Lessons in Storytelling: Aesop, Samuel Johnson and Prehistoric Life
Storytelling isn’t new – as a form of communication, it’s existed for over 40,000 years.
It’s been a durable format, fulfilling its purpose from rock painting to hoop dancing, mythology to fables - all the way to the printing press and our current marriage of mobile tech and social media.
However, the core principles of telling a good story haven’t changed in all this time, and it’s worth raiding this 40,000 year legacy to see what we can learn from the best and boldest storytelling practitioners
Here are three such examples, with my thoughts on how to apply these creative lessons from history to modern news generation, branded content and publishing strategies.
Cave paintings
Cave paintings date from prehistoric times – the oldest examples, found in Indonesia and Australia, were created over 35,000 years ago.
Though they may have religious or ceremonial connotations, the primary purpose of these paintings were to communicate news, warnings and stories of heroism to the next group of settlers in the area.
In spite of being distributed disparately throughout Europe, Asia and Australasia, most cave paintings are remarkably similar and share characteristics such as drawings of animals, depictions of weather patterns and the use of human handprints.
Cave paintings weren’t always located at the mouth of the cave – they were sometimes found in less accessible locations were only the initiated would know where to find them.
What brand storytellers can learn from prehistoric culture:
Universal truths and commonalities will resonate – young vs old, heroic deeds, the weather, health warnings….certain story angles will always get people talking and sharing. Any story that creatively incorporates these angles will attract more readers, greater shares, higher ad revenues and most importantly, the approval of journalists and editors.
Only stories worth telling are worth sharing – impact stories were written in the caves, there was no chit-chat or filler! If you’re three paragraphs into your story and starting to run out of steam, then it’s probably not worth telling. Consider handing it over to a journalist instead, who could help to provide that newsworthy edge.
Identify your audience then locate them – stories were left in caves for future generations, while tailored stories were painted only in areas where specific people (perhaps the young and agile, or the strongest) were likely to go exploring and find them. Before telling your story, think about who you’re talking to, where they are and which of their behaviours you’re trying to affect – then shape and distribute the story to meet these criteria.
Aesop
Aesop was an ancient Greek fabulist and storyteller - a body of work attributed to him is famously collected as Aesop’s Fables.
His existence has been questioned as none of his work survives, but numerous tales credited to him have been gathered across the centuries in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day.
The fables, morality tales that originate from the 5th century BC, have enduring qualities such as relatable characters (often animals with human characteristics) and universal, everyday dilemmas that still form the backbone of many modern movies/novels.
They also provided us with numerous maxims, such as ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ (The Fox and the Lion), ‘one person’s meat is another’s poison’ (The Ass and the Grasshopper) and ‘slow and steady wins the race’ (The Hare and the Tortoise).
Lessons we can learn from Aesop:
Relatable characters endure – find archetypes, case studies and relatable majorities (65% of Brits prefer ketchup to brown sauce) that mirror your target audience and your stories will be shared in greater volume and travel further.
Great stories outlive their sell-by date – uncover a story with a major hook or unearth a new, universal truth that a crowd can agree with, and your story will outlive its shelf-life and earn you more residual coverage.
The joy of the substantiated myth – Aesop may or may not have existed, but tales of his existence were substantiated by some fairly heavyweight sources – not least Aristotle and Herodotus. When creating your story, give some thought to who will endorse it by word-of-mouth in offices, shops, buses and over the garden fence – then shape the story to their taste and publish it in a place they’ll find it
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson – the most distinguished man of letters in British history – was the poet, essayist and moralist whose nine years of research gave us the inaugural English dictionary in 1755.
Though a sufferer of what would now be diagnosed as Tourette’s Syndrome, Johnson, a powerful orator, critic and quick-witted raconteur, attracted many pretenders to his throne.
Each week, Johnson and his entourage would meet at gentleman’s clubs to participate in what was essentially the earliest form of a rap battle, where a crowd would watch fellow academics go anecdote-for-anecdote with Johnson and try to outdo his stories for flair, originality and wit.
However, with payoffs such as ‘a man who’s tired of London is tired of life’ and ‘love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise’, Johnson always retained his crown us the ultimate literary end-of-level boss.
How we incorporate Johnson into our comms strategy:
Wit wins – there’s no two ways about it, the ability to make someone laugh is a powerful tool. Add a little humour to someone’s day with your story and you take a significant step towards engaging them with the brand associated with the story.
Original stories travel – with a proliferation of stories published daily, your angle needs to be unique – uncovering a new trend/behaviour or simply putting a new spin on a familiar tale will give your story cut through against the daily noise.
Great storytellers draw a crowd – Johnson drew a crowd based on reputation alone – tell consistently entertaining stories to the right audience in the right location and they will begin to proactively seek you out in the news.
