My story is better than your story

In 1959, William Castle produced The Tingler, a B-movie horror film staring Vincent Price. Castle had earned a reputation as a showman with his previous films due to his crazy promotions, such as insuring the audience for $1 million in case of death by fright, and he needed to top himself. In his autobiography, Step Right Up! I’m Gonna Scare the Pants Off America, Castle described pitching The Tingler to Vincent Price:

“The character you play has a theory that the ‘Tingler’ is in everyone’s spine. Usually, people who are frightened scream, and screaming keeps their ‘Tingler’ from growing. Judith Evelyn will play the part of a deaf-mute who runs a silent movie theatre. Experimenting, you scare the hell out of her. Because she can’t utter a sound — is unable to scream — her ‘Tingler’ grows, crushing her to death. You operate, remove the ‘Tingler’ from her spine, and keep it in a glass jar in your laboratory. Then it escapes and gets into the silent movie theatre. We’ll then make believe that the theatre is where the picture is actually playing. The ‘Tingler’ will attack the projectionist and then get onto the screen. It’ll be a movie within a movie. Audiences seeing it will think it’s loose in the theatre they’re in. We’ll put your voice on the sound track and after the lights go out . . . you announce that the ‘Tingler’ is loose in the audience and ask them to scream for their lives…. All hell will break loose.”

“Do you think it’ll work?” Vinnie asked.

“I know it will.”

The movie folding in on itself was an audacious gamble at the time, but Castle took it even further — he had every third seat in the theaters playing The Tingler wired with buzzers to give the audience a shock. He turned the audience into participants. If you went to see The Tingler, you walked in to see William Castle’s story, but you walked out with your own story to tell, because Castle turned you into a (minor) character in the Tingler myth. “The Tingler went into my theater and I felt it in my spine!”

This is a powerful way to think about constructing narratives online. Instead of thinking about how you will tell your story, think about how you can give people a piece of the story to tell.
This requires the storyteller to put the audience at the center, to give them an active role. It’s not something that comes naturally to traditional storytellers, because it requires ceding some control over how the story is told, but when done right it can be very effective on many levels.

Bowling ‘08

Pics from our bowling retreat on Dec. 16th.

‘Tis the Season for Company Retreats

This year at Campfire, we’re forgoing our annual company team-building offsite in favor of a bowling outing. BOWLING. That’s high-level BS, I say. We have a wonderful history of corporate retreats here at Campfire. How are we ever going to bond, to grow as a family and unite as a single-minded corporate entity if we don’t drill down into our problems and get on the same page for 2009. What better way to address lingering interpersonal issues than in a public forum in front of your peers? How do you think the founders created the Constitution? (I watched John Adams, so I’m pretty much an expert.)

In the spirit of continuity, I want to show you all a surprisingly funny video from the Worldwide Leader, ESPN, and it’s new episodic series, Mayne Street. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays from Campfire

Holiday cards has always been a good way of expressing your corniness and having fun at the same time. And getting that card from the Jones’ sitting in front of a fire with their dog chichi and color coordinated PJs never gets boring. This year at Campfire, we decided to bring out a little holiday corny with illustrations of everyone’s busts and some humor mixed in our holiday cards. So here’s to you chichi- keep those holiday cards coming and keep it (holiday) real.

Happy Holidays!

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Yet Another Award for Campfire!

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Campfire Receives 2008 New York Award

U.S. Local Business Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., December 9, 2008 — Campfire has been selected for the 2008 New York Award in the Campgrounds category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)
U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

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