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the power of story

by joe golfer
10 replies
Michael Arrington started TechCrunch and is a major player in tech journalism. He recently posted on Facebook that he inadvertently was copied in an email exchange between a kids soccer team's coach and the parents. He has no idea who they are:

"There's this email exchange that I've been watching for a long while now. It's the parents of a soccer team called the Jaguars + me. I think they added me by mistake. At first the coaches wife, Sara, was asking people to tell their kids to focus more at practice. A few parents got upset. One said the coaches were bullying their kids. Sara has now responded saying she's offended - "And, these kids are not "treated poorly", threatened, or filled with fear. That is really offensive to me" and she's demanded a team parents meeting. I can't attend the meeting because I have no idea where these people are, but I'm emotionally invested now and I feel that it's time for me to add my two cents. There are only two weeks left in the season, it's go time. These parents need to put on their big girl pants and tell their kids to FOCUS on the WIN."

Notice how your mind is automatically locked in to the story and wants a resolution. You start to picture the players, the coach, the parents and imagine what they look like.

Maybe you start to recall your own coaches, or remember similar situations you had with your kid's coaches. All this from a real life story involving people you have no idea who they really are.

It shows how stories get you, as Arrington says, "emotionally invested," whether you want to or not.
#power #story
  • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
    Notice how your mind is automatically locked in to the story and wants a resolution.
    Actually, that is not the reaction I had from this story. I started thinking about the over-involved parents who may not be letting their kids be kids but instead are pressuring them to "focus" because the parents think winning is so important.

    My point is that stories don't have the expected effect on every audience. Maybe you, Joe, believe that competition is a great thing and winning is important. That's not my world view. The story doesn't grab those who don't buy into the values implied in the story.

    Marcia Yudkin
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    • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
      It's a bit like eavesdropping a conversation on the train or bus between two people talking about a job interview one of them is going for that afternoon.

      You have nothing invested in whether the person gets it or not but you want to know how the story will end.

      The phenomena has some sort of Eastern European sounding name but I can't recall it.

      So I think if you had this e-mail and read it, and then got the response you would eventually be checking your e-mails wanting to see what comes next even if you have no interest really in the topic at hand.

      Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

      Actually, that is not the reaction I had from this story. I started thinking about the over-involved parents who may not be letting their kids be kids but instead are pressuring them to "focus" because the parents think winning is so important.
      You mean like this dad in England doing his bit?

      'Touchline dad' trips up opposition player in teenage rugby match - Telegraph

      Dan
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      • Profile picture of the author Memetics
        The mind is prewired to give stories access to the emotional brain by attenuating the critical factor. Humans have learnt through stories for hundreds of thousands of years before the adoption of the written word.

        We used them via fairy tales, myths and fables to transmit valuable knowledge to our young ones.

        Because the information they imparted was so valuable to survival in those brutal times, the mind evolved to give the information they imparted fastrack unhindered access (to a point) to the part of the brain where beliefs are held.

        Those who didn't learn...died. Those who did learn had the information transcribed into emotional form and acted on it. They survived and so did their genes.
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        First we believe.....then we consider.

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  • Profile picture of the author joe golfer
    I think you made my point better than I did. Each of us reacts to the story in our own way, taking a position in our minds on who is right and what should happen next.
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    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
    - Jack Trout
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    • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
      Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

      I think you made my point better than I did. Each of us reacts to the story in our own way, taking a position in our minds on who is right and what should happen next.
      I could write a book, or a very long post on the subject...but I won't.

      It is a secret known as the Controlled Pachinko Outcome. Or the Binary Matrix.

      ALL the balls in the Pachinko game end up at the bottom, no matter how many times they get bounced around. The Binary Matrix says, only a choice between TWO not many.

      The story is perfect for setting up a CHOICE. Give the reader two options, one for the wife, one for the parents. THEN, here is the secret revealed.

      Give them two more choices, and perhaps, two more after that.

