Riding The Emotional Wave

I was wrong. A successful piece of content isn’t all about the story arc – it’s about the wave.

I’ve been enthusiastically talking about a good journey using the 5-act formula for many years, but I’ve found a great journey ripples, surges, drops and then rises until your riding high on it.

A bit of history

In 2017 – Quesenberry and Coolsen analysed 2 years of Super Bowl adverts to find if telling stories was the key to success and concluded that:

“the results suggest that presence of a five-act dramatic form or plot development expressed through Freytag Gustav’s dramatic theory does drive consumer response in the form higher consumer favorability ratings across two separate Super Bowl commercial rating polls.” (Quesenberry et al., 2014, p.27)

Meaning that:

“For marketing managers and advertising practitioners, this research indicates that use of a five-act dramatic form or story arc could help predict improved performance in the all-important Super Bowl advertising rating polls. It also indicates that television commercial scripts that include the drama of a fully developed five-act plot could increase consumer engagement (i.e. they like the commercial enough to vote for it).” ((Quesenberry et al., 2014, p.30)

They analysed 108 Superbowl adverts, assessed if they had all five acts, and then compared them against an ‘Ad Favorability Rating’.
These results were enough for me to think this was the key to taking your viewer on a journey!

This is how I see it:

This is a very simple way to look at the model:

Establish what is normal > Have an inciting incident > Add complications > Build to a turning point> Resolve the complications > Leave the hero in a better place than they began.

If it’s a product video, it goes a bit like this:

Establish what is normal > Introduce the problem > Acknowledge the complications that are resolved by the product > Introduce the product > The product overcomes the problems > The viewer is left feeling that their life will be better with the product in their life.

Over the last ten years, I’ve been fortunate enough to either be invited to talk at Universities or work with students 1:1 about content creation, and I’ve spread the word about the fantastic pyramid model… however, it’s not that simple.

The Bear And The Hare

Christmas adverts have a direct line into our emotions, and my favourite is The Bear And The Hare – so I’m going to use that as an example:

Here it is as a pyramid:

Establish what is normal > Have an inciting incident > Add complications > Build to a turning point> Resolve the complications > Leave the hero in a better place than they began.

The breakdown

We open with what is normal – “There once was an animal who had never seen Christmas” and see a bear and a hare are friends and live in a wood together > It snows > The bear hibernates – meaning they will miss Christmas > The Hare gives the bear a present > The bear wakes up and joins everyone for Christmas > The gift is an alarm clock to the bear will never miss Christmas again.

Is the bear the hero? Is the hare the hero? Or is the product the hero? What about the music? The sub-characters?

It’s not a story arc – it’s a wave, with every element we see and hear coming together taking us from calmer waters which build, drop and build again to a great surge.

We are not viewers, we are surfers!

This is a representation of my emotional journey through that advert:

The emotional journey

I’m told what the story is going to be about > I’m taken to a forest> I see a snowflake> The hare is unhappy> The bear yawns (which is surprisingly satisfying) > Pause > More snow> The hare is excited> More happy animals join the story> The hare is happy > The other animals are excited too > The bear yawns > The hare realises what the yawn means > The hare’s ears drop. The hare looks unhappy > The bear is alone and walking away from everyone > The bear sleeps > Pause > The hare appears with a present > The hare delivers the gift to the bear > What is the present? > The hare is sad > The other animals are enjoying Christmas together, which makes the hare more lonely > Music pause > The hare’s ears go up > The Christmas tree sparkles – seen from the bear’s point of view > The bear smiles > The hare smiles > The hare, surrounded by other happy animals, runs to meet the bear > The hare jumps onto the bear’s back (again) > They are all together > The present was an alarm clock > The bear will be able to do Christmas every year > “Give someone a Christmas they’ll never forget” – a gentle drop – emotionally I’m in a better space than I started.

The Takeaway

When you’re creating content – think about your product as the hero – but don’t let it run away with you. Focus on the story!!!! Imagine you’re the viewer riding the wave – start with a ripple, then let the level rise a little, then gently bring it down, then let it rise some more, bring it down, then bring it down again – add a pause and then build it to a boomer and break the wave!