Sales Storytelling Masterclass Kicks Off Sunday at 6:30

I am looking forward to the Super Bowl this weekend. As a football fan, I am eagerly anticipating the clash between the Kansas City Chiefs’ dynamic offense and the San Francisco 49ers’ suffocating defense. But as a student of persuasive communication, what I am really looking forward to is the commercials.

The ability to tell a compelling and concise story is a huge and versatile asset in persuasive communication. Stories can grab attention, make a personal connection, dramatize a need, and make your point unforgettable. The best TV commercials can squeeze a complete and powerful story into a 30-60 second time slot, and the Super Bowl attracts the best the industry can provide.

Most of the ads are worth watching just for the entertainment value, but you can also learn some useful lessons from them, if you know what to look for. Here are just a few:

• Most products and services are not that exciting, so a good story can capture your imagination and cast its glow on the product. For example, running out of beer is not that huge a problem, but Heineken and Brad Pitt teamed up in 2005 to turn that mundane problem into an epic quest.
• Most big decisions are going to be made some time after you make your pitch, so it’s important that the decision maker remember the story when the time comes. The best illustration of a story’s staying power was Apple’s 1984 ad, which ran only one time but is still remembered today.
• One of the most effective forms of persuasive story is the crossroads story, which shows the moment of choice and depicts the consequences of a wrong or right choice. This ad about a young Jimi Hendrix from Pepsi is probably the best example I’ve seen. (It’s even called “Crossroads”)
• Surprise is a great way to maintain attention and make the story stick in memory. Since I’ve mentioned Pepsi, here’s one from Coke that uses Mean Joe Green to provide a twist.
• It usually considered bad form to denigrate competitors directly, but you can get away with it if you use a story to gently and humorously poke fun at them. But just because it’s funny does not mean the message is unclear, as Wendy’s showed in this famous ad.
• You don’t have to say anything about your competitors to dramatize the consequences of a wrong choice, as FedEx showed in 1999.
• There’s often a fundamental tension in selling between pointing out a problem and not wanting to be too negative. Snickers teamed up with Betty White to show how humor can bridge the gap between those two incompatible aims.
• Stories are a useful stealth way to humanize yourself and associate your image with goodness and positive associations. Babies are perfect for this, as are animals, and best of all—baby animals, as this Budweiser Clydesdale Foal commercial
• But, precisely because stories can be so compelling and memorable, it’s critical to ensure that they are relevant to the point you’re trying to make. This Office Linebacker ad is entertaining, but I still have no idea what they were selling. What a waste—not only in terms of money, but especially in terms of the listeners’ time.

This Sunday, the best of the best will square off against each other, and I can’t wait to see who wins.

The game should also be fun to watch—between the commercials!