Create Conflict
Every story has some conflict. The purpose of the enemy in stories is to create conflict for the hero in achieving their goal. Stories would be boring if there was no conflict in them. There is some overarching problem in every story and some sort of enemy stands in the way of the hero to resolve the problem. Be aware of your life and you will be aware of your goals and the conflicts that stand in your way.
If you think of your favourite stories you will notice this.
Example: The Lion King
In Lion King, Simba is to succeed his father Mufasa as King of the Pride Lands, however Simba’s uncle Scar murders Miufasa to seize the throne, and Simba is manipulated and tricked by Scar thinking he was responsible for his father Mufa’s death, and flees to exile. While Simba is in exile, Scar’s tyranny has created imbalance in nature disconnected the circle of life. Simba must return to his rightful thrown as King and bring balance back to the Pride Lands. He must overcome Scar to succeed.
Problem: Pride Lands out of balance
Solution: Return to the Throne to bring balance back to Pride Lands.
Enemy: Scar
Guide: Mufasa & Rafiki
Hero: Simba
Brand Enemy Examples
So your customer is the Hero and your brand is the supporting character.
What is the hero trying to achieve to succeed?
What is standing between the hero and their goal?
Often the hero is not aware of their conflict, so it is your role to help them become aware of what stands in the way. By doing so, you have created an emotional connection and formed a partnership.
Your brand is aware of the Hero’s goal, knows what stands in their way, and has the tools, training and advice to help the hero resolve the conflict and overcome their enemy so the hero is successful in achieving their goal.
Slack VS. Email
Slack makes email the enemy and helps their hero’s overcome the hassles, lack of organization, and inefficiency, and lack of teamwork with Slack. Slack has a unique feature for almost every problem with email, making it one of the best options for businesses to use one platform for their team and work.
Dollar Shave Club VS. Over Priced Razors
Dollar Shave Club (DSC) entered the mens shaving market that is dominated by Gillette.Dollar shave club differentiated their business from the over expensive razors that Gillette sells with a low priced monthly subscription based business model. DSC makes the enemy over priced razors.
