Tell Me A Story...the Power of Brand Storytelling

We’ve all got that friend who has mastered the art of storytelling, whether that is a one-to-one conversation on the train or recounting an enthralling tale during a dinner party. They possess the ability to grip an audience from start to finish, before masterfully delivering the final punch line or conclusion, bringing with it the entertainment value. The craft of storytelling and the construct of the ‘story’ are powerful forces and they are becoming increasingly relevant for brands.

So why are stories so craved? 

Stories more than anything help us to make sense of the world around us; who we are and why we do things. They are natural, logical and easy to understand because ultimately we all get a story. When a storyteller begins a tale, they invite us on a personal journey. Everybody will have their unique interpretation of this same story depending on their own individual experiences. A powerful narrative can be inspiring, relatable, and help us escape the clutches of reality. Moreover stories have a protagonist which we care about; this emotional connection is innately human. Due to these naturally compelling and engaging factors, stories are very good at capturing our attention; lasting long in the memory and requiring less thinking to process in comparison to information and facts.

Brand stories

Brand managers need to seek to cultivate and communicate a distinct and compelling brand story that truly resonates with the target audience. Stories can act as vehicles for delivering brand messages which are personal and relevant to the consumer in a way that menial information can't. Great brand stories play to a deep desire or to resolve a deep tension, weaving into our greater lives and forging a deeper attachment and effectively producing meaningful and memorable brands.

Finding the ‘morale’ centre 

Discovering the right story for the brand will enable a number of things. Firstly the morale of the story should help determine what the brand stands for and why it does things, bringing to life a personality. Next if the consumer emotionally buys into the narrative they are more likely to remember the details, thus capturing and keeping the attention and loyalty of the audience. In terms of strategy, a strong brand story can ensure long-term brand benefits. One story which defines communications allows uniformity across channels, campaigns and provides a consistent experience whenever and wherever the consumer comes into contact with the brand, for many years to come. This central idea can then act as the foundations for subsequent ‘brand chapters’ to be developed and layered. Jack Daniels is a great example of this. The brand has successfully harnessed a powerful story surrounding heritage and authenticity which becomes a platform for everything the organisation stands for. Over the years it has built upon this, telling new stories whether that is regarding the legendary figure of Jack Daniel, the Lynchburg Tennessee provenance, or the authentic process behind the product. 

Jack Daniels is great at communicating stories

Many brands fail to support consistency which can be built upon over the years, opting for something new and different. That doesn’t mean to say that you shouldn’t rework and re-spin stories over time, in fact this is encouraged to stop them from falling into cliché. Look at Innocent; their original story of doing something for someone else, conceived from the brand’s humble beginnings, has now developed into the more sophisticated ‘the Innocent chain of good’.  

The greatest story never told   To develop the brand story you need to keep asking the right questions, prioritising the ‘why’ over the ‘what’. You can’t just throw stories out there and expect them to stick. The problem with this is they need to be distinctive and authentic with compelling content which hooks you in. There are hundreds of stories behind every brand. The art is finding the right one, one that is more than a cute story, but makes a point about a value or principle you rate highly in the organisation. You need to ask: ‘Why’ are we telling this story? Will anyone care? Will the brand connect with the consumer’s life at a deeper level of emotion? Without these considerations many brand stories fall upon deaf ears. Uses for brand storytelling  Sometimes the best stories lie in breaking from the ordinary to break free. Emancipating from the mundane, such as the category the brand sits in, and daring to go against preconceptions. Take Persil and their ‘dirt is good’ story. This transcended the washing product world immersed in cleanliness, pristine whites and functional enzymes. Instead they said to their customers you know what dirt is good; go let your kids be creative and explore. This helped them to secure a deeper emotional connection with their consumers.

Persil 'Dirt is Good'

Another way of using stories for benefit of the brand is to present the brand as the character and its role as a story. This is strongly linked with brands as archetypes which help bring out these characteristics in a creative manner. For example, LEGO has positioned itself as the ‘creator’, inspiring their customers to dream bigger, and invent.

LEGO is the 'creator'

Archetypes help to create personalities for stories

 

These stories don’t have to be massive multimillion pound ad campaigns. They can be small, factual ‘did you know’ snippets, which can be used to build emotional engagement. For instance Johnnie Walker provides a simple story behind their iconic square bottles, stating that Alexander Walker, a founder of the brand, in 1870 decided that square bottles would mean more products fitting the same space and fewer broken bottles. Thus simple can be just as effective.   In modern times stories are becoming even more relevant. Although modern constructs may have changed the way we communicate, the essential human nature remains, the same intuitions and responses. We are now our own storytellers on social media and we desperate to follow others' ‘stories’ as well. Technology brands, such as Google, have been particularly good at tapping into this need to follow others' journeys, and they portray stories based on real human customers. This is a powerful way to bring to life target segments. The Google Chrome campaign ‘the web is what you make it’ did this admirably. It managed to create very inspiring and emotional stories out of a very functional product purpose. The campaign helped to show the idea that the people are the inspiring heroes and Google is making a difference to their lives. For instance, one ad shows the rise from obscurity to prominence of the founder of the Cambridge Satchel Company, with Google being with her every step of the way throughout story.

So all in all we can see how if used correctly and effectively compelling stories can really help brands to live happily ever after... The End    by Harry Sparkes References

• Marketing Magazine (March, 2014) http://bit.ly/OE2UIQ
• Marketing Magazine (March, 2014) http://bit.ly/1gLFMyX
• Marketing Magazine (March, 2014) http://bit.ly/R3bTp0