Brand Storytelling

  1. What is brand storytelling?

  2. The importance of a brand mission

  3. Storytelling mission

  4. Where do I start?

  5. 10 use cases

  6. The Story Design playbook: a step-by-step guide to design your brand stories

Brand Storytelling

What is brand storytelling?

Brand storytelling is a process of crafting and delivering a set of brand narratives and begin to recognize it as an influential source that can be harnessed to diligently map out the end-to-end customer journey, both internally and externally.
Miri Rodriguez, storyteller at Microsoft

Brand Storytelling

Brand storytelling is the use of authentic, emotional stories in order to create a connection, which in turn will drive growth and customer loyalty.

 

Brand storytelling can take a lot of forms: video, social media post, PR campaign, logo, use of colors, tone of voice, ...

 

The key to a really good brand is storytelling.

Brand Storytelling

Brands are often focused on themselves and their own ambitions: raising brand awareness, changing consumer perceptions, increasing revenue, ...

 

It's important to find the right balance between an audience centric approach and the commercial objectives.

 

Storytelling relies on the emotional part of the brain, align commercial goals with the story.

Brand Storytelling

You want to have a main character that feels relatable to your customers:

  • Your customer is your hero of the story.
  • You and your brand are the guides.

 

If you want to tell a brand story, you will need to find out why your brand even exists by formulating a brand mission.

 

Research shows that stories can be up to 22 times more memorable than other types of information.
cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner

 

It is story that conjures emotion. And emotion induces action.

Why storytelling?

The brain produces the following transmitters or hormones:

  • Dopamine
  • Cortisol
  • Endorphins
  • Oxytocin

Brand Storytelling

The importance of a brand mission

Brand Mission

An ad, email a meeting, etc. are all part of a brand story in the customer’s mind and if not designed intentionally to be cohesive, there’s a great chance that you may lose the customer somewhere along their brand interaction trip.

Brand Mission

As a first step, take a look at your company’s brand mission statement and begin to decipher if and how it can be turned into the setting and environment of your once upon a time.

The mission of  ....................... is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services, and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative an profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.

The mission of  The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services, and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative an profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.

The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds and innovative technologies that make ours the world's premier entertainment company.

 “My business is making people happy, especially children”

Walt Disney

Exercise: Brand Mission

  • Find 5 extra brand missions of brands you can think off. You have 90% chance you'll find the mission directly on the brand's website.
  • Think about food brands, sports, fashion, education, technology, etc.
  • Do they share values? Are they different?
  • What can you conclude of all those missions?

To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete (if you have a body, you are an athlete)

Nike

 To refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions.

Coca-Cola

good food, good life

Nestlé

To spread the power of optimism

Life is Good

Spread Ideas

TedX

To inspire and nurture the human spirit. One person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.

Starbucks

Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Microsoft

Brand Mission

Re-evaluate a brand because of the ever-evolving mission statement today: Millenials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, etc.

 

Conclusion: Brand Storytelling starts with the brand mission which is the theme of the brand story.

 

Happiness, empowerment, inspiration, embarrassment, sadness, loss are feelings we can all relate to as humans. It will succeed in connecting and staying connected with its audiences.

Brand Storytelling

Storytelling Mission

1. Story Topics

Who and what is the story about?

Hint: this is where your brand mission statement goes.

 

Why does your brand exists?

The why gives your brand purpose beyond the product or service. List the topics in your brand mission statement and this will help you to map out storylines for the near future, when you’re ready to start designing the narrative.

2. Story Mission

The story mission is the goal you want to give your story. (Not to be confused with the brand mission)

 

What do you hope to accomplish by telling this story?

Aside from your brand mission, the brand story also has a purpose. Similar to a marketing plan, here you explain the ultimate purpose of your brand story. (e.g. gain market share, brand recognition, rebranding purposes).

 

Are you hoping to inspire your audience to visit your website and learn more about your products?

Are you looking to evangelize your product in a new market? 

 

 

Story Mission

My story is dedicated to (persona, demographic, psychographic)

_____________________________________________________________

 

so it can help them (mission, end goal)

_____________________________________________________________

 

and make them feel (universal truth)

_____________________________________________________________

Story Mission

My story is dedicated to (persona, demographic, psychographic)

the students of Arteveldehogeschool

 

so it can help them (mission, end goal)

to start a successful career

 

and make them feel (universal truth)

empowered in a high demanding world

3. Brand Positioning

What is your current brand?

