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1 Brand Storytelling Find the universal truth … and find those who want to hear it. Kim Donlan [email protected] m
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Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

Oct 17, 2014

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Consumer decisions and behaviors are increasingly driven by the opinions, tastes and preferences of an exponentially large global pool of friends, peers and influencers. Social activities have become the place where consumers tell their stories. 70% of consumers hear of other's experience of brands and 65% learn about products and services. Brand storytelling is not about telling your brand story -- it is about making the consumer the hero. Today’s consumer has the ability to share their hero journey and it is our job as marketers to be the herald of their story.
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Page 1: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Brand StorytellingFind the universal truth …

and find those who want to hear it.

Kim [email protected]

Page 2: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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What’s my story.

‣ Brand/Digital strategist• Consumer: Beyonce to Nickelodeon

to Gillette• Publishing: Scholastic to Pearson to

Macmillian• Education: Harvard Business School

and Harvard’s Office of the Arts• Technology: Demandware to Where

(PayPal)

‣ Media psychologist‣ A girl who tells a great

story

A die-hard brander, idea launcher, entrepreneur, marketer

Page 3: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Is the brain wired for story?Understanding how we think.

Why storytelling?Heroes, myths and legends. 1

2Successful stories formulas?Find the universal truth and let people talk about it. 3

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Seth Godwin, All Marketers are Liars

“Consumers believe stories. Without this belief, there is no marketing.”

Page 5: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Storytelling Defined‣ Narrative and

storytelling are interchangeable

‣ Narratives are the stories we tell ourselves and others about everything we do

‣ Stories seem authentic. Authenticity is perception not attributes

Story is a reimagined experience narrated with enough detail and feeling to cause your listeners imaginations to experience it as real.

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Consumers Ignore Confusing Stories Make snap decisions…they know when you are faking it.

Malcolm Gladwells, Blink.

‣ Humans make decisions without data and will do anything to not be proven wrong

• Applies to interviews, dates, friends, products, services, brands

‣ Confusing stories are ignored (cause panic)

‣ Compelling stories are embraced• Even if it is fear. (Fear is irresistible)

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Every Story has a Hero

‣ Based on ageless myth patterns and common archetypes

‣ Universal stories in every culture called the Hero’s Journey

‣ Archetypes – constantly repeating characters that occur in myths of all cultures

• Young hero

• Wise old woman/man

• Shape shifter

• Shadowy antagonist

Heroes, Myths and Legends

Joseph Campbell’s: The Hero with a Thousand Faces: A Hero’s JourneyCarl G. Jung: Archetypes: The collective conscious

Page 8: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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A Hero’s Journeylooks like this…but

transferred to a brand

Crossing the first

Threshold

Challenges

Revelation

Transformed

Ordeal

Return

With Exlier

Refusal

of theCall

Call to

Action

CentralOrdeal

Temptations

Reward

Begin Transformati

on

Resurrection

The Road Back

Test Transformati

on

Page 9: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Crossing the first

Threshold

Exists

Revelation

Transformed

Forgive

Loyal to the

Story

Refusal

of theCall

Call to

Action

Known for something I care aboutKnown

for Somethin

g

Defend

Begin Transformati

on

The Road Back

Test Transformati

on

Represents me

Adapted from Google ‘s Presentation at Hubspot Conference 2012

is a new way to look at marketing where the consumer is the hero

Page 10: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Is the brain wired for story?Understanding how we think.

Why storytelling?Heroes, myths and legends. 1

2Successful stories formulas?Find the universal truth and let people talk about it. 3

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Jonah Lehrer, How We Decide.

“The reason emotions are so intelligent is they turn mistakes into educational events.”

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Emotional Thinking Drives Decisions

‣ The sting of spending money can’t compete with the thrill of getting something new

‣ Whichever emotion you feel most intensely tends to dictate your shopping decision.

Research based on Consider this Clever, Brain Knutson and George Loewenstein, Neural Predictors.How we Decide, Jonah Lehrer

Page 13: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Humans Think in Story

‣ Human beings are social animals

‣ Seek connection and intimacy from exchange of information and shared experience

‣ Behavior is based on the believed story

‣ Humans organize and covey experiences to themselves and one another through story

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Story is Constant

5 hours per day on TV and movies (does not include downloading)

2000 day dreams per day = 2 hours

14 seconds is average length of a day dream

National endowment for the Arts 2008 Bureau of Labor Statistics 2009Shaffer et all, 2006 pg 623 Motion Picture Associations of America 2006Solms 2003 Dream Researcher Owen Flanagan 2000 pg 10.

8 hours scientist believe we are in story-like dream state

50% of Americans still read fiction but only 20 minutes a day

Awake and Asleep

Page 15: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Brand Story Become Part of Your Story‣ How we saw it

‣ Used It

‣ What it was like

‣ Who told us

‣ What we heard about it

‣ Who we were with

‣ Where we are now because of it

The brand becomes part of our life through the experience of:

Rutledge, Pamela, Narrative and Media 2012

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Stories have become social activities?Consumer decisions and behaviors are increasingly driven by the opinions, tastes and preferences of an exponentially large global pool of friends, peers and influencers.

70% Hear other’s experience

65% Learn more about brands/products/services

53% Compliment brands

50% Express concerns and complaints

2012 Nielson Social Media Report

2012 Oxford handbook of media psychology

Page 17: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Is the brain wired for story?Understanding how we think.

Why storytelling?Heroes, myths and legends. 1

2Successful stories formulas?Find the universal truth and let people talk about it. 3

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“Stories change in the telling and in the telling, they change you.”

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The Secret Formula‣ Reveal something personal and unknown

about the person or brand

‣ Tap into a specific emotion to move people to action

• fear, desire, anger, or happiness

‣ Take a person on a journey where there is a transformation between the beginning, middle, and the end

‣ Be simple: tap into the audience’s imagination so that they willingly go along for the journey

Your Story Must:

Page 20: Brand Storytelling: A Look at the Hero and Brand Journey

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Tell simple stories in many ways?Experience is becoming increasingly personalized, participatory and social with sharing of information and stories.

92% Actively multi-source news/info

20% of media consumption on mobile devices (e.g. iPod)

21% Spending more time on pc and smartphone

2012 Oxford handbook of media psychology

76% Spend more time on mobile apps than mobile web

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People Seek Good Stories From marketers who honestly believe their own stories

‣ Legos• “We do not sell toys, we sell imagination”

‣ Apple • “We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the

status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly.

‣ Britain’s Got Talent• “We sell dreams”

People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And if you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe.*

Simon Senek, Ted Talk: Start with Why.

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The Story is What People BuyLarge Audiences Require Simple Stories*

‣ It is your brand truth

‣ It is not features, products, promise or attributes

‣ It is the story they tell you that they want reflected back

Howard Gardner, Changing Minds: The art and science of changing your and other people’s minds.

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Competing with Competitor’s Story‣ Don’t tell the same story, tell a different

story

‣ Dig deep to find the classic, universal myth

‣ Tell the story to/for the people who want to hear it

‣ Frame it as a hero’s journey – where the consumer is the hero – not you or your brand.

You can’t change minds, but you can change the story

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Jewish Proverb.

“What is truer than truth. The story.”

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We are beasts of emotion more than logic. We are creatures of story, and the process of changing one mind or the whole world must begin with “Once upon a time.”

Gottschall, J. , 2012 The Storytelling Animal: How Stories make us Human

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Kim [email protected]

“Today’s consumer has the ability to share their hero journey and it is our job as marketers to be the herald of their story.”