Telling stories
Master yarn teller Peter Guber draws on a lifetime spent pitching to reluctant listeners
Monday, November 28 2011 || Books || BY Nevil Gibson
TELL TO WIN
PETER GUBER
Profile Books paperback $37
If the name rings a bell you may need to be reminded Peter Guber was one of Hollywood’s bad boys when the studio system there crumbled and a new wave of producers took charge. He was fired from his first big job at Columbia in 1975 — despite such hits as Taxi Driver — and given an independent production deal. His first film The Deep also became a hit.
In his book he tells how fashion designer Norma Kamali created fancy swimsuits for Jacqueline Bissett, who was playing a scuba diver and had pretensions as a serious actress. Her bikinis were considered too risqué. “Just throw a t-shirt on over it,” Kamali suggested, creating the film’s main claim to fame and memory.
To Gruber this is the essence of ‘story telling’ — how a throwaway line can create a fortune. Kamali went on to become a leading designer, but she also cut a deal to make dresses for Walmart without alienating her high end customers. She did this with a ‘different but equal’ strategy that convinced suppliers and customers even the cheapest fashion could enhance women’s lives. She spun a story that was based on her own experience of teaching creative business to low income mothers. It was an example, Guber says, of “how narratives you have lived or experienced can give rise to powerful, purposeful stories you may later tell in business.”
Guber, a master yarn teller, has plenty more such examples which come mainly from show business and the arts, but also from science, politics and sports.
Story telling as a business discipline may sound a bit corny and has its share of preciousness. But Guber’s ability to tell anecdotes from a lifetime’s experience of pitching to often reluctant listeners is never boring.
Today, he runs his own entertainment company, a baseball team and is lecturing at the University of California, Los Angeles. I was not surprised to learn he is also a contributor to the Harvard Business Review, where his ability to mix entertainment with bright ideas must be a breath of fresh air.
EVERYTHING IS OBVIOUS, ONCE YOU KNOW THE ANSWER
DUNCAN J WATTS
Atlantic paperback $40
The Lake Wobegone effect, popularised by American broadcaster Garrison Keillor, describes the effect that most people think they are better than the average. It follows that most people also believe those who do not share their beliefs are misguided or plain wrong.
These fallacies in everyday thinking and explanations expose another unsettling notion — that most of the time we could also be wrong or misguided. In other words, common sense is a dangerously tricky way of dealing with complex topics such as political conflict, contentious economic issues and even marketing campaigns. While we think common sense provides understanding, it can just as easily prove the opposite. This topsy turvy stuff is not easy to grasp, even on re-reading. The Australian-born author is a former sociology professor whose research skills on social networks are now being put to use for Yahoo! in New York. It’s not a book to ignore if you value the power of ideas or want insight into understanding the world.
THE CASE FOR CREATIVITY
JAMES HURMAN
AUT/Exisle Publishing hardback $40
The burning question in advertising — does creativity equal effectiveness? — is firmly answered here in the positive, though industry awards persist in decoupling them. The evidence is in 15 studies published over two decades by industry practitioners and respected academics.
For an outsider, this is a remarkably easy read and a good introduction to how advertising should work. Less startling given New Zealand’s strong contribution to advertising creativity is that the author is a local and is pitching the book at an international audience.
Regrettably, the summaries overlap and repetition is noticeable. But the message certainly gets through: if you want advertising to be effective it pays to be as original as possible. The myth that award winning ads are created purely for indulgence and hardly seen in public is an enduring one. Yet the author contends he has been unable to find research showing effective campaigns have come from indifferent advertising.
