How To Apply The Hero’s Journey To Ads
Do you find your product videos are getting lost in the void of the internet? You know how to create good video content, but for some reason the crowds just don’t come running?
The most powerful force known to man is good storytelling.
You know this, your clients know this, but how do you create compelling stories when your subject matter isn’t that exciting? When you’re not taking the ring to Mordor or bringing balance to the force?
This article will break down the technique we use to find great stories for our clients - everyday brands and products like Pet Urine Cleaners, Peanut Butter Alternatives, and Plant Based Nail Polish.
Most of history’s great stories follow the same basic structure:
The Hero’s Journey.
Image courtesy of Filmmaker Freedom.
In summary, as laid out in Joseph Campbell’s legendary book….
A hero sets out on a quest, obtaining help from a wise older character. They face conflict, and it looks like they might not make it through. But they do, defeating the enemy and returning home, the same, but different. Resolution.
More or less, the story of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Matrix, et cetera.
Let’s consider some of the key elements of this format:
The hero
The wise elder
The resolution
The conflict.
You probably can’t and shouldn’t copy this format exactly. But the reason this structure is so prevalent is because it’s hardwired deep into human consciousness. Therefore, people recognise and relate to it when elements of the hero’s journey are present.
Take some or all of these elements, and add your product.
The one part you must include, is conflict. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as slaying a dragon, but it is essential, because the rest of the story can’t happen without something to overcome.
Find the conflict and make your product part of the resolution.
Here’s some quick examples from our own client videos.
This is pet urine cleaner, so the problem that it fixes is self explanatory. It may seem like the product is the hero of this story, but, I would argue the hero is actually our talent, because she is the one that has to overcome the conflict.
The product is the wise elder showing her the path to resolution.
Here’s another example:
This is a period pain relief product.
The conflict is not just the pain itself, but also the repercussions of being on your period.
Missing work, canceling plans, etc. The client came to us with this idea ready to go and we loved it, it comes in heavy with the conflict, relatable from the start, and transitions to the resolution with the help of the product.
Last example:
The conflict to overcome in this story is that Seong-Lee’s kids, like thousands of Aussie kids, deal with terrible allergies.
The heroes of the story are Seong-Lee and Rodney,
who set out on a journey to overcome this conflict and create a peanut butter/Nutella alternative.
The product, Buddee, is the resolution of the story.
Now this video was different because it wasn’t scripted. This is a real, sit-down interview with the creators. In order to find our conflict and basic story direction in this kind of situation, we have a pre-interview zoom call with the client to get a really solid idea of the story ahead of time. Once we know the story we want to tell, we then shape our interview questions on the shoot day to highlight those key plot points.
The Conflict About Conflict
Now, often clients can be - understandably - apprehensive about us working conflict into their videos.
They don’t want their brand to be associated with anything negative, which is fair enough. But conflict is just a problem, and all good products should solve a problem. From a marketing standpoint, avoiding pain is a much stronger motivator than obtaining pleasure, and from a story telling standpoint, the orphan would never become a knight without a dragon to defeat.
Conflict is story.
The number one thing you need to look for is conflict. Then, fit in your product as the hero, the elder, or resolution itself.
So to break it down into simple steps…
What’s the conflict?
What is your client’s role?
What are the brand boundaries?
If it was just about telling a good story, it would be easy.
But you have a brand to uphold, and product benefits you need to communicate. It’s your job to find the perfect balance between great story telling and providing enough detail in the right tone of voice to match the brand.
That’s how to use the Hero’s Journey to improve your product videos.