The power of stories

August 7, 2013 — added, Debbie Millman, globe, joshua glenn, junk, paperweight, power, rob walker, stories, trinkets, value

Are stories just stories or can they create value?

In 2009 Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn wanted to find out, so they set about  a curious experiment: They would purchase cheap trinkets, ask some of today’s most exciting creative writers to invent stories about them, then post the stories and the objects on eBay to see whether the invented story enhanced the value of the object.

It did: The junk, originally purchased for a total of $128.74, sold for a whopping total of $3,612.51 — a 2,700% markup. The most highly valued pairing in the entire project, bought for $1.49 and sold for $197.50, was a globe paperweight with a moving handwritten story by  Debbie Millman.

Stories have power, use it wisely.

Have a curious day.