5.03 – Your Product Always Follows Your Story

One of the misunderstood fundamentals of advertising is that many people think:

“I have this great product, and all I have to do is put out an ad and everyone is going to buy it.”

People fall in love so much with their product they forget actual people have to buy it. Yes, there are a few products that stand out on their own, which people will buy without a story. However, a majority of products and services can’t stand alone without a story angle.

Too many ads are superficial. They trot out features. They detail things that are EXPECTED of a product, but nothing that attaches an emotion to the product so people understand WHY they need it. 

When storyboarding an ad, you get someone to talk about their back story, core beliefs, and why they do what they do because it starts to get their mind focused on the reason that a product or service exists. It gets them into the mindset of how the product or service benefits the marketplace and their users, not just utility.