🌍 Psychology of the Hero's Journey (Part 2)

Hi friends 🤝 – Nathan here.

Last week we went through Act 1 of the Hero’s Journey looking at examples from Shopify. If you missed that, check it out here.

A bit of housekeeping:

• 10,194 World Builders are receiving this newsletter – wild, appreciate you

• It’ll be a Saturday morning newsletter going forward – hold me to the consistency!

Part 2 of the Hero’s Journey breakdown is below. It’ll take about 4 minutes to read.

Act 2: The Adventure

Our Hero has just committed to the adventure. Think Harry Potter going to Hogwarts. Or Katniss Everdeen going to The Capital. In business, think a customer launching their first Shopify store but knowing next to nothing about e-commerce.

Remember: a brand's role is often that of the mentor. The customer is the hero.

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies

Things get tough. The Hero finds themself in an unfamiliar place, forced to take on challenges they’ve never faced before. The challenges are often on the inside, testing your commitment to your new path.

For brands, this step is where it’s easiest to lose that new customer. They become frustrated, don’t know how to get started, and ultimately quit. Many companies build “how to get started” walkthroughs to help new customers learn the product.

Shopify gives new users six ways to get unstuck:

7. Approaching the Inner Cave

The Hero has adjusted to the new world. They’ve faced challenges, made friends, and learned new skills. But there’s a new threshold to cross.

Christopher Vogler, the author of The Writer’s Journey, says: This is “the place where the object of the quest is hidden and where she will encounter supreme wonder and terror.”

8. The Ordeal

The Hero has reached the inner cave and must face the main enemy, their biggest fear, or both. If they embrace who they need to be, they will win.

Often the Hero’s biggest enemy is a shadow version of themselves – think Luke Skywalker facing Darth Vader. We are often our own obstacles.

9. Seize the Reward

The Hero has leveled up – they’ve defeated the enemy and become a better version of themselves. Everything they went through made them worthy of the reward.

YouTube does a great job recognizing creators. They send plaques when a creator reaches:

• 100,000 subscribers – Silver Creator

• 1,000,000 subscribers – Gold Creator

• 10,000,000 subscribers – Diamond Creator

It’s the mentor rewarding the Hero for their effort, skill, and accomplishments.

Youtube Diamond Creator Award – yeah, it's huge

Act 3: Chance to make it right

10. The Road Back Home

This phase mirrors the original crossing of the threshold but in reverse. The trick is for the Hero to return with their new knowledge and, most importantly, figure out how to use it in their new life.

11. Resurrection & Atonement

The final test. It’s the melding of who the Hero was and who they’ve become. They’ve completed the external quest and resolved their inner conflict.

One of the best ads I’ve ever seen uses this framework. Nike released this piece one day after Tiger Woods won the 2019 Masters after spinal fusion surgery:

12. Return with the Elixir

The Hero returns to the ordinary world with the knowledge they’ve earned.

The gold standard for brands is to turn their Heroes into referrers. Basically, help them become mentors for new customers. Some brands who nail this:

• Harry’s

• Dropbox

• Morning Brew

Summary: The psychology of the narrative

The best brands are promises:

• Disney → everyone can enjoy life like a child

• Shopify → everyone is an entrepreneur

• Nike → everyone is an athlete

And if brands are promises, the Hero’s Journey is a brand guiding its customer towards that promise.

A message from... Me!

The interest in this tweet blew me away...

In my experience, there are two ways to get good at storytelling:

1. Study the greats (what this newsletter is for)

2. Practice, practice, practice

I do a lot of practice through StoryWork.

And so many of you liked, commented, and sent me DMs about the practice I decided to turn it into a guided course for you.

Check it out:

Up your game

I wanted to share with you three examples of brands using elements of the Hero’s Journey. See if you can pick them out.

1. Google’s ‘Parisian Love’ marketing campaign

2. Airbnb’s recent focus on longer-term stays for working professionals has been driven by content like this video from CEO Brian Chesky

3. Apple's award-winning short film launching its HomePod product -- notice how the character ends exactly where she started, but with newfound knowledge

Boom – that’s the end of our Hero's Journey breakdown.

If you enjoyed today’s piece, the biggest compliment you can give me is by replying to share your thoughts.

See you next week,

Nathan

What'd you think of today's newsletter?

• 🔥 Brought the heat

• 👍 Solid piece

• 🤦‍♂️ What tf was that