Almost a decade ago, I took an interest in screenwriting. I’ve always been interested in storytelling in one form or another, and learning this particular craft has been a challenging and (personally, not yet financially) rewarding process.

It’s also tied in greatly with my chosen profession here at 50c.

Advertising… movies.

What do they have in common? It wasn’t something I’d realized or even thought about originally, but in the end, they all come down to communication. More than communication, but identification. Connection.

Some of the best movies are the ones you can invest yourself in. They quite often tap into some archetypal characters and situations, ones that on some level you can identify with in some way. It’s why so often a movie is about “an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances”… the “ordinary guy” becomes the everyman, whose shoes we’re able to project ourselves into and ask the question “how would I react in this situation? what choice would I make?”

Some of PIXAR’s biggest movies tapped into that with lost children or children surrogates trying to find their way home. FINDING NEMO… daddy fish trying to find kidnapped son. MONSTERS INC…. loveable monster becomes a protector to a lost child. THE INCREDIBLES… dysfunctional super-heroic family finds themselves by re-embracing who they are, with a good dose of “mommy and daddy have to rescue the kids”, but also some “the kids have to rescue mommy and daddy” as well.

These movies hit home in all demographics. The adults could identify with the adult figures, struggling against their own quirks and situations to protect the young ones, and the kids in the audience likely projecting themselves into the lost young ones, identifying with their own small stature and being comforted by the fact that there was a mommy or daddy (figure) out there tearing the world apart to rescue them and keep them safe (and perhaps feeling some sort of empowerment when the kids did some rescuing of their own).

Identification. Personification. The key to great storytelling is to pull an audience member into a situation and emotionally invest themselves in the outcome.

A movie has 90 to 120 minutes to accomplish this task.

A TV spot has 30 to 60 seconds… and it gets done all the time.
The techniques vary, but in just about every one that IS well done, the audience is able to identify with the subject of the ad in some way.

Like… this IKEA lamp commercial.

I’ve loved it since the day I first saw it. Doesn’t it just pull you right in? The music. The mood. The way they personify the lamp, with that over-the-shoulder shot when she’s walking through the living room, where the lamp actually has the “feel” of a child. Or that part where the lamp’s “home”, the endtable, is getting smaller and smaller as we walk away from it. Or the posture, how the lamp droops in the rain. Looking up at its replacement, and that little tender little gesture the new lamp gets from the Redheaded Woman.

Every ounce of pathos has been wrung out of the scene, we’re sucked in, we can feel the lamp’s pain, we can empathize with it, sensations of own moments of being “kicked to the curb” poignantly displayed in front of us…

And then we’re kicked in the gut with the real twist of the commercial, the moment that elevates it from a saccharine, maudlin lamp soap opera to something else altogether. Something worth remembering.
The guy with the accent walks onto the screen.

With a wink, they tell you that you’ve just been played big time. That they pulled out all those cinematic tricks to make you feel for the lamp. And you can’t help but laugh. Can’t help but share it with a buddy online or at the water cooler. Or write a blog about it.

Or think of IKEA next time you look at a ratty old lamp that needs replacing. Or any other piece of furniture.

And wasn’t that the point in the first place?

FADE OUT.

Geoff

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The howling winds are tearing at your company’s jib. Your structural integrity is on the verge of a compromise. Time to batten down the hatches and turn her into the next economic rogue wave.

In these tempestuous economic times, the temptation to abandon your creative vessel is irresistible. Think before you leap into the foundered deep. It’s a scary place if you don’t know how to swim.

I could waste half a day looking for the name of the person who coined the phrase, “When times are good you should advertise. When times are bad, you must.” But instead I’ll just say, “I wholeheartedly concur,” and get on with my opinion.

Foremost… don’t watch the news. It’s all bad. As complacent Canadians, we have the distinction of spontaneously adopting everything upon which our neighbours to the south embark. Well, thanks to “W”, the American economy is fueled by fear. That marketing strategy is flawed. It works so well that nobody’s buying anything anymore… not even guns… and much to W’s dismay, oil is trading at only 33.66 today. (Only five more days).

Forget them… and that guy who killed the economy. Instead, say to yourself, “What recession?” Hither forth. But don’t forget your life jacket (ie. your advertising agency… if you’re not gettin’ the nautical metaphors).

BTW, I’m not a fan of sailing.

When you feel marketing resources are scarce, and it seems easy enough to do it yourself, drop anchor right there. You already have a skilled crew ready to face anything the economy can muster. So if advertising is obligatory… then “how to advertise” becomes the battle strategy.

Mutiny notwithstanding, how do you give your scarce resources a fighting chance? Don’t follow economic trends. Set them! Your agency will discover whatever floats your boat.

—Jurgilas

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Welcome to the 50 Carleton blog. Its now 2009 and as the old Chinese proverb goes ‘ we are living in interesting times’.

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