The death of traditional advertising and the birth of a new storytelling age
See, here’s the way I see it:
Thanks to the internet connecting all of the great social tribes together we’re re-entering a “storytelling age,” where authenticity, experience and the ability to communicate ideas in a compelling manner matter more than the authoritarian mono-culture sponsored by corporate America. Those of us who can adapt to this new world – the creatives, the visionaries, we who would have been Skalds, Bards and Troubadours a few centuries ago – will thrive, assuming our place by the fire and our rightful position of importance in the new global tribe.
Hear, hear! I love this idea, that the Internet isn’t just a way to dispense information across the globe, but it’s also a way to keep stories alive. We now have the opportunity to reach out and experience and share the art of storytelling in ways never before imagined. It’s definitely exciting.
aldersgatecycle
June 30, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I’m glad you’re more optimistic about it than I’ve been lately. Part of me can’t help but to wonder if there might be a to-and-fro battle between the creative visionaries that you depict above and an even more “mass cultural” behemoth. I certainly could see where elements of the web, social tribalism, etc. could be twisted and turned in such a way as to “legitimize” certain desired outcomes, similar to the use of the democratic form of the plebiscite was used to legitimize certain authoritarian regimes in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Larry
June 30, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with you, Matt. A few years back I thought just like Larry, but since 2006 I´ve been seeing, both in Brazil (surprisingly, to me) and in the Anglo-American countries a freshness and a sheer will to tell new stories (or old ones in new forms) that is astonishing. I´m really expecting something very interesting sprouting soon from the Web – even if it doesn´t stay only on the Web.
Fábio Fernandes
June 30, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I’m going to print this off and paste it to my desk somewhere. That’s a great, poetic statement that resonates along a few different paths for me… Great Post.
Matt Mitchell
June 30, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I dunno. In one sense the internet is helpful, as everyone gets their democtratic chance to say whatever they want. On the other hand, most people aren’t saying much, and those who are saying something relevant seem to get lost in the mounds of digital garbage which edges in from all sides.
Of course if a few energetic souls are able to map out some small corner of the internet and keep it crap free, then surely the god of light and wind will be kind to you.
brendanconnell
July 1, 2008 at 2:05 am
Excellent article Matt. We minstrels–net-connected troubadours of now–need to share a new song with the world; the tune is being rewritten, and it is changing the cadence of time.
R. Schuyler Devin
July 1, 2008 at 3:22 am
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July 1, 2008 at 12:05 pm
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Stories and Tribes at novel-a-month.com
July 1, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Rock on, Matt. The will to tell the newest stories and even the old ones in a new way may be the only thing that will never change. And all the while, new technologies have and always will evolve the tools used by storytellers.
Mike Rainey
May 21, 2009 at 9:05 am
Great blog, I would like to try out some of these ideas myself -Mark http://www,purposeadvertising.com The nation’s first ad agency that gives back their profit to good causes.
Mark Purpose
September 18, 2009 at 10:58 pm