A global revolution is in full swing, and the Sustainable Brands Conference is where sustainability, brand and innovation leaders gather to learn, share and strategize to shape the future. SB'12 was the largest gathering to date, a kinetic convergence of innovators from more than 150 companies from around the world finding new ways to create monumental disruption in traditional models of commerce and consumption.

1. STORY WARS
WINNING THE BATTLE TO BE HEARD
Jonah Sachs, Free Range Studios

2. The fundamentals
of breakthrough
storytelling
BY JONAH SACHS
CEO | FREE RANGE STUDIOS
WWW.FREERANGE.COM

3. The Structure of a Story

4. The Structure of a Story

5. The Structure of a Story

7. Survival of the fittest
Transmission is a web
Everyone owns ideas
Ideas get passed or they die

9. Survival of the richest
Transmission is one to many
Ideas are proprietary
Doesn’t rely on audience
participation to spread

11. Survival of the fittest
Transmission is a web
Everyone owns ideas
Ideas get passed or they die

12. What will survive the landscape of
our new oral traditions?

13. Stories.

14. }
The Ingredients of Myth

15. THE SHAMAN

16. GENESIS

17. MODERN RELIGION

18. SCIENCE
Science

19. ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment

20. }
The Myth Gap

21. BRANDS

22. So, what’s the problem?

25. Inadequacy Marketing
Fear, Vanity
Greed, Status

26. Inadequacy Marketing
=

27. “[Myths are about] the maturation of
the individual from dependency to
adulthood through maturity and
then to the exit; and then how to
relate to this society and how to
relate this society to the world of
nature and the cosmos. ”
– JOSEPH CAMPBELL

28. Myths that Survive the
Oral Tradition
MATURES
TO BECOME

29. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

30. NIKE
Perfection
The need to master a practice through hard work.

31. VOLKSWAGEN
Truth
The need to tear down falsehood.

32. OBAMA 2008
Wholeness
The need to be part of a community beyond oneself.

33. STORY OF STUFF
Simplicity
The need to find meaning hidden behind complexity.

34. APPLE
Uniqueness
The need to express individuality/creativity.

35. DOVE REAL BEAUTY
Justice
The need to resist abuses of power.

36. Inadequacy Marketing
Perfection, Wholeness
Uniqueness, Justice
Simplicity. Truth

37. Of course, values alone
don’t make a story.

38. The Hero’s Journey

39. The Hero

40. The Hero
• Is not you
• Is your audience
• Is unlikely for the role
• Is dissatisfied with a “broken
world”
• Is jaded and has the chance
to just muddle through
• Has an inner calling to live
values

41. The Mentor

42. The Mentor
• Is your brand
• Gets the hero moving toward her
destiny
• Makes change appealing
• Never makes change mandatory
• Is a real, tangible person
• Fits a recognizable archetype

43. The Hero’s Journey

44. The Gift

45. The Gift:
• Is the wildcard that makes the
impossible possible
• Is something unique, beautiful
and entirely unexpected

46. Brand Gifts
The One for One model (one shoe donated for
each shoe bought)

47. Brand Gifts
The dramatic physical takeover of
physical space

48. Brand Gifts
Joy

49. Brand Gifts
The yellow bracelet

50. The Moral of the Story

51. Morals of the Story
Truth is beauty. And the truth is:
every- one is beautiful in her own skin.

52. Morals of the Story
Powerful elites are stealing America.
Real people can seize it back.

53. Morals of the Story
Life is most enjoyable when you live it fully while
doing the least harm.

54. The Moral:
• Is the truth behind every
communication
• Provides brand consistency
• Makes intuitive sense but
stretches what we know

55. The Moral of the Story

56. Making it all come alive

57. BROADCAST STORIES
+ +

58. THE MEATRIX
+ +

61. Fill your stories with human-like characters that break the pattern of our expectations.

63. Tell stories about villains who break cherished norms or rebels who defy hated ones.

64. Tell stories people can instantly identify as their own. Give them easy entrance points.

65. There are easy ways to start
checking your work and moving
minds to action.

66. }
Is your story a myth?

67. Is your story strategic?

68. }
Is your story interesting enough?

70. jonah@freerange.com
@jonahsachs