He’s creating the setting, the beginning of a story that will draw you in and let you know his backstory. In the beginning Exposition, Scott’s voiceover opens with the universal nature of water, how it’s essential, and touches everyone’s lives.
Here’s how Freytag labeled the steps in his pyramid and how Charity: Water founder Scott Harrison stuck to the formula to a T: Here’s how the nonprofit Charity: Water used Freytag’s Pyramid to tell its brand’s story and launch its monthly giving campaign, “ The Spring – The charity: water story.” Take a few minutes to watch this video before continuing to read on. Yet those who strive to use the paradigm when creating their content for marketing can see how it pays off. Not all marketing campaigns or product commercials have the luxury to include all parts of Freytag’s dramatic structure in a 2-minute ad. Tell your brand’s story, even in a couple of minutes.
#MARKETING STORYWRITING HOW TO#
Denouement: French for “the ending,” the denouement is often happy if it’s a comedy, and dark and sad if it’s a tragedy.ĥ cool examples of how to use Freytag’s Pyramid in modern marketing: 1.Resolution: The character solves the problem or conflict.Falling Action: The story shifts to action that happens as a result of the climax, which can also contain a reversal(when the character shows how they are changed by the events of the climax).Climax: The story reaches the point of greatest tension between the protagonist and antagonist (or if there is only one main character, the darkness or lightness of that character appears to take control).There is often a complication, which means the problem the character tried to solve gets more complex. Inciting Incident: The character reacts to something that has happened, and it starts a chain reaction of events.Exposition: The storyteller sets the scene and the character’s background.7 elements of dramatic structure in Freytag’s Pyramid: Gustav Freytag, the 19 th Century German playwright, and novelist drew a simple triangle to represent dramatic structure and highlighted seven parts he considered necessary to storytelling: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement (French for “the ending”). #storytelling #contentmarketing #freelancewriting Click To Tweetįreytag’s Pyramid: Seven parts and their sum totalĪs listeners, when we are told a story, often we want it to have some chronological order and an unfolding of events that hint at an overarching meaning to the story. Story form persuades audiences to believe in an idea, a cause and can influence them to buy a product or service, while also feeling that they are contributing to something larger. It asks the audience to live in the character’s story world and feel the complexity of their problems. Intrinsically, the story arc helps people feel sympathy for a character. But this seven-step framework inspires good storytelling that can be applied to charitable work, policy campaigns, marketing, and branding. Time and again, I came back to dramatic structure and introduced our program staff (who were mostly English-as-second-language-writers) to Freytag’s Pyramid.įreytag’s Pyramid - well known among screenplay writers, playwrights, and dramatists ( and sometimes called “Freytag’s Triangle” ) - is not your typical topic for staff training within the nonprofit world.
We had to get to the heart of the conflict quickly without sacrificing context, and we had to weave the story of how our work made an impact on ongoing social issues. Straightaway, I knew we had to write about our work differently to make it relatable, essential, and contextual. Our staff covered the basics: a convening happened between x number of partners, the agenda covered so-and-so topics, and from that came world peace. I asked program staff to send me articles intended for our website and print communications. While I was the assistant director in Asia of an international nonprofit, one of my main responsibilities was communications. What is Freytag’s Pyramid? Devised by 19th century German playwright Gustav Freytag, Freytag’s Pyramid is a paradigm of dramatic structure outlining the seven key steps in successful storytelling: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement.
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