They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano
I never played the piano.
It’s not my story.
I never played the piano.
And I don’t plan to play it in the future either.
But this is an ad from 1925.
Okay, I will wrap it up quickly.
A man sat down at the piano.
Others laughed.
Then, he started to play the first few lines of “Moonlight Sonata.”
The laughter turned to amazement.
The moral of the story: Learning the piano is not just about gaining a new skill.
It’s all about gaining social recognition.
But this is the most interesting part.
John Caples, the copywriter of this ad, understands human pain.
Learning the piano is tough.
You can’t sell that.
But you can sell the idea of social success.
So, instead of highlighting the difficulties of learning the piano, he sold the benefits of learning it, not the features like piano techniques.
This ad teaches me important lessons about storytelling:
- Understand the topic.
- Understand the readers.
- Pick the right angle.
And your writing will be as powerful as this ad.
and this is my 17/30th day of learning in public.
If you want to know why learning in public helps you learn faster, read this.
This is my 16/30th day of learning in public.
