Shiny and deep
The most successful marketers tell two stories at the same time. A shiny one and a deep one.
The shiny story is easy to notice, easy to enjoy, easy to spread.
The deep story is fascinating, worth your time. It has texture and mystery and it lasts.
Consider The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. It’s more than 800 pages long. Dylan is shiny (sometimes). His songs get played on the radio or around the campfire. It’s not unusual for a teenager to hear an old Dylan song for the very first time and then add it to her iPod.
But Dylan’s also pretty deep. Hence the encyclopedia. Can you imagine an encyclopedia about… The Back Street Boys?
Most marketers choose to be just shiny. Deep, it seems, is way too much work.