Jonah Sachs wrote about the Digitoral Era in his book: Winning the Story Wars. Digitoral which is a mash-up of Digital and Oral is how he describes the current reality where brands must shift from being the heroes to mentors. He argues that this came after the Oral Phase (where stories or myths where spread by word of mouth and the law was Survival of the Fittest) and the Broadcast Era (where brands reigned supreme and used TV, radio and other media to encourage consumers to spend and where the new rule was Survival of the Richest)
Here is a good intro and summary to his key ideas where else? YouTube…
Part 1. The Myth Gap (And How Marketers Fill It)
Video note on youtube: “The book is Available from Harvard Business Review Press: “Winning the Story Wars” by Jonah Sachs. Created by Free Range studios, this visually compelling animation communicates some of the core wisdom in the book, and explores the concept of the ‘myth gap’, introducing the audience to ’empowerment marketing.’ The approach, inspired by timeless mythology and shadow puppetry, brings a fascinating topic to life, and grabs the audience’s attention, making them a integral part of the adventure.”
A 4 minute video
Part 2: The Power of StoryTelling (And How to Be Heard in the Post BroadCast Eara)
Here’s part two of the video series that accompanies Jonah Sachs’ new book, “Winning the Story Wars”.
Video note on youtube: “Discover how digital tools are returning humanity to a new oral tradition and what kinds of stories will work in this new era of empowerment marketing. Inspired by Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, Sachs lays out a story model any brand or cause can use to get its message heard, and explains why stories must be not just told, but lived.”
Another 4 minute video
There are a lot more related videos on the matter. Here are what are most useful for understanding how brands must now adjust to tell their story better than their competitors…
Here is the author himself at a Ted Talk…
A large component of Jonah Sachs book was based on the Heroes Journey by Joseph Cambell.
Want to apply the story to your brand? Get your guide here…
http://www.jonahsachs.com/worksheets/
Here is the 3 minute youtube video
View the full video and lesson with captions at…
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-hero-matthew-winkler
Video note on youtube: “What trials unite not only Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins but many of literature’s most interesting heroes? And what do ordinary people have in common with these literary heroes? Matthew Winkler takes us step-by-step through the crucial events that make or break a hero.”
Like to see more of the heroes journey in movies that are familiar. Here is another short 5 minute clip…
Still fascinated and interested in understanding the monomyth of the heroes journey? Here is a full 84 minute documentary… (optional to watch but highly recommended. Try to fast forward to skip what you may have watched already)
Video note on youtube:
“The hero with a 1000 faces by Joseph Campbell is one of the most influential books of the 20th Century
The ideas in the book are a set of mental tools you can use to compose a story to meet any situation. A story that can be dramatic, entertaining, and psychologically true. With them, you can determine what’s wrong with a story or a life that’s floundering, and you can find a better solution to problems by examining the patterns laid out in this book.
The ideas in this book are older than the Pyramids, Stonehenge, and older than the earliest cave paintings. Campbell gathers the ideas together, recognizes them, articulates them, and names them.
He exposed the pattern that lies behind every story ever told.
Campbell is a mythographer and was a student of the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. The book is based on Jung’s idea of the “Archetypes” ( which are constantly repeating characters who occur in the dreams of all people and the myths of all cultures.)
Jung believed that these archetypes are reflections of the human mind — that our minds divide themselves into these characters to play out the drama of our lives.”
Still want more?