Storytelling.
What was once the realm of lit majors and writers has filtered into the vernacular of big business and marketing.
Some big brands that we know have been creating stories for a long time, whether they meant to or not. Nike purposefully and sometimes inadvertently told us the story of “Just Do It.” And then they found the right endorsers, actors and other themes to fill in the gaps.
Does your brand have to tell a story on that scale? Or is it simpler than that?
Marketer and entrepreneur Billee Howard offers some great insights into how brands can use their stories and storytelling to further their brand and market share. Oftentimes, the stories are already part of the culture and DNA, it’s just a point of uncovering them, polishing them up and presenting them in a thoughtful and meaningful way.
Billee is founder and CEO of BRANDthropologie Media, a cutting edge consultancy specializing in harnessing creativity to solve business problems. The firm identifies the most powerful collision point of culture and commerce for each client to create captivating story-driven experiences that drive emotional and authentic engagement. She is also the author of WE-Commerce, a book about how brands can work together with their customers to take advantage of new markets.
Billee has a strategic vision for how brands can differentiate themselves from their competition through the lens of purpose and by harnessing storytelling as a business competency.
She took some time to answer a few questions about storytelling and brands.
1. What do most marketers misunderstand about brand storytelling?
The biggest misunderstanding is that storytelling should come at the end of the supply chain as a vehicle of awareness generation, when in reality it now belongs as a catalyst of innovation that sits at the inception of the process of invention. Marketers are also missing the big opportunity to use augmented intelligence and data not only on the science side of the house, but to infuse the creative process. As Kurt Vonnegut once said, “stories are no different than shapes” and should therefore be able to be fed into machines to identify narrative arcs and storylines that resonate most.
In my view, the future of storytelling will be a marriage of man plus machine, fueled by a greater sense of emotional intelligence.
2. In school, we’ve all heard about plot, conflict and climax, etc–but how is brand storytelling different (if at all?)
Storytelling today cannot be formulaic. It needs to focus more on emotional engagement than rational engagement. Rational engagement is focused on the what, where emotional engagement is focused on the why and who. This is a major paradigm shift playing out in the marketplace that brands must be aware of when it comes to storytelling and marketing overall. That is why brand purpose is so important today as it creates aspirational stories that give people a reason to believe and engage.
3. Is storytelling independent of the channel, or does the channel impact which stories you can tell?
Brands must develop an overall brand purpose and supporting narrative architecture that guides all storytelling and the creation of authentic content experiences. Content strategy comes first and must be elegantly and effectively fused with commerce strategy. Customization by channel of the narrative architecture happens at the end of the process, but the customized approach enables you to stay true to message while optimizing the experience by channel.
4. What brands or companies do you feel like are doing storytelling correctly and effectively? Or do any specific campaigns come to mind?
Casper is the gold standard in my view of fusing content and commerce. Storytelling is a critical component of their business strategy as they are as much a content player focused on redefining the conversation on sleep as they are a mattress retailer. The RedBull Media House is yet another. The brand has used storytelling exclusively to weave RedBull into the fabric of culture, and have not spent much, if anything at all, on traditional advertising, yet are one of the most recognized and beloved brands in the world, as they aren’t just a drink, they are a brand with a purpose and aspiration, “they give you wings.”
5. What are the biggest hurdles for brands to include better storytelling within their campaigns or marketing?
Brands need to understand that storytelling cannot be self serving, and content cannot be created for content’s sake. Many big brands miss the boat in these two areas and do not fuse a grander sense of brand purpose or brand voice into their content. This is why smaller brands, in many cases, are faring better as size no longer matters, while authentic storytelling and experiences do. The key to success is finding the sweet spot where culture and commerce collide to shape your brand purpose, voice and overall approach to storytelling.
6. Lastly–I’ve heard you talk about how organizations need to re-align around collaboration. What’s the key to embracing inclusion and creating a truly open, collaborative environment?
In my book WE-Commerce, I speak of a transformative shift from the me to the we that has evolved post the 2008 meltdown. That cataclysmic event made people trust in peer to peer collaboration more so than big business or big government, or an iron fist that rules in an ivory tower from the top. The power has shifted dramatically from the few to the many and for organizations to not only succeed but lead, they must transform inclusion and collaboration from mere activities to fundamental drivers of business strategy, innovation and growth.
Takeaways
- Storytelling can’t be self-serving
- Storytelling can help brands show their purpose and aspiration
- Customization by channel happens at the end of the process
- Storytelling can be inclusive and collaborative to drive business growth
How are you incorporating storytelling within your larger brand context?
What can you do differently to craft your marketing around storytelling principles?
