Anybody who has ever worked in advertising (like yours truly, natch) knows how tough it is to tell a good story while you’re trying to promote a product. I could bring up the time I had to write about a certain brand of high-end skater hoodies (yes, hoodies, as in a sweatshirt with a hood on it), and ended up writing about both ninjas AND space aliens — but I won’t bore you with the details.
Suffice to say that my favorite example of advertising storytelling is probably the old Taster’s Choice commercials (aka Nescafe Gold in the UK). I’m not a big fan of commercials, but there’s something to the art of storytelling to be learned here. I’d like to draw your attention to the new tab at the top of the page: Storytelling Secrets from Taster’s Choice. I had a lot of fun with that one.
And yes, you can write a novel using the same tricks that the instant coffee people used. Read it and I’ll show you how.
New media is heading this direction, I think. We’re seeing filmmakers large and small putting out webisodes featuring ultra-short episodes of a longer story arc, each one crafted to tag you into watching the next. Sort of like chapters in a novel. Hmm…
Anyway, not to spoil anything, but the coffee couple had a happy ending. Just read the book. (And yes, somebody wrote a novel about those two. Seriously.)