How Twilio Bested Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway has long been credited, perhaps apocryphally, with authoring the shortest story ever told: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
The other day, driving off the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, I took in the Twilio billboard and realized that Hemingway’s record had fallen:
What a brilliant illustration of how even stripped down messaging can convey a powerful, moving story. (By the way, I have no relationship with Twilio.)
Hemingway’s six-worder is notable because it contains, if implicitly, all of the essential narrative elements. There’s a protagonist (an unnamed mother), high stakes for a future outcome (life and death of a child), a climax (death), and a new state of the world (moving on by selling the shoes).
Remarkably, Twilio’s three-word gem similarly leverages story structure to pack an emotional punch. Although the message ostensibly speaks to an executive (non-developer), its protagonist (and target audience) is a developer. The high stakes for a future outcome? Whatever communications-related challenge the executive cares about enough to be asking questions. The implied climax, then, is when the executive’s developer overcomes that challenge — armed with Twilio, of course. The new state of the world? One in which developers are respected and valued.
Check out this response to a tweet about the billboard:
OK, “Warren Peace” might be half joking, but I think he’s half truly moved, too.
Andy crafts strategic messaging and positioning for companies funded by Andreesen Horowitz, True Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners, and other leading venture investors. He also leads workshops on strategic storytelling and content marketing. To learn more about Andy, visit http://andrewraskin.com.
