In an ocean filled with lies, all that really matters is how believable YOUR lie is. All successful marketers are good storytellers; the customers chose to believe. "All Marketers are Liars" by Seth Godin shows that contemporary marketing is not only about satisfying needs but about creating wants. Here is a summary of the book prepared by Prof. Sameer Mathur.

1. Book Summary
Seth Godin really
practices what he
preaches. The cover of
the book tells it all.
All marketers are liars. It
is radical and offensive.
You are either convinced
or repulsed.
1

2. What sells a product these days? Is it
the price point? Is it the buyer’s need?
Are product features and benefits the
deciding factors for customers to buy?
Seth Godin says it is none of the above.
2

3. Consumers buy products when they
fall for a marketer’s story. A
successful marketer has to come up
with stories that consumers want to
believe. The stories should fit a
consumers worldview and encourage
people to talk to others about it.
When a marketer’s story is authentic
and remarkable, the product will sell.
3

4. Stories make it easier to understand
the world. Stories are the only way
we know how to spread an idea.
Marketers didn’t invent story telling.
They just perfected it.
4

5. Marketers are a special kind of a
liar. Marketers lie to consumers
because consumers demand it.
Consumers are used to telling
stories to themselves and each
other, and its natural to buy stuff
from someone who’s telling us a
story. People can’t handle the truth.
5

6. A GREAT STORY SHOULD
Be true
Make a promise
Be trusted
Be subtle
Happen fast
6

7. A GREAT STORY SHOULD
Not appeal to logic, but appeal to senses
Rarely be aimed at everyone
Never contradict itself
Agree with a “worldview”
7

8. 8
Telling a GREAT Story
Story: “…a wine glass
conveys the wine’s
messages to the
human senses”
Kiehl’s story:
“Genuine cosmetics
made by someone
who cared”;
customers lied to
themselves & to their
friends”

9. GOT MARKETING
Marketing is about spreading ideas, and
spreading ideas is the single most important
output of our civilization
In the Golden age of television, marketing was a
matter of buying 60 seconds of airtime, and
using that time to tell a simple story to create
demand. It is not that simple now. Marketing has
now become more complex and challenging.
9

10. MARKETERS DON’T REALIZE
They are not in charge
People can’t be forced to listen
Conversations cant be controlled (its not
always a broadcast)
No stability (disruption, competition)
10

11. The new power curve
11
Invention
Production
Marketing
Invention
Production
Marketing
Invent stuff worth talking about Tell stories
about what you invented
Marketers don’t realize

12. When marketing works?
“Most marketing fails. Here are the 5 steps
that people go through in a successful
marketing campaign”
12

13. Their worldview & Frames got there before
you did
People only notice the new & make
guesses
First impressions start the story
Great marketers tell stories we believe
Marketers with authenticity thrive
13
The 5 steps…..

14. STEP 1:
THEIR WORLDVIEW AND
FRAMES
GOT THERE BEFORE YOU DID
Every consumer has a worldview that affects the
product you want to sell. That worldview alters
the way they interpret everything you
say and do. Frame your story in terms of that
worldview, and it will be heard.
14

15. CONSUMER WORLDVIEWS
Marketers should not try to change this worldview
15
“Worldview” is the term that refers to
rules, values, beliefs and biases that an
individual consumer brings to a
situation

16. CONSUMER WORLDVIEWS
Each person has a different set of biases,
values and assumptions that forms their
worldview
This worldview is the lens they use to
determine whether or not they are going to
believe a story
People can see the same data and make totally
different decisions.
16

17. CONSUMER WORLDVIEWS
The consumer’s worldview affects the following:
17
ATTENTION – With all the numerous messages being
broadcast at the public, a consumer can pay attention only to a
few. Which message they pay attention to depends on their
worldview. As a marketer, we cannot force them to pay
attention unless we enter their worldview
BIAS – The same message can be interpreted differently by
different people depending on biases previously formed.
People don’t like to change their worldview and they want it to
be reinforced
VERNACULAR – Consumer’s worldviews also affect the tone of
the message they expect. When this is not matched, it leads to
dissatisfaction among them

18. CONSUMER WORLDVIEWS
• We cannot assume that all consumers have the
same wants or that the market is a large group of
similar people
• People clump together into common worldviews
and we should identify a previously
undiscovered clump to tell them a story
• Marketing succeeds when enough people with
similar worldviews come together in a way that
allows marketers to reach them cost-effectively
There is no monolith of wants
18

