The future of marketing is storytelling. Storytellers are our heroes. The best marketers are the best storytellers. Who can argue with that? I bought into those platitudes until a jarring familial experience showed me how the storytellers can be the villains. Join me in the journey that challenged so many truths and assumptions, and see what a post-storytelling world looks like.

1. A Storyabout the Endof Storytellingby David BerkowitzCMO, MRY@dberkowitz* @mry* MarketersStudio.comDavid.Berkowitz@mry.com
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2. Once upon a time…
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3. No, this story is… different
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4. I want to tell you a story. 4

5. I come from a storytelling family. 5

6. There’s the story about the kid in the elevator of his grandmother’s apartment building.
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7. These stories tell you something about the people involved. 7

8. Some stories that get told aren’t quite as pleasant. 8

9. They’re used as crutches, as ways to speak in sign language. 9

10. I didn’t appreciate the dark side of storytelling. 10

11. Yet we have it all wrong.
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12. My wife said a comment that forever rocked my world.
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13. “All they do is tell stories!”
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14. And this started to worry me. 14

15. You’re ripping apart so much of what I love.
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16. It’s like I’m in Confession. 16

17. I’ve got a joke about an old Jew going to Confession.
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18. “Those people are so stuck on stories.” 18

19. Holy shit.
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20. HO LEEEE SHIT.
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21. She’s right. I knew it. 21

22. It doesn’t build relationships.
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23. We need to move away from stories and toward relationships.
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24. Do you even know brands’ stories? 24

25. At camp she and her friends played games with cans of Coke.
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26. We’ve got the antidote. 26

27. Brands have the opportunity to get away from stories.
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28. “We Got A Look Inside The 45-Day Planning Process That Goes Into Creating A Single Corporate Tweet.”
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29. Check in with people; take an interest in their lives. 29

30. How can we use this embarrassment of riches? 30

31. We have opportunities to be more human.
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32. Instead of storytelling, we’re going to shift to storymaking.
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33. I got a lot off my chest today. 33

34. Let’s make our goal being more human first.
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35. The End.
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36. AuthorDavid BerkowitzDavid.Berkowitz@mry.com@dberkowitz/ @mryMarketersStudio.comIllustratorArjeanetteViveroriyoko07.deviantart.com
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