The Susan Boyle Phenomena
April 21st, 2009 by Ingrid Cliff
If you haven’t heard the name Susan Boyle in the past few weeks you have been living under a rock. This is the middle aged Scottish spinster who wowed them on the Britain’s Got Talent. Many people have been asking me why her – why now – why has she caught the imagination of people around the world?
To answer this question we will delve back into psychology and go back to when you were a child. Remember back to the days when you were tucked into bed at night and your parent would read you bedtime stories of heroes and gorgeous brave women.
These stories cross all cultural boundaries and follow what is now termed archetypal stories. These are themes of universal appeal and generally include good overcoming evil, triumphing after long odds or one of the most popular archetypes of all – the person whose outside didn’t reflect their inside talent and through some form of magical transformation their beauty finally shone through.
Think of Cinderalla, the Swan Prince, Beauty and the Beast, and in more modern times Nanny McPhee. We love to hear of stories where people are more than what they seem on the outside and are transformed.
With Susan Boyle she has all of the elements of a number of archetypal stories. Susan is the classic Cinderalla story – pure and chaste and her outside appearance hiding her inner beauty. She also has an element of the hero’s journey thrown in for good measure – fighting the evil judges who stunned by her voice cower back in amazement.
In down economies people want hope – they crave success and transformation. They want to believe that some day they too will be recognised for their unique gift to the world. They hope and dream of being special – and stories like Susan’s show that it is possible.
Is it any wonder that she has become such a phenomenon with over 26 million people watching her video on You Tube?
What can you learn from this? Quite simply archetypal stories and parables are powerful tools to tap into the psyche of people. If appropriate, use these themes in your marketing and you will have brilliant results.
Of course – it doesn’t hurt if you have a great voice like Susan!
Until next time
Ingrid Cliff
We put your business into words
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Marketing Tips for Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