19. A worldview is not who you are. It’s what you believe. It’s
your biases.
A worldview is not forever. It’s what the consumer
believes right now
CONSUMER WORLDVIEWS
19

20. FRAMES
• Frame are the words, images and interactions that
reinforces a bias someone is already feeling
• They are a means to present an idea in a way that
embraces the consumer’s worldview and not fight it
The power of frames
• Framing our message in alignment with the
consumer’s worldview is important to get their
attention
Getting in the door
• It is not enough to find a niche that shares a
worldview. That niche has to be ready and able to
influence a large group of their friends
• For example, it is not enough if the consumer
embraces your story of helping the environment: it
should lead them to buy your product
Finding the right audience
20

21. We might need the same things, but we definitely don’t want
the same things
21
Smart marketers don’t change people’s worldview, they
look for ones with the required worlview
Find a neglected worldview, tell them a story they will
believe
Every group wants to hear a story that supports its
worldview
Frames reinforce people’s biases
Who we are affects what we see.
Attention Bias Vernacular

22. “I don’t want to drink coffee right now, but it would make me feel
good to spend a little extra on a hot drink that’s special, makes
me feel like a connoisseur”…so a tea
22

23. 23
Appealed to people who were disgusted
with system. Those who rejected status
quo.
The “None of these” President
Jimmy Carter (Democrat)

24. While marketers tend to focus on the center of
the curve, it is the edges where we can find
people with an unfulfilled worldview
SEGMENTATION BASED ON
WORLDVIEW
24

25. In the case of edgy issues, use of euphemisms allow the
marketer telling the story to paint a picture before the
consumer decides to withhold their attention
The best marketing goes on when we talk to a
group that not only shares a worldview but also
talks about it, i.e., a community
One of the most important worldviews that
marketers can leverage is the desire to do what
people we admire are doing
Other important worldviews:
• “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
• “I like working with you”
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
25

26. SUMMARY OF STEP 1
Find a shared
worldview
Frame a story
around that
worldview
Make it easy
for the story
to spread
Create a new
market
26
Worldview – Beliefs, Values, Biases
Frame – Element aligned with worldview
Shared worldviews - Community
• Will consumer notice or ignore the firm’s activities
• Vernacular- color, words, tone of voice, media
used as per consumer’s biases
• Find an untapped worldview and create a
frame to match it
• Hans Brinker Budget Hotel in Amsterdam
• Influence other people in the community
• Most important worldview- leaders, early
adopters, sneezers, success behind stories
marketers tell

27. STEP 2:
PEOPLE NOTICE ONLY THE NEW
AND THEN MAKE A GUESS
People only notice stuff that’s new and different.
And the moment they notice something new,
they start making guesses about what to expect
next
27

28. Marketers tell stories to let the
consumers know about the product.
But every single fact cannot be told.
Consumers then interpret the story
their own way and create their own
judgement.
28

29. How the brain works
1
• Look for a difference
• Compare with status quo
2
• Look for Causation
• How did this happen?
3
• Make the Prediction
• Put the missing pieces
together
4
• Cognitive Dissonance
• There can be no
Contradiction
29

30. LOOK FOR A DIFFERENCE
LOOK FOR CAUSATION
USE OUR PREDICTION MACHINE
RELY ON COGNITIVE
DISSONANCE
How our brain deals with so much of everyday information?
• Compare
with status
quo
• Ignore if
information
is not new
E-Commerce
sites sell
mobiles at
lower prices
w.r.t. to brick
and mortar
stores
• If window
breaks, we
want to
know what
broke it
• We make a
theory about
the cause
• We predict
what is next
based on our
world view
• If we predict
right, we
again start
ignoring
• Ignore
anything
which is
contrary
Abstain from
buying from
ecommerce
websites despite
their promotions
The mobiles at
e-commerce
sites are fake,
Chinese pass-
offs
There will be
complaints by
buyers on
ecommerce
sites
The best marketing techniques are the simple stories – Ideavirus
What is being sold has to create an emotional want, not just fulfill a need 30

31. STEP 3:
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
START THE STORY
Humans are able to make extremely
sophisticated judgments in a fraction of a
second. And once they’ve drawn that conclusion,
they resist changing it
31

32. You don’t get much time to tell a story
Blink – Malcolm Galdwell
“Most human beings make decision with almost no data & then stick
to those decisions regardless of information that they might be
wrong”
Consumers use snap judgment to escape bombardment of options
Snap judgments are
Powerful
Authentic
Share & validate Stuck to
Inputs??
Automatic /Reflex
32

