Last winter I was stuck in NYC for 5 days because of snowmageddon… I say stuck because i was supposed to be there for two days and only packed for that. While judging the final round of the North American Effie awards. However, being stuck in New York, I did have the fortunate pleasure of meeting and having dinner Jeff Freedman, CEO of Small Army, an agency in Boston. At dinner, we discussed a lot about advertising and how he started his agency. Jeff’s story is an emotional one. One that he was preparing to tell at TEDx.

Storytelling has become the newly minted buzz-word in agency circles. Every brand wants to tell a story, some of them can own that story, some try to invent it. When they are genuine, they work wonderfully for one reason alone, all expression in the human condition is storytelling. Cave art is storytelling, the Sistine Chapel is storytelling, Mozart’s requiem is storytelling. Whether they are heartbreaking or serendipitous. This is not new to advertising of course. What I love about Jeff’s story is that it teaches us that finding the moral of our story is as important to the protagonist as it is for the listener. Jeff uses that moral to make his clients better advertisers, and better advertising.

Thank you for sharing your story with me Jeff.

Please have a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOaey8QpaRA