The Irresistible Power of Storytelling 💜

There is this feeling of esctasy to write and document one of the memorable sessions that will be cherished in my memories.

Every day is a new day full of new lessons, new experiments, new engagements at WPP. Yesterday was just another very very interesting day like any other interesting day at WPP School of Communications. Basically all days at WPP are fun and full of brain storming because it's all about learning with doing.

There was euphoria and immense joy to have an engaging session with Mr. Madhukar Sabnavis ( Vice Chairman and Country Head, Discovery and Planning at Ogilvy and Mather ) on the art of storytelling.

Madhukar Sir started the session with asking our favourite books and why were those books are favourite. We all spoke about our favourite genres, and most of the students delighted in fiction and we shared a similar interest with Madhukar Sir for his love for fiction. He explained us beautifully why we delight in fiction with the possibilities of escaping from the real world, for entertainment, enlightenment.

Then he gradually in his own idiosyncratic fashion connected the interests with advertisement. He started with " Advertising is all about story telling but also changing behaviour. " He further added India being a cultural mosaic is largely based on storytelling. Our culture is based on the epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana.

" Tell me a fact and I will learn,
Tell me a truth and I will believe,
Tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever. "

This session revealed simple rules of story telling, the elements however something that impressed me the most was when he explained the  connection of advertising with storytelling. It was so profound and well put that advertising is not only about telling a story but also changing behaviour. There is an element of change that drives the masses that advertising offers.

The Navrasas of story telling and the way advertisments can be categorised was engrossing and helped me to have a different lense to view advertisements and understand its impact in different forms.

The advertisements, the anecdotes, the instances, the types of poetries and their usage in advertisements. The ways of story telling in advertising. The way an advertisment can be so aspirational or sometimes formed as relevant, sometimes building imagination, building trust and sometimes just having a strong impression on the audience was well learnt with scrutiny in this session. Story telling seems not only interesting after this session but how can we weave a story and create strong impression which advertising or media offers is truly beautiful in its own way. This was something I wanted to learn the art of storytelling which I could finally understand well through this session. Heartfelt Thankyou to Mr. Madhukar Sabnavis for his valuable insights and Mrs. Anuja our remarkable faculty for making our days so brighter and productive at WPP School of Communications.