percent market share, that’s ten million
units. We’ve reinvented the phone and completely changed the
expectations for what you can carry in your pocket.”
“What message is this sending to your competitors?” asked
Goldman.
“We’re a product company. We love great products. In
order to explain what our product is, we have to contrast it to
what products are out there right now and what people use,”
said Jo bs.4 T his last sentence reveals Jobs’s approach to crafting 68 CREATE THE STORY
a persuasive story. Explanations of new products or services
require context, a relevance to a problem in your customer’s life
that is causing that person “pain.” Once the pain is established,
your listener will be much more receptive to a product or service
that will alleviate that pain.
The Apple Religion
In his book Buyology , marketing guru Martin Lindstrom equates
Apple’s message with the same powerful ideas that propel wide-
spread religions. Both appeal to a common vision and a specific
enemy.
“Most religions have a clear vision,” writes Lindstrom. “By
that I mean they are unambiguous in their missions, whether
it’s to achieve a certain state of grace or achieve a spiritual goal.
And, of course, most companies have unambiguous missions as
well. Steve Jobs’s vision dates back to the mid-1980s when he
said, ‘Man is the creator of change in this world. As such he should be above systems and structures, and not subordinate to
them.’ Twenty years and a few million iPods later, the company
still pursues this vision. ”5
According to Lindstrom, who spent years studying the
common traits of lasting brands, religions and brands such as
Apple have another quality in common: the idea of conquer-
ing a shared enemy. “Having an identifiable enemy gives us the
chance not only to articulate and showcase our faith, but also
to unite ourselves with our fellow believers . . . this us-versus-
them strategy attracts fans, incites controversy, creates loyalty,
and gets us thinking—and arguing—and, of course, buying. ”6
Will It Eat Me?
Establishing the antagonist early is critical to persuasion, because
our brains needs a bucket—a category—in which to place a new
idea. Think about it this way: your brain craves meaning before
details. According to scientist John Medina, our brains were
formed to see the big picture. Medina says that when primitive
INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 69
man saw a saber-toothed tiger, he asked himself, “Will it eat
me?” and not “How many teeth does it have?”
The antagonist gives your audience the big picture. “Don’t
start with the details. Start with the key ideas and, in a hier-
archical fashion, form the details around these larger notions,”
writes Medina in his book Brain Rules .7 In presentations, start with the big picture—the problem—before filling in the details
(your solution).
Apple unveiled the Safari Web browser during Macworld
2003, designating it the fastest browser on the Mac. Safari
would join several other browsers vying for attention in the face
of Microsoft’s juggernaut—Internet Explorer. At his persuasive
best, Jobs set up the problem—introducing the antagonist—
simply by asking a rhetorical question: “Why do we need our
own browser? ”8 Be fore demonstrating the new features—filling in the details—he needed to establish a reason for the product’s
existence.
Jobs told the audience that there were two areas in which
competitors such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, and others fell
short: speed and innovation. In terms of speed, Jobs said Safari
would load pages three times faster than Internet Explorer on
the Mac. In the area of innovation, Jobs discussed the limita-
tions of current browsers, including the fact that Google search
was not provided in the main toolbar and that organizing book-
marks left a lot to be desired. “What we found in our research is
that people
units. We’ve reinvented the phone and completely changed the
expectations for what you can carry in your pocket.”
“What message is this sending to your competitors?” asked
Goldman.
“We’re a product company. We love great products. In
order to explain what our product is, we have to contrast it to
what products are out there right now and what people use,”
said Jo bs.4 T his last sentence reveals Jobs’s approach to crafting 68 CREATE THE STORY
a persuasive story. Explanations of new products or services
require context, a relevance to a problem in your customer’s life
that is causing that person “pain.” Once the pain is established,
your listener will be much more receptive to a product or service
that will alleviate that pain.
The Apple Religion
In his book Buyology , marketing guru Martin Lindstrom equates
Apple’s message with the same powerful ideas that propel wide-
spread religions. Both appeal to a common vision and a specific
enemy.
“Most religions have a clear vision,” writes Lindstrom. “By
that I mean they are unambiguous in their missions, whether
it’s to achieve a certain state of grace or achieve a spiritual goal.
And, of course, most companies have unambiguous missions as
well. Steve Jobs’s vision dates back to the mid-1980s when he
said, ‘Man is the creator of change in this world. As such he should be above systems and structures, and not subordinate to
them.’ Twenty years and a few million iPods later, the company
still pursues this vision. ”5
According to Lindstrom, who spent years studying the
common traits of lasting brands, religions and brands such as
Apple have another quality in common: the idea of conquer-
ing a shared enemy. “Having an identifiable enemy gives us the
chance not only to articulate and showcase our faith, but also
to unite ourselves with our fellow believers . . . this us-versus-
them strategy attracts fans, incites controversy, creates loyalty,
and gets us thinking—and arguing—and, of course, buying. ”6
Will It Eat Me?
Establishing the antagonist early is critical to persuasion, because
our brains needs a bucket—a category—in which to place a new
idea. Think about it this way: your brain craves meaning before
details. According to scientist John Medina, our brains were
formed to see the big picture. Medina says that when primitive
INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 69
man saw a saber-toothed tiger, he asked himself, “Will it eat
me?” and not “How many teeth does it have?”
The antagonist gives your audience the big picture. “Don’t
start with the details. Start with the key ideas and, in a hier-
archical fashion, form the details around these larger notions,”
writes Medina in his book Brain Rules .7 In presentations, start with the big picture—the problem—before filling in the details
(your solution).
Apple unveiled the Safari Web browser during Macworld
2003, designating it the fastest browser on the Mac. Safari
would join several other browsers vying for attention in the face
of Microsoft’s juggernaut—Internet Explorer. At his persuasive
best, Jobs set up the problem—introducing the antagonist—
simply by asking a rhetorical question: “Why do we need our
own browser? ”8 Be fore demonstrating the new features—filling in the details—he needed to establish a reason for the product’s
existence.
Jobs told the audience that there were two areas in which
competitors such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, and others fell
short: speed and innovation. In terms of speed, Jobs said Safari
would load pages three times faster than Internet Explorer on
the Mac. In the area of innovation, Jobs discussed the limita-
tions of current browsers, including the fact that Google search
was not provided in the main toolbar and that organizing book-
marks left a lot to be desired. “What we found in our research is
that people
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