I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge .
Cry God for Harry, England and St George!
(Henry V, Act 3 Scene 1)
Shakespeare was a master story-teller, of course, but the legend of St George is nothing more than that - legend. How is it that a mythical figure from the distant past in the middle east could come to stand for Englishness, the national 'brand'? The answer to this question is more complex than you would think, and is given here in a paper I will be presenting next month at the CHARM conference in New York City.
What has all this to do with social media and other aspects of technology that are normally covered in the blog? Curiously, quite a lot. St George vanquished more deserving English saints to become national patron by having a more interesting story (good and evil, maidens and dragons, that sort of thing). In just the same way marketing people are discovering that in order to succeed in social media you need to be telling a persuasive story.
A good narrative will not only engage with your audience, but they will share it with their friends and family. A good story gets people's attention, and is infinitely adaptable. Successive generations of rulers in England managed the St George narrative to emphasize different aspects at distinct periods of history. For example in the period of imperial expansion in the 19th century, it was St George the conquering soldier-hero. After the first world war people wondered what 9 million men had died for: St George the soldier-martyr was then immortalized in memorials all over England.
Word-of-mouth marketing has been practiced as long a people have been able to use speech to communicate, and word-of-mouth relies on persuasive and memorable stories. Social media marketing relies, not on the slick production values of 20th century advertising, but on simple, credible, powerful stories that people will listen to and spread. It is these stories that people will share on Facebook and will re-tweet on Twitter. St George has long been a 'social brand', standing for a certain set of values and behavioural norms. Now consumer brands are having to rediscover the art of storytelling.
