"Let Us March Against Philip"

Are you telling a story worth spreading?

In the opening lines of his seminal book Ogilvy on Advertising, legendary ad man David Ogilvy outlines a vision for what good advertising ought to do. He says, “When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”

Ogilvy’s words cut to the heart of what a story should do: create change. To drive his point home, he compares his vision of storytelling to a historical example from ancient Athens. “When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march against Philip.’” This is the difference between a story that dazzles and one that moves us to action. Ogilvy wanted to make people act, not just applaud, underscoring the often-misunderstood power of story in motivating action.

In agriculture, you can hardly go anywhere without hearing someone talk about “telling agriculture’s story.” Yet, it’s rare to hear anyone dig into what that actually means, let alone how to do it effectively. Many marketers simply toss around a collection of events, technical features, or buzzwords, hoping it will all magically add up to something compelling. But effective storytelling requires intention, a clear vision of what you want to communicate, and a strong understanding of your audience.

To craft a story that truly matters, you need to ask a few critical questions:

1. What defines a story at its core?
2. What are the fundamental components that make it up?
3. How do these elements interact to create something meaningful?
4. How can I make it compelling?
5. In what ways will this story embody and communicate the message I intend?
6. How will this story resonate within my consumer’s mind, influence their emotions, and shape their decisions?
7. How will this story inspire my customer to take positive, profitable action?

Without these questions, we end up with influencers, brands, and self-proclaimed “agvocates” repeating bland, surface-level narratives that lack substance. As George Bernard Shaw mused, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Similarly, the biggest problem with many “stories” in agriculture today is that they aren’t stories at all—they’re lists of “then I did this, then I did that…”

True stories are more than linear recollections. They’re dyn...(read more )

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