Persuasion in a Nutshell - And Whiteboard

Persuasion Principle 1: Reciprocation

The good Doctor, Dr. Cialdini, breaks us off some knowledge.

Robert McKee on Business Storytelling

Robert McKee wrote the screen writing class Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting. (He made the Annie Hall-style cameo in Adaptation.) I read it a several times over the years -- that's a lot considering I'm the only species of copywriter who has no interest in writing a screenplay. But he lays out how to tell a story--and that's what creative work is.

Presentation Zen featured this video of him talking about business presentations. I'd like know more about his POV, alas, this clip will be all we get from him today.

“What happens is fact, not truth. Truth is what we think about what happens.” -- Robert McKee

A History of Content Marketing

I'm a big fan of marketing with meaning. In fact, it's when marketing is at its best.
Here's one of those new long "info graphics" jpegs that everyone seems to be pinning about the history content marketing.

Color Schemes

Here's another great podcast from CBC's Under the Influence. 

Surprising stories about the power of color.

http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-1/2012/05/05/colour-schemes-how-colours-make-us-buy-1/

The Science of Movie Trailers

I came across "The 150-Second Sell, Take 34" -- a great article about the science and art behind movie trailers. There are some good quotes about the needs to NOT connect all the dots for the audience.

But as films evolved, their marketing changed. Explicit hype pulled a Garbo and gave way to subtler hype. The man responsible for this shift was Stephen O. Frankfurt, the Young & Rubicam ad executive who brought America the Lay's potato chips slogan ''Betcha can't eat just one.'' In 1968, Paramount hired Frankfurt to come up with a trailer for ''Rosemary's Baby.'' Violating Hollywood's marketing rules, Frankfurt ignored the plot in favor of something starkly evocative -- an image of a baby carriage in silhouette, the grating sound of an infant crying and a cryptic tag line: ''Pray for Rosemary's baby.'' The movie was a huge hit, and the campaign became an industry benchmark.

Frankfurt, who is now 70, holds fast against unveiling a film's full storyline. ''Trailers today give it all away,'' he says. ''If the thing tells you too much, it eliminates your involvement, which is the first step to persuasion.''

Draplin Lays Down the Law

I'm a huge fan of Aaron Draplin's work but I'm motivated by his work ethic and approach to being a creative professional. He's a poster child for my thinking behind "Blood, Sweat and Ideas" -- a big, bearded, screen printed poster child


Portland/CreativeMornings - Aaron James Draplin from CreativeMornings/Portland on Vimeo.