33. Snap judgments are incredibly powerful
Humans do everything they can to support those initial
judgments
They happen whether you want your prospects to make a
quick judgment or not
One of the ways people support snap judgments is by
telling other people
You never know which input is going to generate the first
impression that matters
Authentic organizations and are far more likely to turn their
stories into ideavirus
33

34. STEP 4:
GREAT MARKETERS
TELL STORIES WE
BELIEVE
34

35. THE ART OF TELLING STORIES
Every day all of us market. Some of us
are really lousy at it, and worse, believe
the reason for our failure is some sort of
intrinsic inadequacy. It’s not.
If you have an idea you’d like to see
spread, you have got to be good at
telling stories
35

36. THE ART OF TELLING STORIES
Even if the story is based on fact, all
the stories people rely on to make
decisions are blown out of proportion.
One story isn’t the whole truth.
An SUV isn’t a safer car than a station
wagon, but the story the car tells sure
makes us feel that way as the driver
climbs on board and sits way up high.
36

37. TELLING STORIES IN AN INTERNET
WORLD
Lots of marketers were under the
illusion that marketing = advertising
, and when advertising stopped
working, they had no idea at all
what to do
In an internet world, opportunities
for marketers have shifted away
from mass marketing and
commercials
37

38. TELLING STORIES IN AN INTERNET
WORLD
Marketers can use the many dimensions of
our media culture to tell more complex stories
faster and more effectively than they ever
could have using television commercials.
Now marketing = storytelling, and everything
an organization does supports the story
38

39. TELLING STORIES IN AN INTERNET
WORLD
So everyone is in the marketing department
and a company either tells a story that people
care about, or their story disappears
39

40. POSTCONSUMPTION CONSUMERS
Stories only work because consumers buy what
they don’t need
If consumers have everything they need, there’s
nothing left to buy except stuff that they want.
And the reason they buy stuff they want is
because of the way it makes them feel
40

41. POSTCONSUMPTION CONSUMERS
This leads to the formulation of the fourth
step which can be termed as follows –
Stories let us lie to ourselves. And those lies
satisfy our desires. It’s the story, not the
good or the service you actually sell, that
pleases the consumer
41

42. Internet Era – Marketing is much more than advertising
Relationship building, customer engagement
Case: US Elections 2004 – Bush vs Kerry
$100,000,000 intellectual
campaign
vs
Incumbent with near record low
approval ratings
Americans selected the “strong ,
assured & infallible leader”
42

43. Post consumption Consumers
Consumers buy stuff because of the way it makes them feel
“Even B2B selling behavior is not too different.. after all they are managed
by people as”
…. what makes them secure, gives them sense of belonging or helps them
get promoted
Siebel outsells Salesforce
(better product, less recos)
Packaging
Peer approval
Out of box experience
Customers
Want
WE DON’T NEED WHAT YOU SELL, WE BUY WHAT WE
WANT
43

44. EXAMPLES:
STORIES FRAMED
AROUND
WORLDVIEWS
44

45. EXAMPLES: STORIES FRAMED
AROUND WORLDVIEWS
45
Home cooked meal is better for my family
Americans feel guilty about the fact that they
no longer cook dinner for their families
They were raised to believe that a home
cooked meal = love = family = healthy
Banquet sells precooked frozen food with the
story of home prepared food

46. EXAMPLES: STORIES FRAMED
AROUND WORLDVIEWS
46
I believe sushi tastes better if chef is Japanese
Expectations are engines of our perceptions
Ralph Lauren generates huge sales from
seconds sold at many Polo factory stores
around the country
People tell themselves a story about finding a
bargain
They are delighted to spend $40 for $400 jacket
which costs less than $4

47. EXAMPLES: STORIES FRAMED
AROUND WORLDVIEWS
47
I like to beat the system
An innovative entrepreneur bought branded
speakers at discount, rented a U-Haul truck
Then they parked behind a dorm at Harvard
and started whispering, “Pssst… Hey! You
wanna buy some speakers”
People believed that the speakers were stolen
even though they never said that
Speakers were priced higher than in nearby
shops

48. EXAMPLES: STORIES FRAMED
AROUND WORLDVIEWS
48
Organic Food is better
Organic food is a relatively cheap way to
satisfy the desire to take care of families, to
take care of our bodies, to take care of earth
and to fell we are doing as we can to tread
lightly
Organic food is selling well not because of
what the food actually does but because of the
way buying it makes people feel

