Ken Burns, Storytelling, and The Relationship Era

I recently read this wonderful article in The Atlantic on how Ken Burns approaches storytelling.  As the standard bearer for documentaries in our lifetime, I'd say he's about as close as an authority as you'll find.  And while the article is great, it really is the video interviewthat provides the key insight.  In it he states:

"All real, genuine stories are about 1 + 1 = 3.  We live in a rational world where we’re absolutely certain that 1 + 1 = 2 – and it does! But the things that matter most to us – some people call it love, some people call it God, some people call it reason – is that other thing where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  And that’s the 3.”

To me, this is a critical lesson for marketers in The Relationship Era to hear.  If your marketing strategy is based only on the rational, you are doomed to end up at best as a commodity.  For example, if your social media strategy consists of buying "likes" to allow you to only tout your sale items, you may have done the rationally right strategy.  It will certainly look nice in a deck that month over month you have increased your social media consumer base, and increased the number of people aware of your sales.  But you have failed to create what we as marketers call a relationship, and what Burns calls “…that other thing where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”  It’s the intangible that makes your brand sticky to a consumer to the point that they would rather buy from you even if an alternative adds up to the rational choice.  If the choice you are offering isn’t 1+1=3, than you better be ready to ride commodity market roller coster. 

So how does a brand build that extra part?  It starts with knowing why you are in business.  Starting with "why" gives you the foundation to inspire a consumer to care about their relationship with the brand.  From there, tactical execution becomes much clearer, as you are no longer looking for just the rational marking tactic du jour.  Instead, you are communicating in a way that suits the clear symbiotic relationship between brand and consumer.  You are now in a relationship.  And that adds up to something much greater than 2.