Laos Business Meetings

Marketing Talk in Vientiane Retold – and a New Book on the Power of Story

Marianne Gadeberg

How to make your marketing as successful as that of Nike or HP? That was the premise for my talk on storytelling and marketing at the Laos Business Meeting last night.

To illustrate some of the most important storytelling principles, when talking about storytelling in marketing, I showed Nike’s “Write The Future” commercial. This video was created as part of Nike’s campaign for the World Cup last summer.

In the first week after this commercial was released, it was viewed more than 11 million times on Youtube, and the number of Nike Facebook fans rose from just over 1 million to just over 3 million.

The commercial was (and is) so successful in part because it tells a very compelling story. It effectively grabs our attention, takes us on a journey, and leaves a long-lasting impression.

After the talk, we had an interesting discussion about whether or not the storytelling technique can be successfully applied in a Lao context. I think that we are already seeing some examples of applied storytelling here, and likely it is a phenomenon that will quickly catch on. Storytelling is an age-old form that has brought people together since the beginning of time, and I have no doubt that storytelling will remain a powerful technique, also in Laos.

Which brings me to the next piece of news: A new book, by Peter Guber, on the power of story, was released today. “Tell to Win: Connect, Pursuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story” collates everything that Guber, a Hollywood legend and successful film producer, has learned about storytelling.

In Guber’s view, storytelling is an universal tool:

“In any situation that calls for you to persuade, convince or manage someone or a group of people to do something, the ability to tell a purposeful story will be your secret sauce. Telling to win through purposeful stories is situation, industry, gender, demographic, and psychographic-agnostic.  It’s an all-purpose, everyone wins tool.”

I’ll leave you with this bit of insight on “the secret sauce”, which I predict we’ll see applied more and more here in Laos and Southeast Asia. Drop me a note if you see any good (or not so good) examples that I should know about.

Talk on Storytelling and Marketing in Vientiane

Marianne Gadeberg

On Tuesday, the 1st of March, the second incarnation of the “Laos Business Meetings” will be taking place. I’ll be giving a presentation on how to use storytelling in marketing.

While most businesses or NGOs in Vientiane likely do not have a marketing budget similar to (or, really, anywhere near) that of Nike or HP, there’s nothing that holds them from using the same techniques that these giants are applying. Consequently, ripping the benefits of successful marketing. It takes little more than a slightly different way of thinking to apply storytelling techniques in your sales materials, presentations, or newsletters, and the power of story will allow you to better connect with your audience and to have a long-lasting impact on them.

If you’d like to learn more, please join us on Tuesday. I hope to leave enough of an impact on my audience that everyone will be able to go home and apply the storytelling techniques right away.

The meeting is at Khop Chai Deu (near the fountain). It will start at 6.30pm and is open to everyone.

Hope to see you there!