After 17 years in the advertising industry, I became a professor to teach what I learned in practice. Only then did I start reflecting, researching, and discovering why we were successful in some efforts and not in others. From that perspective, I’ve been crafting new ways to approach marketing that are not based on what worked in the past but on what works now in light of the dramatic changes in the field. Within marketing, I focus on social media strategy, digital marketing, and storytelling.
I wrote...
Brand Storytelling: Integrated Marketing Communications for the Digital Media Landscape
Brand storytelling has become a buzzword in the business press in recent years. While the hype has increased, a practical understanding of how to create and integrate brand storytelling has not. This book takes an innovative approach to leveraging the ancient power of storytelling for today’s brands in a digital-first media environment.
Drawing from Aristotle, Shakespeare, and today’s latest research, including my own, this text explains why and how storytelling works. From groundwork theory and research to on-the-ground current business examples, you learn how to tell brand stories integrated across traditional, digital, and social media. You’ll also learn a strategic planning process to develop a fully integrated marketing communications plan built around a story.
David Aaker is an American Marketing Association Hall of Fame member and innovator in marketing management and branding through research, teaching, and books.
This book is his insight on brand storytelling with inspiration from his daughter Jennifer Aaker and other’s research on the power of stories. Aaker explains that stories are powerful in communicating strategic messaging. He also explains that in a digital age where content is king, stories are the key to content.
I especially liked his explanation of the types of signature stories and examples of brand signature stories – including the L.L. Bean story in the very beginning.
Stories are orders of magnitude which are more effective than facts at achieving attention, persuading, being remembered, and inspiring involvement. Signature stories-intriguing, authentic, and involving narratives-apply the power of stories to communicate a strategic message. Marketing professionals, coping with the digital revolution and the need to have their strategic message heard internally and externally, are realizing that a digital strategy revolves around content and that content is stories.
Creating Signature Stories shows organizations how to introduce storytelling into their strategic messaging, and guides organizations to find, or even create, signature stories and leverage them over time. With case studies built…
This book is all about brand building and it was integral to my advertising copywriting days.
Mark and Pearson use Jung’s 12 archetypes to classify brands, consumer markets, and consumers. We used their system to help our clients identify brand meaning and archetype and then used that as the basis for establishing relationships with customers.
Knowing the brand archetype helped me know what type of character’s story to tell. Brand and story archetypes become a shortcut to letting an audience and prospective customer know your brand story is about their story.
This book describes a system of meaning management, the first-ever systematic approach to successful brand meaning. 'This book illuminates the most ancient grooves in our mental architecture, which Carol Jung described as "archetypes", and shows how they can be employed to bring meaning and profit to a brand. There is a nascent power here, which, if understood correctly, can bring a rare vitality to a brand or a corporation' - From the Foreward by Alex Kroll former Creative Director, CEO and Chairman of Young & Rubicam. Some brands are so extraordinary that they become larger-than-life, symbolic of entire cultures, and…
To tell a brand story, you need ideas. Where do ideas come from? No one really knew, including me, until James Young Webb wrote this book, and I discovered it years into my career.
Before reading Young's book, my ideas for marketing clients were often hit or miss. Sometimes, they were brilliant, and sometimes, just okay. What was the difference? I didn’t know until I read this five-step process. When I followed this process my ideas were better. Knowing and following the process will make your ideas and brand stories better.
This concise and powerful book lifts the lid on the creative process and eloquently details the steps needed to create exciting new ideas.
Advertising copywriters, engineers, poets, painters and scientists have all benefited from its text to make creative breakthroughs.
Advertising trailblazer William Bernbach wrote, "James Webb Young conveys in his little book something more valuable than the most learned and detailed texts on the subject of advertising. Mr. Young is in the tradition of some of our greatest thinkers when he describes the workings of the creative process".
Wharton Marketing Professor Jonah Berger has spent decades researching what makes ideas spread and marketing go viral. The best idea and brand story with the right archetype won’t make a difference if it isn’t seen. With today’s fragmented media landscape, you need to know what makes something catch on and drives word-of-mouth to spread your story.
This book outlines 6 characteristics of what makes things catch on with social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value, and story. Understanding these factors helped improve my brand stories. Even social media advertising only buys an interruption. It doesn’t guarantee action and spread.
Why are some products and ideas talked about more than others? Why do some articles make the most emailed list? Why do some YouTube videos go viral? Word-of-mouth. Whether through face-to-face conversations, emails from friends, or online product reviews, the information and opinions we get from others have a strong impact on our own behaviour. Indeed, word-of-mouth generates more than two times the sales of paid advertising and is the primary factor behind 20-50% of all purchasing decisions.It is between 8.5 and 30 times more effective than traditional media.But want to know the best thing about word-of-mouth? It's available to…
Like discovering the hidden process for generating ideas, discovering the hidden power of curiosity unleashed my capabilities and improved my efforts.
Leslie explains that curiosity declines as we grow older and as technology increases. Both work against a sustained quest for understanding that leads to insight, innovations, and ideas. If you know this, you can nurture your desire to know and stay curious in a modern world where we can seemingly answer any question almost instantly.
This book opened my eyes to new possibilities illuminating new ways to become a more engaging brand storyteller.
"I have no special talents," said Albert Einstein. "I am only passionately curious." Everyone is born curious. But only some retain the habits of exploring, learning, and discovering as they grow older. Those who do so tend to be smarter, more creative, and more successful. So why are many of us allowing our curiosity to wane? In Curious, Ian Leslie makes a passionate case for the cultivation of our "desire to know." Just when the rewards of curiosity have never been higher, it is misunderstood, undervalued, and increasingly monopolized by a cognitive elite. A "curiosity divide" is opening up. This…
Coming from the perspective of a neurosurgeon, I have witnessed many successes and failures over more than four decades. I recognized decades ago that communication with patients at a level that involves emotions is a necessary part of being a complete physician. This involves being empathetic and, henceforth, digging deep to find the strength to be transparent, vulnerable, compassionate, understanding, and, when needed, forceful (some would call this paternalism). Although the five books I have chosen to highlight vary widely in content, they have one common theme – finding within us the will and wherewithal to succeed.
My book is a collection of monthly Editor-in-Chief letters to the readership of World Neurosurgery, a journal that I edit. Each essay is short and sweet. The letters were written for neurosurgeons but have been re-edited so that they apply to all human beings. They cover topics such as leadership, empathy, vulnerability, stress, burnout, and on and on…. These essays are relevant for all who strive to craft a better version of themselves.
Life lessons learned by the author during his 40+ year neurosurgery career are shared and translated into real-life scenarios. Between the covers are many lessons that are derived from the experiences of the author and then applied to all humans. The mastering of these lessons should translate into a sense of pride and satisfaction. In keeping with the theme of the book, this process should culminate in the feeling at the end of the day that ‘Today was, indeed, a good day.’
Today Was A Good Day: A Collection of Essays From The Heart Of A Neurosurgeon
About the Book Today Was A Good Day: A Collection of Essays From The Heart Of A Neurosurgeon features many topics that pertain to how neurosurgeons interact with others and how each of us can use introspection to modify how we are using tools and strategies such as empathy, respect, stress management, and much more. This book provides some insights into leadership, effective communication, and fulfillment from the perspective of a neurosurgeon, and it causes the reader to think about and consider many, many attributes of a leader. We all want to have a good day. This book provides strategies…
