as a result of the result of the climax and life continues.
- Exposition: “We began this quarter with a strong belief we could do better than last quarter’s disappointing earnings”
- Rising Action: “We were off to a rocky start with the economic challenges in the US. We adjusted our pricing strategy and still did not see the up tick in sales we expected. We knew we have a great product and our efforts were just not paying off”
- Climax: “We realized if we were going to truly impact sales, we had to go door to door with every employee demonstrating our benefits. Nothing we had done in the past was going to work. Everyone pitched in”
- Resolution: “As a direct result, we doubled sales, our fortunes turned, and we had a great quarter”
Taking the time to write your content in terms of a story will pay off in both attention and retention.
