dangerous. In recent years it has become popular to borrow from Joseph Campbell’s model of archetypes and his seminal work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). Campbell spent a lifetime studying the legends, myths and folktales of societies across the world. Regardless of the culture, he identified common stories repeated time and again, and his 12 archetypes reflect these familiar characters. Whether Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, or Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars, the narrative of the Sage, who helps the hero along his journey, is all too familiar. Brands must be storytellers, and the most engaging brand stories are often the simplest – both new and familiar at the same time – but archetypes are rarely the inspiration. By framing a brand rigidly as one archetype versus another, the practitioner narrows the scope of storytelling opportunity a brand might explore. Equally, blending elements from different archetypes – another common trick – can undermine the value of the analysis altogether. At their most useful, archetypes are a convenient starting point from which to build a more meaningful discussion about a brand’s story, behaviour and role in the world. At worst, they are a passing fad concocted by brand charlatans playing the Outlaw role themselves. However, they do appeal to clients who like rules, and who want the characters in their ads to look like archetypes. Too often I have heard clients say “but “X” is not behaving like “Y”: a sure recipe for bad advertising. There may be rules in storytelling, but the more they are visible the less the story will engage. At its best, the art of storytelling is a foundation of advertising in the digital age. And the people who tell these stories need to borrow from the ways of working of the arch-storytellers in Hollywood. A story, which is episodic, is written in a very different way to the 30-second ad. Take for example “The Beauty Inside” (2012), a wonderful collaboration between Intel, Toshiba and the viewers who watched online over six, weekly episodes on Facebook. The story revolved around Alex, voiced by actor Topher Grace but played physically by a host of male and female actors, including some members of the audience. In a nod to Kafka, Alex wakes up every day as the same person but in a different body. He keeps a daily record of his unusual life via the video camera on his Toshiba Ultrabook, which he carries with him wherever he goes. This masterstroke meant anyone in the audience could upload a piece to a camera (or webcam), which