A story is a container.
We read, watch and listen to stories because we have an expectation and a hope for an enjoyable and/ or useful experience. Story as such is not what we look for though. What we crave from all mediums is a personal internal experience, an epiphany that renews us, gives us so much new multifaceted knowledge in an instant, that it transforms our mind somehow, even just a little bit. It is the moment we “get it” and it is very enjoyable. That is why actively search and pay for these efficient renewing epiphanies.
Stories and Products
All stories and products contain one or more epiphanies in them, otherwise they wouldn’t exist.
Just knowing a product exists is not enough to create action. Once we get an epiphany from a story of a product, we want to do something, we want to tell someone and buy it. In the digital age epiphanies are hard to find, since everything has been and is seen. But when we find even a small one it is very easy to share, commit to and buy something. Smart marketers find new epiphanies and install them in their products and brands over and again.
In creating stories that contain epiphanies, visualization is very effective. As an example of the point I have want to share a piece of the genius of Hans Rosling who creates ephipanies in his stories about statistics through visualization.
Antti Sipilä, Oneminstory