Serious Writers Go To Work For Big Brands
“A number of companies are latching on to a broader advertising notion of ‘the writer,’ either as a conceptual, disembodied mascot or, in the case of Chipotle, by gathering literary luminaries to form a collective ‘spokescribe.’ As serious literature becomes further marginalized, cloistered from the cultural Kardashians at the gate, brands may be tapping into a quality associated with it that historically seduces aspirational consumers: elitism.”
A great deal of our lifetime revolves around stories. We tell, listen to, write, read, act out and watch them. Sometimes we tell the same stories over and over again (author Christopher Booker argues there are seven basic plots that recur throughout every kind of story).
I often quote futurist Rolf Jensen: “The highest paid person this century will be the storyteller”. If you think about the esteem we give to storytellers – authors, writers, actors, directors – it’s easy to understand why. But there are other reasons why stories are so important to us.
A recent article by Cody C. Delistraty in The Atlantic talked about storytelling from a psychological standpoint. One of the reasons for our penchant for stories is that they give us a sense of control over the world. They allow us to apply a narrative to things that might otherwise have been without one, providing a meaning, applying a pattern or solving a problem. They make things interesting....