49. “I DON’T BELIEVE MARKETERS”
It’s easy to tout your features, focus on the
benefits, give proof that you are, in fact, the
best solution to a problem. But proof doesn’t
make the sale. Of course, you believe the
proof, but your audience doesn’t. The very
fact that you presented the proof makes it
suspect. If a consumer figures something out
or discovers it on her own, she’s a thousand
times more likely to believe it than if it’s just
something you claim
49

50. “I DON’T BELIEVE MARKETERS”
You must present enough of a change that
the consumer chooses to notice it. But then
you have to tell a story, not give a lecture.
You have to hint at the facts, not announce
them. The process of discovery is more
powerful than being told the right answer-
because of course there is no right answer,
and because even if there were, the
consumer wouldn’t believe you!
50

51. “I DON’T BELIEVE MARKETERS”
Subtlety matters. If you choose to tell a story
that’s more subtle, something more
interesting and more believable, these people
will choose to pay attention.
51

52. FIBS AND FRAUDS
52

53. FIBS & FRAUDS
Every marketer tells stories about his/her
products
Stories which have elements of truth are called
“Fibs”
Stories made just to dupe the customers are
“Frauds”
53

54. FIBS
Something which the marketer tells the
customers ; which is not totally true, but still
honest and acceptable in their eyes
Eg: A furnace company’s customer service
line being answered by the company owner
who passed away 50 years ago ; it still makes
customers feel special
People buy expensive cars even though they
could do with cheap ones ; it is the stories
told that matter
54

55. FIBS
55
Fibs are true
Is Mercedes really 15 times better than Toyota?
When a car buyer slams the door of the
Mercedes, it tells a story. Story about solidity
and workmanship, a story about safety and
performance
That doesn’t happen with Corolla
Mercedes wins because they are authentic in
their quest for car worth talking about

56. FRAUDS
These are baseless stories told to attract
customers which, if unfurled, backfire
Eg: Nestle spreading the false story that
bottled milk is better than breast feeding.
It does not only tarnish your reputation
but also drives away current and potential
customers
56

57. STEP 5 : MARKETERS WITH
AUTHENTICITY THRIVE
57

58. MARKETERS WITH AUTHENTICITY
THRIVE
58
Changing the story requires personal
interaction
Personal interaction cuts through all the filters
They can be nasty or rushed or even selfish.
But when they are genuine, they have an
impact

59. MARKETERS WITH AUTHENTICITY
THRIVE
59
Some senses count for more than others, but
every sense matters
It’s the combination of senses that convinces
the sceptical consumer
You might be able to trick me with a
handwritten menu in the window of your
restaurant, but if the chairs are wrong, or
restaurant smells wrong, I will bolt

60. THE POWER OF STORIES
Personal interaction cuts through all filters
and is the best way to market yourself
A product recommended by a friend has
higher chances of being bought compared
to when advertised by TV or sales persons
A story has to be authentic : “once fooled, a
person will never repeat your story to
someone else. “
60

61. THE POWER OF STORIES : CONT..
If you are not authentic, you will get the
benefit of just one sale, not a hundred. The
cost of your deception is just too high.
Eg : Toyota Prius ; The makers branded it a
“Smart” car , and features like automatic door
open, insane mileage etc. proved it
61

62. MARKETERS WITH AUTHENTICITY
THRIVE
62
All successful stories are the same
They promise to fulfil wishes of a consumer’s
worldview. They may offer
Shortcut
Miracle
Money
Social success
Safety Ego
Fun Pleasure
Belonging

63. COMPETING IN THE LYING WORLD
63

64. ONE STORY PER CUSTOMER
You cannot succeed if you try to tell your
competition’s story better than they can
Wal-Mart Internet : “You can’t out-Amazon
Amazon.”
This is the most difficult competitive lesson to
learn. Marketers (and all human beings) are
well trained to follow the leader
64

65. ONE STORY PER CUSTOMER
The problem is that once a consumer has
bought someone else’s story and believes that
lie, persuading the consumer to switch is the
same as persuading him to admit he was wrong.
And people hate admitting that they’re wrong
Instead, you must tell a different story and
persuade those listening that your story is more
important than the story they currently believe.
If your competition is faster, you must be
cheaper
Example: Woot, It only sells one item a day.
“Come back tomorrow and see what’s new”
65

