Changing behavior for the better.

If you were presented with a choice to take the stairs or the escalator, which would you choose? And if the stairs were a working piano, would that convince to take the stairs more often? In 2009, a social experiment was conducted to see if they could change people's behavior with something as simple as "entertainment". They published their video results on thefuntheory.com stating:

"This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."

In this video, subway stairs are transformed into a working piano to get people to use the stairs and get more exercise. The result? 66% more people used the stairs.

In this next social experiment, Kevin Richardson was recognized as the winner of The Fun Theory Award for providing a fun solution to the question: "Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do?"

And now, “Can we get more people to throw their rubbish in the bin by making it fun to do?”

It is clear that a bit of entertainment motivates people toward change. So, instead of looking for ways to motivate people to do what we want them to, we need to change their environment so they can motivate themselves. Entertainment can be an effective motivator and over time it can help people replace old habits with better ones. Positive reinforcement is key. The longer we are motivated to continue with a new behavior, the better chance it has to stick.

So the question becomes... How can you change your consumer environment so that they become motivated to use your product or service AND make it a habit?

Morty Silber, CEO

Mad Strategies Inc.
a Wizard of Ads Partner

Every superhero franchise begins with a Genesis story.

Action Comics #1 starts with a baby superman-to-be sent forth from the doomed planet Kryptonite. Sent forth with his father’s desire that he become a force for good on Earth. The Amazing Spider-Man #1 tells how Peter Parker gained super-powers after he was bitten by the radio-active spider and how he became Spider-man in reaction to his uncle Ben’s murder.

In the same way, if you take any superhero movie that’s the first in its franchise, you’ll find a genesis story of that superhero — a tale that tells the audience:

• How the hero came to posses his powers,
• Who the hero is as a person, and
• What his mission is and Why he’s dedicated to it

If you don’t do that, you’re hero won’t be believable. Nor will he be sympathetic. You’ll end up with a character whose super powers will seem too fantastic and “made up,” and who will fail to inspire anyone to care about or root for him.

It’s that simple: no genesis story, no superhero.

Superheros and Advertising

Interestingly, the three tasks of a Genesis story overlay perfectly with Aristotle’s three elements of Ethos — the three things you must establish in order to persuade through an appeal to character. Here’s how they match-up, using Jay Henrich’s modern updates for the Ethos elements of phronesis, eunoia, and arete:

1. Craft = Phronesis / Practical Wisdom = Powers
2. Caring = Eunoia / Goodwill = Who the hero is as a person
3. Cause = Areté / Virtue = Mission

Want to present a business owner as someone prospective customers should like and trust?

Then you need to cover these character elements. You have to convince the audience that the owner is great at what he does, that he cares about his customers, and that, at the end of the day, he’s on a bigger mission than just making money.

And once you understand the superhero angle, it becomes pretty obvious that the most powerful way to communicate these elements is through a Genesis story.

Put more directly, if you’re presenting the business owner as someone with superpowers — whether that’s the power to heroically save the customer from a tough situation, or simply the power to do X better than any other business on the planet — than you’re presenting them as a de facto superhero, and you need to tell the darn genesis story to make that message at all believable.

A Jewelry Superhero Genesis Story

Want an example of an Advertising Genesis story?

Here’s one from my business partner, Roy Williams [paragraphing mine]:

“When I was seven years old, I held my father’s head in my hands as he took his last breath and died. A thing like that stays with you. It helps you under­stand that rela­tion­ships – peo­ple – are what life’s all about.You gotta tell’em you love’em.

This is J.R. Dunn. So now you know why I became a jew­eler. Fine jew­elry is one of the ways we tell peo­ple we love ’em. When I got older and fell head-over-heals for Ann Marie, the love of my life, I didn’t have enough money to buy her an engage­ment ring. She mar­ried me any­way. Go fig­ure.

But I can promise you this: If you’re think­ing of get­ting engaged to the love of your life, come to J.R. Dunn Jew­el­ers in Light­house Point. No one in Florida, no one in Amer­ica, is going to give you a bet­ter engagement ring for your money than me. One of the great joys of my life is to make it pos­si­ble for guys to give the woman they love the diamond she deserves.

There was nobody there for me when I needed an engage­ment ring. But I promise I’ll be there for you.”

After hearing this ad, you now know, with absolute clarity:

• What kind of person J.R. Dunn is
• How he got his superpowers (along with how those superpowers can help you)
• What mission he’s on and why he’s dedicated to it

Better yet, you not only know these things about him, but you believe them. You believe these things about J.R. Dunn because he told you his genesis story. See how that works?

So what’s YOUR genesis story, and are you bothering to tell it the way it ought to be told?

This article was written by my brilliant partner, Jeff Sexton.

Morty Silber, CEO

Mad Strategies Inc.
a Wizard of Ads Partner

Story Appeal creates audience curiosity.  Basically it’s the out-of-the-ordinary element that causes readers to guess at an explanatory back-story or narrative.

David Ogilvy used the term in his book Ogilvy on Advertising to describe the kind of photographs which best grab reader’s attention, as exemplified by this Hathaway ad:

Here’s what Ogilvy wrote about Story Appeal (and this ad):

“The kind of photographs which work hardest are those which arouse the reader’s curiousity.  He glances at the photograph and says to himself, ‘What goes on here?’  Then he reads your copy to find out.  Harold Rudolph called this magic element ‘Story Appeal,’ and demonstrated that the more of it you inject into your photographs, the more people look at your advertisements.”

‘The eyepatch injects the magic element of ’story appeal.’“

Do you see how the odd characteristic of the Baron Wrangell character sparks readers’ curiosity? One can’t help but speculate about his background, purpose in the ad, etc. – and so one reads the ad to find out.

Moving the principle online, story appeal creates click throughs from readers hoping to get the full story on your home page.  And the “click through” example brings up the obvious point that Story Appeal can work as well for headlines, titles, and tweets as it can for pictures in ads.

This article was written by my brilliant partner, Jeff Sexton.

Morty Silber, CEO