Finding the Human Story
Stories are what make us human.
Our lives are full of stories. Good and bad, who can tell? Every story adds something to who we become.
My mom loves reading. She has a huge collection of books from all her favourite authors. So you can imagine how much my childhood revolved around books, especially because we didn't have tablets or phones back then. I fell in love with stories and I became hungry for them. That's what made me fall in love with advertising in the first place, I guess.
The beauty of advertising is finding stories that connect with people. And what’s even more beautiful is knowing where to look. You can only find them when you put yourself in people's shoes. When you can feel what they feel as if it were your own.
“A great story makes you feel a part of something.”
I was working on a new National Bonds savings product called My Education Plan. The goal was to sell it to parents for their children's education. I know that in finance, numbers matter. But I didn't want to sell it traditionally. I wanted to sell it with a powerful story.
So I flipped the script. I went to the parents' side and tried to think from their perspective. And I found a moment that every parent wants to experience. The moment when their child becomes successful and looks at them and says, "Mom, I made it."
That's it. That's the story.
