Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future

Jonah Sachs

Harvard Business Press, Aug 7, 2012 - Business & Economics - 264 pages

Trying to get your message heard? Build an iconic brand?
Welcome to the battlefield.

The story wars are all around us. They are the struggle to be heard in a world of media noise and clamor. Today, most brand messages and mass appeals for causes are drowned out before they even reach us. But a few consistently break through the din, using the only tool that has ever moved minds and changed behavior--great stories.

With insights from mythology, advertising history, evolutionary biology, and psychology, viral storyteller and advertising expert Jonah Sachs takes readers into a fascinating world of seemingly insurmountable challenges and enormous opportunity. You'll discover how:

- Social media tools are driving a return to the oral tradition, in which stories that matter rise above the fray
- Marketers have become today's mythmakers, providing society with explanation, meaning, and ritual
- Memorable stories based on timeless themes build legions of eager evangelists
- Marketers and audiences can work together to create deeper meaning and stronger partnerships in building a better world
- Brands like Old Spice, The Story of Stuff, Nike, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street created and sustained massive viral buzz

Winning the Story Wars is a call to arms for business communicators to cast aside broken traditions and join a revolution to build the iconic brands of the future. It puts marketers in the role of heroes with a chance to transform not just their craft but the enterprises they represent. After all, success in the story wars doesn't come just from telling great stories, but from learning to live them.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - willszal - LibraryThing

I’ve just finished reading a phenomenal book called “Winning the Story Wars" by Jonah Sachs. It’s a handbook about the most powerful shaping forces of our world: our myths. And we’ve hit a myth gap ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - RajivC - LibraryThing

This book had much promise, and did partially deliver on the promise. There were some very good points about the art of story telling, and myth, and I think that Jonah started well. I like the concept ...

Contents

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About the author

About the Author: Jonah Sachs.
As the cofounder and CEO of Free Range Studios, Sachs has helped hundreds of major brands and causes break through the media noise with unforgettable campaigns. His work on renowned viral videos including The Meatrix and The Story of Stuff have brought key social issues to the attention of more than sixty-five million people online. A constant innovator, his studio’s websites and stories have taken top honors three times at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Sachs’s work and opinions have been featured in a variety of media, including the New York Times, NPR, and Fast Company magazine, which named him one of its fifty most influential social innovators.

About the Illustrator: Drew Beam
Drew Beam is the Innovation Director at Free Range Studios, where he helps clients see the future and leap into it. After earning his BFA at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Beam built a successful career creating visuals and innovation strategies for dozens of Fortune 500 companies. His illustrations have been published by Time Warner Books, Penguin Books, and Rolling Stone magazine, to name just a few.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future; G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
• Author: Jonah Sachs
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Harvard Business Press, 2012
• ISBN: 1422143562, 9781422143568
• Length: 264 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Consulting