When it comes to video marketing, nothing beats storytelling. And when it comes to storytelling, the hero’s journey story structure has a long and proven history. Storytellers have been using this framework to craft compelling stories since the days of ancient Greece. Using this classic 3-act format can help you keep viewer attention and make your marketing story memorable.
What is the Hero’s Journey
The hero’s journey is a type of three-act story structure that has been around for almost as long as humans have told stories. It was first defined by Joseph Campbell, a professor of literature who studied myths.
The hero’s journey has 12 steps starting with the “ordinary world” that the hero leaves when they get the “call to adventure” and ending with the hero’s triumphant return. Along the way, the hero meets a mentor, survives an ordeal, and earns a reward. This basic structure can be simplified into three parts or acts.
- Act 1: Departure: the hero gets a call to adventure and the mentor prompts them to accept the call and leave the familiar world behind.
- Act 2: Initiation: The hero learns to navigate the new world, usually making some sort of sacrifice to achieve their goal.
- Act 3: Return: the hero returns to their familiar world changed or with a solution
Classic stories like Homer’s Odyssey have taken this form, but so have more modern works like the Star Wars saga and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Of course, when making an explainer video, you don’t have three movies or even 2 and a half hours to tell your story.
In fact, research shows you’ll get the best results with really short videos. So is the hero’s journey really a smart structure for a marketing video?
Why This Structure is a Smart Choice for Marketing Videos
The Hero’s Journey is a useful structure even for very short content. It works because it’s familiar, accessible, and even has a built-in role for your brand.
Many of the western world’s favorite stories use this structure. That means audiences in the U.S., Canada and beyond can easily recognize and feel comfortable with it. They don’t have to spend a lot of time or energy understanding the video narrative, because the built-in structure makes it easy.
This type of story centers around a hero. Your hero doesn’t have to wear a cape, but they do need to overcome a challenge. This main character is someone the audience can easily identify with. In marketing videos,your hero is usually a stand-in for your customer. They allow your customer to see themselves in the story you’re telling.
This structure has a built in place for your brand. Every hero’s journey includes a wise mentor who helps and guides. That’s your brand, encouraging the viewer to step away from the status quo and seek out a solution for their problem.
How to Tell Your Brand Story Using the Hero’s Journey
The hero’s journey can guide your video planning process. Start by identifying your hero. Usually, this is a stand-in for your customer. It could be a video spokesperson with similar characteristics to your ideal customer, or it could be an animated character who feels relatable.
Once you have your hero, you’re ready to jump into the structure of the story. Answer the following questions for each act of the story, and you’ll be well on your way to a compelling video.
Departure: your customer leaves the status quo to find something better
- What does normal look like for this character? This is their world without your product or service.
- What might call your customer away from the status quo to go looking for a solution?
- Why might they choose to maintain the status quo?
- Who will guide them along the way? hint: the answer is probably your brand
Initiation: The customer enters the unknown, and earns a reward
- What challenges will the customer overcome? i.e. cost, overwhelm, getting everyone on board
- Who will help them? Features or solutions you’re offering.
- What will they gain? Ex. peace of mind, ease of use, better insight
Return: Show the benefit to the customer now that they have your solution
- What does implementation of this solution look like?
- How has their life changed?
This might seem like a lot of information to cram into a minute or two of video, but a lot of this can be shown in a matter of seconds with animation and well-scripted voiceover.
Examples of the Hero’s Journey in Video Marketing
The best way to understand how the hero’s journey can structure a marketing video is to watch some examples. These videos show the hero’s journey in action. Note how we spend more or less time on each act depending on the needs of the video.
Watch carefully and see if you can spot where each of the three acts begins and ends in this video we made for Docker Buildcloud.
The video above starts with “on an average day,” telling us what normal looks like for our developer hero. Then it lists some of the reasons the developer might go looking for a solution, before introducing the guide: Docker Buildcloud. In act two, we meet our allies, powerful machines, shared cache, and integrations. What does our hero gain from all this? ROI. Act three is so fast you might miss it. “Get started today with our no-cost plans.”
Below is another example in a video we made for ISDA VCM. By applying the Hero’s Journey story structure to this complex topic (and adding some fun animation), we were able to keep viewers engaged for the full minute and a half.
Act one is only about 15 seconds long, introducing the problem and the guide: the voluntary carbon market. Act two shows the challenges companies face in making and keeping net zero carbon emissions commitments. The companies gain the ability to keep their promises and better investment into green projects. Just before the end of the first minute, we get the solution: ISDA’s new documentation. At 1:10 we start act 3, with details about how the solution will be implemented and what it will mean for companies in the future.
Answer the Call with Animated Marketing Video
As you can see, the hero’s journey is a flexible but familiar structure that can make your video marketing more accessible and engaging for viewers. If you’re feeling the call to start the journey of your next marketing video, let us be your guide. At IdeaRocket, we create quality explainer videos and animated commercials for Healthcare, SaaS, Human Resources, and more. Contact us today to get started.