66. FINDING THE RIGHT
COMMUNITY
WNBA women’s basketball: went to a new
group (families and women and kids) and
offered a fundamentally different story
Is it guaranteed that you’ll find a new
community that will embrace you and make
your success certain? Of course not.
But it’s also certain that addressing the
community of your dominant competitor is
going to fail
66

67. SPLITTING THE COMMUNITY
What if you’re entering a market where there is
already successful competition and they’ve all
bought your competition’s story?
Tell different story to part of the community
with a particular worldview that’s different
from that of the masses
Example: Masa, the $300-per-person sushi
restaurant in New York, offered proposition
“This is the best sushi in the world, but only
for people who are willing to pay for it”
67

68. THE OTHER WAY TO
GROW
What if splitting the community doesn’t get you
a big enough share of the market?
The other way to grow is to recognize that in
every community, people have more than one
worldview at a time
Example: Trek bicycles, The comfort story
persuaded people to spend $1,000 or $5,000 on
a mountain bike or a hybrid bike that had a
racing heritage
68

69. REMARKABLE? THE COW HAS NOT
LEFT THE BUILDING
69

70. INVISIBLE OR REMARKABLE?
The only way to grow was to do
something remarkable
You can’t just use any story. You
can’t tell a selfish story from your
point of view. You can’t invent an
inauthentic story or tell an amazing
story when the reality is banal
70

71. INVISIBLE OR REMARKABLE?
The only stories that work, the
only stories with impact, the
only stories that spread are
the “I can’t believe that!”
stories. These are the stories
that aren’t just repeatable:
these are the stories that
demand to be repeated
71

72. THE REALLY AND TRULY
GREAT NEWS
Stop fighting your fear and just tell
the best story you can imagine
All great stories are purple cows for
one simple reason: a great story is
believed and the lie is retold
72

73. IN DEFENCE OF
EXTREMISM
You need to look in the mirror and
realize that only a remarkable, authentic
story is going to have a chance of
spreading
73

74. GOING TO THE EDGES: GETTING
PEOPLE TO VOTE
People on the edges are more likely to vote.
Not the middle of the curve, but those who
are incensed and focused and care deeply
about only one issue.
You succeed by being an extremist in your
storytelling, then gracefully moving your
product or service to the middle so it
becomes more palatable to audiences that
are persuaded by their friends, not by you
74

75. GOING TO THE EDGES: THE TITLE OF
THIS BOOK
Example: Title of the book, No one would
hate a book called All Marketers Tell Stories.
No one would disagree with it. No one
would challenge me on it. No one would talk
about it
Your goal should not (must not) be to create
a story that is quick, involves no risks and
is without controversy. Boredom will not
help you grow
75

76. WHEN STORYTELLING (AND THE COW)
DOESN’T SEEM TO WORK VERY WELL
Big and small work fine. It’s medium that is to
be worried about
Big: enabling consumers to believe the big lie
works for an entire brand e.g. Dell
Small: it’s pretty easy to see how telling the
right story can really help an individual e.g. Job
Interview
76

77. GOING TO THE EDGES: THE TITLE
OF THIS BOOKMedium: It’s hard to be remarkable
when you and your organization
insist on not changing the status
quo
Example: Little Miss Match, mis-
matching socks for pre-teen girls
77

78. Dar k aage
Jeet Hai
Self
Actualization in
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
Different
story telling
Targeting the
adventure
loving youth
Consistent
78

79. MASTER STORYTELLERS AND THOSE
WHO ARE STILL TRYING
79

80. MASTER STORYTELLERS
• The needlessly flared wheels in SUVs
don’t serve any functional purpose
• However, they do make the car look big
and imposing, which is the story the
SUV tells about its owner to other
people
• This is why people buy it: the story they
want to tell others
The SUV
Story
• Its location on the fringes made it
unpopular with non-foodies
• However, for foodies it was a story of
how they went all the way to have Indian
food
• This has made Jackson Diner very
popular, even though its food is not as
good anymore
Jackson
Diner
80

81. MASTER STORYTELLERS
• Their soap costs thirty times as much
• Does it clean thirty times as well? Does
soap need to be organic?
• No! But consumers like the story it tells
of organic rosemary fields and helping
the environment
• The product is nothing but a souvenir of
the shopping experience and how the
customer felt during the purchase
Avalon
Organic
Botanicals
• They realized that viewers don’t watch
news for facts but for stories that
conform to their worldview
• Thus, Fox News tells a coherent story in
its programs, which makes its viewers
recommend the channel to friends as well
Fox News
81