List your current brand architecture (personality, archetype, tone, voice, slogan) to “stay on brand”

4. Key audience

Who is the story for?

You may have more than one audience.

 

In the story mission, you will likely list who the story is for. But this section is meant to get a little more specific about any and all audiences your brand has so that as you begin the narrative, you are mindful of these audiences.

 

4. Feelings

What feeling(s) are you hoping to evoke from your audience with this story?

Think briefly about how you want your audience to feel when they come in contact with your brand story.

 

5. Make it believable

What actionable steps has your company taken to activate your brand mission and story.

 

What assets do you already have in hand to support your story?

customer testimonials, user-generated content

7. Format and structure

The manner in which your story will be conveyed (with a video form?, with a blog series? …)

Brand Storytelling

Where do I start?

Structure vs Technique

Story techniques are the methods that can be used to design a story, including details of how the story should look and how it should go to market.

 

Story structure is the foundation of the story, cemented in the elements like character, plot, conclusion, emotion, universal truth. It’s the basic arc.

Storytelling with design principles

Text

Storytelling with design principles

  • Empathize - What emotions are you seeking to evoke?
  • Define - Who are your story characters and what happens to them?
  • Ideate - How many story design concepts can we get?
  • Prototype - Which story concept’s will work best for your audience
  • Test - What emotions did the story evoke?

A truth we all connect with, regardless of background, age, gender, religious or political affiliation. A universal truth is an inclusive feeling that makes the story individually relatable to every person in the audience.

1. Monomyth

  • The hero’s journey

  • Found in many folk tales, myths and religious writings from around the world.

  • In a monomyth, the hero is called to leave their home and sets out on a difficult journey.

  • Move from somewhere they know into a threatening unknown place.

  • After overcoming a great trial, they return home with a reward or newfound wisdom – something which will help their community

2. The Mountain

  • Similar to the monomyth

  • It’s different because it doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending.

  • The first part of the story is given to setting the scene, and is followed by just a series of small challenges and rising action before a climactic conclusion..

  • It’s a bit like a TV series – each episode has its ups and downs, all building up to a big finale at the end of the season.

3. Nested Loops

  • You layer three or more narratives within each other.

  • It’s different because it doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending.

  • You place your most important story – the core of your message – in the centre, and use the stories around it to elaborate or explain that central principle.

  • The first story you begin is the last story you finish, the second story you start is second to last, etc

  • Movie Inception

4. Sparklines

  • Sparklines are a way of mapping presentation structures.

  • Graphic designer Nancy Duarte uses sparklines to analyse famous speeches graphically in her book Resonate.

  • The very best speeches succeed because they contrast our ordinary world with an ideal, improved world. They compare what is with what could be.

5. In media res

  • In medias res storytelling is when you begin your narrative in the heat of the action, before starting over at the beginning to explain how you got there.

  • Try hinting at something bizarre or unexpected – something that needs more explanation.

  • Give your audience just enough information to keep them hooked, as you go back and set the scene of your story.

6. Converging Ideas

  • Converging ideas is a speech structure that shows the audience how different strands of thinking came together to form one product or idea.

  • It can be used to show the birth of a movement. Or explain how a single idea was the culmination of several great minds working towards one goal.

  • Similar to the nested loops structure, but rather than framing one story with complementary stories, it can show how several equally important stories came to a single strong conclusion.

7. False Start

  • A ‘false start’ story is when you begin to tell a seemingly predictable story, before unexpectedly disrupting it and beginning it over again. You lure your audience into a false sense of security, and then shock them by turning the tables.

  • This format is great for talking about a time that you failed in something and were forced to ‘go back to the start’ and reassess.

  • Movie NYAD

8. Petal structure

  • The petal structure is a way of organising multiple speakers or stories around one central concept.

  • It’s useful if you have several unconnected stories you want to tell or things you want to reveal – that all relate back to a single message

  • By showing your audience how all these key stories are related to one another, you leave them feeling the true importance and weight of your message.

