Storytelling lessons from a two and a half minute film
I’m sure by now, we all have seen this new Christmas ad by Coca-Cola. It’s beautiful, meaningful, and most importantly -
It stays with you!
It’s like watching a complete film in two and a half minutes.
It has drama.
The kind of drama that has anticipation mingled with uncertainty.
The central character goes through conflict, challenges, climax, and finally a happy ending. An ending that leaves you teary-eyed and pulls at your heartstring.
In nutshell, it has everything that Andrew Stanton defines as clues to a great story.
Festivals are the action-packed time for brands and marketers. We see some of the best brand films and marketing messages during this time of the year. Considering the volume of content that gets produced every day, it’s not easy to stand out, get noticed, and leave a mark.
But that’s when the power of brilliant storytelling comes into the picture.
Even though short, films like these leave a long-lasting impression. It connects with the audience and even a subtle brand presence grabs attention.
In fact, attention in a way that we end up searching more about the brand afterward.
Created by the award-winning filmmaker, Taika Waititi, the film shows the story of a dad trying to deliver his daughter’s letter to Santa against all odds. Timing-wise, the year 2020 has been full of odds and challenges for many across the globe. Pandemic has taught us all different life lessons. But if there is one thing that we have learned this year — it’s the importance of family and relationships. The importance of being connected with each other. The film ends up on a note highlighting this and more.
More power to storytellers like him. They teach us impactful storytelling lessons within minutes that many times courses worth hours can’t do. Going by the numbers of shares and reach that this film has received, it once again reminds me of the cliched saying -
Be it the business of marketing or life in general, somethings do not change.
If you would like to read the second part of this post with B2B examples, you can find it here.
*Originally published here.