82. MASTER STORYTELLERS
• The review in New York magazine
compares it to the Chao Phraya River in
Bangkok
• But it’s a restaurant: shouldn’t we talk
about food?
• No: consumers want a story and if that
story matches the worldview of what they
seek, they are more likely to tell their
friends about it
Thai
Restaurant
• Sirius has more features and channels
than existing services
• But people will ignore such advertising as
long as their worldview does not include a
problem with their current services
• Sirius got their attention by taking off
Howard Stern from radio and entering their
worldview by breaking traditional radio for
them
Sirius
Satellite
Radio
82

83. MASTER STORYTELLERS
UK travel firm Lunn Poly uses scents in their offices to
give customers an experience of being in the holiday
location, which increases their interest in the
product/service
Blue Nile online jewellery has overtaken Tiffany & Co. not
by selling cheaper jewellery but by selling jewellery that
have a story behind them
Napster was successful because it does not view its
customers as ‘people who don’t want to pay for music’
but as people to whom music is important
Michelin tyres score over those of Goodyear as Michelin
has a story to tell while Goodyear only uses the blimp
83

84. ADVANCED RIFFS
84

85. FERTILITY
Different audiences act differently because of
their differing worldviews
Some are more likely to use the product and
recommend it to others. They are also more
likely to have friends who are willing to listen to
the same story
Thus, it is important to focus on the right
audience for your product. Eg. Music labels
correctly focus on college students as their
initial audience
Choosing a fertile audience can help your idea
spread
85

86. Worldviews change and marketers can take this
opportunity to tell the right story to the transitioning
audience as they form a fertile group
• Not only worldviews but also the way we feel about a
product or service changes over time
• This is more because of the change in us than the
change in the product
• Thus, the marketplace is dynamic and marketers
should find ways to stay relevant
• At the same time, old stories die hard. We still believe
that cotton is more natural even though facts have
proven that it is more harmful to the environment than
high-tech fabrics
86

87. EXPLAINING FAILURES
Few products fail because they don’t work as
designed. Most products fail because of choosing
the wrong story or framing it in the wrong way, due
to which it fails to resonate with the worldview of
the audience.
There are four possible reasons for a product’s
failure:
 No one noticed it
 People noticed it but decided they didn’t want to
try it
 People tried it but decided not to keep using it
 People liked it but didn’t tell their friends
87

88. Why didn’t anyone notice it? Our default setting is to
ignore everything unless it is remarkable or exceptional
Why didn’t those who noticed it try it? Barring the real
enthusiasts, most people do not want to take the effort.
Therefore, we must start with the enthusiasts
Why didn’t they become loyal customers? Early adopters
tend to try new products and are not loyal. It is important
to make them feel that your product is the best solution
Why didn’t they tell their friends? Depending on their
worldview, consumers are more comfortable sharing
certain things than others. We need to identify
consumers with the right worldview for us or choose the
right category
88

89. The Key Addition to Purple Cow thinking
Before telling a story to their friends, consumers
must first tell a story to themselves. Marketers need
not make their product for everyone. They can key
into a niche worldview and cater to that as long as it
is fertile enough to generate a real business.
89

90. Some Problems are Hard
Sometimes the prevailing worldview
misaligns with the solution we have to offer.
In such cases, we must change our story or
our offering so that it aligns with the current
market dynamics.
90

91. Protect Me
Fear is one of the most common worldviews
and stories based on fear are easily accepted
even if they are often groundless.
91

92. OXYMORONS
Oxymorons are created when the words and
images we use to tell a story conflict with one
another. Eg. “Social capitalism”
By framing a statement around a worldview,
and then deliberately confounding
expectations, it’s easy to tell a story
However, some oxymorons create a conflict
that people cannot embrace so they ignore it
92

93. OXYMORONS
Oxymorons help us address a small,
previously unaddressed group that wants to
achieve two conflicting objectives. Eg.
Starbucks’ Soy Decaf Latte
The Acumen Fund aimed to use capitalism to
aid progress in poorer countries. It was
unable to appeal to traditional investors or
philanthropists so it targeted the ones
dissatisfied with the traditional systems
93

94. REFERENCES
Godin S.(2009) . All Marketers are Liars. India: Penguin
Books
94

95. 95
Prepared By: Prof. Sameer Mathur, Ph.D.
Sameer Mathur
Indian Institute of Management,
Lucknow
Marketing Professor 2013 –
Marketing Professor 2009 – 2013
Ph.D. and M.S. (Marketing) 2003 – 2009