Maybe it’s not about telling stories at all
Our friend (yes, I know, we have lots of friends, we are social after all), Iain Tait on TV ads showing ‘groups of people having fun’ and in particular, the recent T-Mobile ‘flashmob’ ad:
My suspicion is that we’re seeing adverts made by people who haven’t been collaborating deeply online. Who haven’t been a part of these things. Who don’t understand the subtle, emotional things that happen in online relationships and groups. Another part of the reason we end up with big, generic, broad-brush, advertising. Things that work, in general, for some of the population.
But maybe broadcast media isn’t the place to tell the (more) interesting, deeper stories. The stories that happen quietly, inside the wires, over the airwaves, through the devices and in people’s minds.
Perhaps stories of togetherness and collaboration are best told in places where people are together, collaborating. And perhaps they should be told in ways that reflect the brilliance, excitement and usefulness of what doing things together using tools and technologies – not metaphors – is actually all about.
Or maybe in those places it’s not about telling stories at all.
Perhaps it’s about the conversations you have with people and the stories they then go on to tell each other?