Volume 14: The Hero's Journey
The Hero's Journey is a cheat code for brand resonance. It helps new brands stand up to established competitors by harnessing the power of familiar beats and characters.
Hi and welcome to Volume 14 of Content People! Thanks so much for reading.
Today, I’m taking a slightly different approach and focusing on a specific, powerful theme: The Hero’s Journey. 🛡️🐉
Learning about the Hero’s Journey is like buying a new car: Once you get it, you see it everywhere.
Even if you think you don’t know it - you do. The narrative structure follows a protagonist through a transformative adventure filled with challenges and growth. He or she returns from the journey with newfound wisdom and strength. This pattern shows up in so many stories - from Star Wars to Suits. (Wiki here.)
At Medbury, we reference the Hero’s Journey as a framework for how we craft our clients’ stories - whether we’re working on a client’s personal brand, their founder’s story, their products, or a whole organization’s branding. (PS - our site launches later this month - stay tuned.)
These archetypal beats, frameworks and guideposts are like cheat codes for resonance. And they help emerging brands hold their own among larger, more established competitors - because they’re already familiar.
Below are some of our favorite reference points, reads and takes on The Hero’s Journey. Here we go.
THE CONTENT PEOPLE EPISODE
Speaking of Heroes: This was a really special episode. I interviewed Aliza Licht. Aliza is a best-selling author, the former SPV of DKNY and the creative brain behind the infamous twitter handle @DKNYPRGIRL. (RIP!)
We talked about her best-selling new book, On Brand: Shape Your Narrative. Share Your Vision. Shift Their Perception. One of the juiciest parts of the convo: How personal branding is different for men vs women.
If you want even more Aliza, check her out on Good Morning America interview for quick, impactful tips on building a personal brand.
It drops tomorrow. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google to stay tuned.
READING
📚 Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with 1000 Faces is the seminal work on The Hero’s Journey, detailing 17 stages. (Heads up: It was published in 1949 and is a little dry.)
📚 For a lighter but still very informative read try The Ultimate Hero's Journey: 195 Essential Plot Stages Found in the Best Novels & Movies. This reference guide elucidates tiny but impactful details about these stories. I’ve found it so useful and fun.
📚 A heroic creative brief. Back when I was a COO at a marketing agency, the editorial team I oversaw was working on content for a SAAS client. The client had a clear point of view and sense of their ideal customer, but our team was struggling to nail the voice.
The solution? We created this editorial brief, which draws on the Hero’s Journey framework. We got the client’s sign-off and started to work under the new brief as an internal team.
The results: It was seriously transformative. The client loved the new content, it performed really well, they purchased more work from us, and the editorial team began to enjoy working on the account (rather than dreading it).
Using the Hero’s Journey to solve brand challenges is as much a boon for internal team members as it is clients and target audience. Win-win-win.
LISTENING
📺 Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth PBS series (on YouTube)
Ok. So this is more watching than listening. But this video series, from back in 1988, is the perfect way to dive into Joseph Campbell and his ideas.
🎧 The This Jungian Life Episode: Every Hero’s Journey
A great overview and a fun episode of this beloved podcast. 💜
🎧 This Ted Radio Hour Playlist
Collected talks on the Hero’s Journey.
THE QUOTE
"Every hero must have the courage to be alone, to take the journey for himself."
- Joseph Campbell
The quote is for everyone. Though I think it may have a specific resonance for anyone who has ever started their own business, led a team or launched a product. It’s a transformative personal journey - full of fear, challenges, failures, wins, friends and growth. ✨
MEDBURY
Are you a founder, entrepreneur, or executive on your own Hero’s Journey? Looking for some support?
✨ We help leaders and executives build a personal brand to attract their #dreamjobs.
✨ We help entrepreneurs and organizations refine their products, find their audience and attract ideal clients.
Want to learn more? Just reply back to this email or book time on my calendly here.
YOUR TURN
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Hope you all have a very good week.