  • Example

Step 3: Ideate

  • Establish and keep the goal for each session
  • Establish the rules of the game
  • Be diverse and inclusive
  • Inspire the team
  • Choose your creative tool

Remember that every story should tie back to the brand mission

Brand Storytelling

10 Use Cases

Chipotle | Back to the start

Yara | The Delorme's Farm

Patagonia | The neighborhood jacket

Proctor & Gamble | Widen the screen

Volvo | A Million More

Apple | The Underdogs

Airbnb | The Story of a Symbol of Belonging

Airbnb | Host Stories

Inclusion Makes the World More Vibrant

TV 2 | All that we share (connected)

Brand Storytelling

Creating your personal brand

1.1 Story Mapping (1/2)

Put together your origin story in milestones. Create a map of your life, start with your birth until you are in the present. This will help you to create you story. Take a piece of paper, start drawing somewhere.

1986
Birth

2003
Graduation

2004

Band

2021
Theatre

1.1 Story Mapping (2/2)

Ask your neighbor or a colleague how you show up to them. This can be difficult, try to be honest. It will help to define the personal brand.

If someone is rather shy, or outgoing, arrogant, let them know. They can evaluate by themself is this is correct. We do this in a respectful way.

1.2 Purpose: Brand Mission

My brand exists to / I am  (How do your products/services help your customers?)

_____________________________________________________________

 

Because the world needs (Customer need that your brand solves for)

_____________________________________________________________

 

In order to (Long-term impact of your brand or its legacy on the world)

_____________________________________________________________

Remember: a brand mission statement is a short and action-oriented promise that communicates you brand purpose and objectives.

1.3 Brand feeling

Tip: use Plutchik's wheel of emotions

3. Feelings your brand evokes

2. Physical reactions

1. Emotions

Feeling 1

Feeling 2

Reaction 1

Reaction 2

Emotion 1

Emotion 2

1.3 Brand feeling (example)

  • Level 1: emotions, a sense of belonging and inspiration may give the emotions of Happiness. Emotion 1: Happy
  • Level 2: physcial reaction, if a person is happy, they are likely to smile and positively engage. Physical reaction 1: Smiling, physical reaction 2: engaging
  • Level 3: Feelings my brand evokes are comfortable, joyful, inspired, motivated,...

 

Goal: to have a visual representation of your brand feeling

2.1.1 Cognitive Empathize

Music my audience listens to

What my audience wears

How my audience smells

My audience's favorite thing

Colors my audience like

Foods my audience eats

Books my audience reads

Conditions or illnesses my audience suffers from

2.1.1 Cognitive Empathize

Instructions: Use the mood board template to collect images that visually represent the humanity and human conditions of your audience. Feel free to add more categories if your're inspired to do so! The more you can envision your audience as a human being, the more empathetic you will become toward them in your brain.

 

Goal: You will be able to visually communicate the humanity of your audience

2.1.2 Emotional Empathy

Instructions: Write a letter to someone who you love and who loves you (your brand) but lives far away and hasn't heard from you in a while. In this letter, explain what you've been up to, how your brand has evolved since they last saw you and any new events and milestones that have contributed to this evolution.

 

Time: 10 minutes

 

Goal: you will have a practical understanding of how emotional empathy for branding works.

2.1.3 Compassionate empathy

In a very introspective manner and without any self-judgement, fill in the blanks to check in whith yourself and your current mood. Do this periodically and as often as possible for better results.

Goal: Acquire a new mode of behaviour to better empathize with your audience

2.1.3 Compassionate empathy

Today I'm feeling __________________________________________________

If I could describe my mood in one word today it would be ____________

Something that is depleting my energy today is _______________________

Today I'm grateful for ______________________________________________

Today I wish I was _________________________________________________

Something that makes me happy today is _____________________________

Something that I would like to change about me today is _______________

2.2 Define

Use this definition matrix to answer each question per unit listed. Notice the question “why” is asked more than once. That’s on purpose! It’s prompting you to think one step deeper into the motivation behind you story design. Provide as much details as possible per question.

 

Goal: you will have drafted the basic story arc for your brand story.

2.3 Ideate

Now you will generate ideas by brainstorming. In the upcoming lessons we will learn how to do this with the dragon dreaming method.

2.4 Prototyping & Testing

This depends on the ideas you have generated. After prototyping you will test your work on a test-audience and see how they react.

 

During the course we are going to use the Das Arts method to evaluate the work.

Brand Storytelling

Bonus: extra use cases

TV 2 | All that we share

Apple | Mother Nature

Heineken | Worlds Apart

Made with Slides.com