The interwebs are buzzing with excitement for the unveiling of Apple’s latest gadgets, including the highly anticipated iPhone 5. And of course, all presentation design fans are excited to see the beautiful Apple style of presentation, the style we champion here at Ethos3: large visuals, minimal text. Simplicity at its best. And so, in honor of today’s keynote, here are a few storytelling tips we can glean from one of our most favorite brands, Apple.
Reveal Yourself
We’ve all heard the story of how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple in a basement. The story is pure Silicon Valley gold; it’s reached myth status by now. The story is highly revealing about Apple and its beginnings. It strengthens the bond between consumer and company because it gives us as consumers a little glimpse into how it all began. Likewise, Jobs’ epic commencement speech at Stanford in 2005 was highly revealing about his life and the choices he made, further connecting us to the epic innovator.
People absolutely love revealing stories like these. They make us feel closer to our favorite brands and to the people we respect the most. Tell stories in your presentation that reveal something compelling about yourself. Your audience will eat it up, and want to know more.
Be Memorable/Epic/Powerful
Apple is an epic company. Its branding is powerful, and its messages are memorable. Think of all the advertising Apple puts out. The most powerful ones revolve around a story. Apple’s 1984 commercial is a perfect example of this kind of epic storytelling that leaves a lasting impression on the audience. The commercial, which introduced the first Macintosh computer, originally aired during the 1984 Super Bowl, and is still talked about today.
It opens with a woman sprinting, javelin pole in hand, toward a screen with Big Brother on it lecturing to a group of pod-people. The woman represents the Macintosh computer, and as she throws the javelin pole into the screen effectively killing Big Brother, it’s clear that the message is that the new Apple computer is saving humanity from the conformity imposed on society by Big Brother. Pretty epic storytelling, right?
Tell stories in your presentation that pack a punch. Tell stories that are powerful and epic and memorable. Tell stories that leave a distinct impression on the audience.
Know Your Audience
We’ve discussed the importance of knowing your audience, and Apple is a true master at it. The company seems to know what consumers want before they even know they want it, as if it has some kind of crystal ball that predicts the future. But in addition to its astounding intuition, the company intricately knows who is buying its products, and what they want. Each new version of Apple products is an improvement on the last, with consumers’ complaints and desires taken into serious consideration.
And the company tells stories about its products that align perfectly with the knowledge about its audience. (Think iPod commercials with silhouetted hipster kids dancing madly.) Apple knows what stories will connect with consumers because it knows its audience’s ins and outs.
Attain this level of knowledge and understanding about your audience before you even begin working on a presentation. Learn all you can about them so you know what stories will stick with them long after the presentation is over.
