Can marketing imitate Hotel California’s lack of storytelling?

Does marketing always need to be structured around storytelling? There’s no doubting that telling stories is a great way to touch the soul of our customers. Let’s contemplate Hotel California to get a slightly different twist on stories.

When asked about the meaning behind The Eagles’ Hotel California song, Glen Frey said he had no idea what the lyrics actually mean, but that they do not mean one particular thing. He said, he and co-writer Don Henley had two guides for the song: 1) follow sets of couplets of two lines per topic; and 2) the topics would be “things we saw in California.” That’s it.

So the genius of the song is that it intrigues the mind of listeners to dream their own stories without actually telling a story.

Marketing at its core is meant to intrigue the minds of our consumers. So if we do it through storytelling or if we do it through triggering thoughts of stories, we’ve reached success.

Reach out and let’s talk more on storytelling. I have a few to share with you.