Happy Holidays –
If you saw my Advent Calendar newsletter, you know I love counting down to Christmas and the New Year. So for the next 5 days, before vacation begins, I want to offer you A Perfect 60 Second Story.
I rarely sit through TV commercials anymore, since the movies and series I watch are all streamed. But because I wanted to see my alma mater Oregon Duck football team try to make their way to the national championship live, I was kind of forced to sit through them.
Please don’t ask me about the tragedy that befell my favorite team – it’s still painful to think about. But the one wonderful thing that came out of the experience was getting to see a 1-minute ad for Amazon entitled “Joy Ride.”
It’s a terrific Christmas spot, and actually had me choked up by the end. But the wonderful part was when I saw it a second time I realized it embodies ALL of the essential elements of any great story.
And that makes it a wonderful example to inspire your own storytelling, whether you’re creating a feature film, a novel, or an inspiring, persuasive story for a speech, Zoom presentation, webinar, book, podcast, interview or bio.
So here’s the countdown….
Below is a link to the commercial. Take a look, take note of your own response, then ask yourself why you reacted the way you did.
Then starting tomorrow I’m going to point out all of the elements I can find that make it an emotionally involving, persuasive and memorable story.
And I’ll alert you now to what I hope you’ll take away from this: if a simple, 60-second story like this can impact people, entertain them, and move them to action, then certainly so can you with whatever story you want to tell, in whatever situation, for whatever lives you want to change.
Enjoy! And I’ll see you tomorrow…
– Michael
Wonderful story!