Storytelling

Something as simple as a story can give a product the extra benefit it needs. In a way that's how advertising works. And that's where good copywriting comes in. This weekend I went to an exhibition called W8N8, which was organised by a former colleague of mine, Miranda. It was located in one of the waiting rooms of the central station, and there were DJ's playing. Now that's what I call a brilliant combination.

As a real copywriter, I didn't only look at the photographs, but I read the background of the photographers and the meaning of their pictures as well. Something as simple as a photograph of a white bridge all of a sudden becomes more interesting when you read that this bridge was brand new at the time. And that the photographer's goal was to immortalize this clean bridge. Because half a year later, it was already full of grafitty. All of a sudden something as simple as a bridge becomes very interesting.

Even food can become more interesting with stories. Yesterday my colleagues and I had dinner with our client IKEA at a place called Di Gigi. His 'restaurant' simply consisted of a big kitchen in the back of his house. There, the Italian Gigi cooked and served the food. And with every dish he stood beside our large table and told a story. About how he brought his paprika and other vegetables straight from Italy in his bus, how he prepaired all the food, at which private vineyard he got his red wine. Sometimes the stories were a bit too long. Because after hearing for 10 minutes about the history, the origin and the preparation of a pumpkin pudding, you're craving to try the little piece of delicacy. But it didn't matter, because it did make the already delicious food even better. Gigi is the living proof that there's still hope for long copy. Numerous pages of it.