The page is flat, but your story is not. The story is interactive. It is three-dimensional. These observations on storytelling are instructional. They tell us how businesses today can find success in creating customer experience in any media.
“Storylines and characters are multidimensional. They enter into worlds and draw the reader in,” Dan Chichester explained in the Publio Podcast.
The same goes for the screens on laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Games, simulations, and stories in your campaigns should immerse your audience. They actually become a character in your “show.” If your marketing accomplishes this, then the screens vanish. This is how the comic page dissolves when you enter the worlds of Daredevil, Wolverine, or Captain America.
Chichester’s own journey meandered through some of the hottest Marvel Comics properties. He landed on Madison Avenue working for the likes of Ogilvy and TBWA/WORLDHEALTH. Dan’s titles followed the arc of his career beginning with assistant creative director, then on to chief digital officer, chief creative officer, and chief experience officer.
“I’ve had a few of the ‘chief’ titles. If I don’t have another,” he chuckled, “I’ll be OK.”
Check out the full interview:
From Comic Book Metaverse to Madison Avenue Storytelling Experience
In his conversation with Publio CEO Keith Reynolds, Chichester explained the multi-team process of creating comic books. The process of creating stories enabled later career success with the advertising agencies. He also discussed how new technology enables ever more effective ways to tell your brand’s story as part of the experience you create for customers.
What’s astonishing, he said, is the degree to which marketing executives are ignorant of a technology’s capabilities. Phrases like “sprinkle a little VR on this, or throw a little augmented reality over there” from a person who has never used the technology is possibly worse than not using the technology at all.
“If you don’t experience the technology for yourself, then you can’t represent it correctly,” Chichester insisted. Clearly, Dan has had these conversations more than once. When you actually use the technology and experience it, he believes, you will be able to connect it to a business goal.
“We were never successful selling anything by saying we’re going to use X technology,” he said.
Chichester pointed out you have to ask yourself how someone will experience a website. Same for a podcast, or an app. You must understand what people will see. Your Customer Audience, ideally, will immerse themselves and understand how to achieve their goals through their experience with you.
“You have to paint a story of what will happen, especially when you use advanced technology to tell the story,” Chichester emphasized. “You have to know how to tell a tangible story.”
It’s how your successful campaign makes the screen disappear.
Follow Dan at Into the Storymaze on Substack – the place for independent writing.
Listen to the Publio Podcast
Listen: The Publio Podcast
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