      Few people know it, fewer copywriters use it consciously.

      It comes from the old Elmer Wheeler "Wheeler Point", Don't ask if, ask which?

      So, would you prefer to know how to write copy quickly and get more faster paying jobs or would you prefer to have fewer clients albeit higher paying ones, but slower payments?

      A good survey has a solution or answer to all points of view, at least if you want to sell them something.

      gjabiz

      See, I am capable of keeping it brief.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lance K
    The focus on the win comment was Arrington's.

    Other than that the coach asked that parents talk to their kids about focusing at practice. Which they should. It's about respecting the time and efforts of the coaches (often volunteers) and the other players on the team. If your kid would rather play in mud puddles, count clouds, horse around, etc. then don't sign them up for the team. If it was a classroom setting, they would be disciplined and/or receive a poor grade. It's not so much about winning as it is about being respectful to others.

    That said, there are those who are over the top about winning. It's a shame. But don't use those few to condemn all. Letting kids be kids is great. Letting kids be disrespectful kids is a major parenting flaw...period.
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    "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
    ~ Zig Ziglar
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      The phenomena has some sort of Eastern European sounding name but I can't recall it.
      It's the Ziegarnik effect. Here is a link:

      Bluma Zeigarnik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      Marcia Yudkin
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      • Profile picture of the author Memetics
        Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

        It's the Ziegarnik effect. Here is a link:

        Bluma Zeigarnik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

        Marcia Yudkin
        The Zeigarnik effect helps you remember the story better until it's finished but it's narrative bias which keeps you reading. From an advertising perspective the Zeigarnik is perfect for generating top of mind but from a copywriting point of view it's best used with nested loops with the call to action being the close.

        The laws of physics are locked into our mental programming at the most basic level - A causes B which means C - and our pattern recognition loving brains give us a rush when we predict something correctly; hence the enjoyment of a good story. But the twist in the tale gives our mind an emotional jolt as; to our stone age ancestors it meant either opportunity or danger and recognising either of those scenarios was good for our genes.

        Those jolts can have suggestions attached to them and that's how persuasion takes place at a base level.

        Everyone likes a good story.

        I once watched a foreign film when I was in Budapest 20 years ago about a big dinner party where -for some reason- nobody could walk out of the dining room after the meal. I never did find out what the ending was but 20 years later and 100's of movies viewed afterwards it still bugs me now and then. Just goes to show how powerful the Zeigenik actually is.
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        First we believe.....then we consider.

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  • Profile picture of the author sethczerepak
    I see Classic Us vs Them.

    This is probably the most powerful selling technique you can master.

    Play writers, novelists movie producers and copywriters have used this approach for years. I believe gjabiz gave a better scientific explanation of it. But in every day terms, it's the unresolved conflict....David vs Goliath, Hero vs the Evil Empire/System, Neo vs the Matrixx, Luke Skywalker vs the Empire, Katniss Everdeen vs the Totalitarian nation of Panem

    You introduce the David, get the reader to empathize with him, position Goliath as the big, imcompassionate, irrational, angry, cartoon character bad guy with a cold blooded agenda to squash the little guy. Create a scenario where David finds the Giant's weakspot and, defeats him, makes him look like a total ass in front of God and everyone, leaving the reader believe that they can take down the Goliath in their life if they join the fight and buy the product or go to the next movie.

    You see this in the financial niche, dating niche, business opportunity niche, weight loss niche, gaming niche...basically all the big money makers.

    I say this because the remarks about bullying, that makes it a bit more than just an unresolved question or story. You want to stick around so you can see the little guy kick the bully in the balls.
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  • Profile picture of the author joe golfer
    Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

    At first the coaches wife, Sara, was asking people to tell their kids to focus more at practice. A few parents got upset. One said the coaches were bullying their kids.
    This happend to me as a kid, but in reverse. My parents told the coach he wasn't bullying us enough. It was a different time.
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    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
    - Jack Trout
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