The Role of Storytelling in Brand Management

The concept that a good story can create customer loyalty toward a brand is widely accepted. A story distinguishes the brand from the competition, attracts customer attention and provides an emotional resonance that also plays a key role in employee identification. In an ideal scenario, all of these aspects are connected in a narrative framework that finds its way into the public‘s heart. So, what are the success factors involved? How does storytelling evolve?

At one time or another, most of us have been subjected to PowerPoint presentations in which slide after slide of well-reasoned arguments follow the other. At the end, you are left with a vague recollection of the overall topic. The presentation I recall best was given by a successful entrepreneur who put his slides to one side and started telling us about his career in a series of anecdotes. He told us about personal defeats in his youth, the objections his family had made, his years spent searching for the right approach, all the way through to his present success. The story of his personal evolution drew us in because it sounded so authentic and genuine. I could feel myself becoming very uncritical, because I believed him. His story sounded so convincing, I started identifying with it. The example shows that successful storytelling can make a tremendous impact. In a nutshell, it‘s a question of emphasizing personal experiences over logical, sensible explanations. With people playing the central roles.

In ancient legends as in box office movies today, good stories are about people – often heroic people – who encounter problems or have to overcome obstacles (see also Klaus Fog et al. Storytelling. Branding in Practice). There is no loss of overview of the number of main characters, the conflict is solveable. The storyline basically follows the pattern of introduction, a conflict in the middle and a solution at the end. Too many storylines obscure a clear statement, the story‘s central message should be easy to grasp, so it can forge a path into our memory. These simple steps may appear basic, but they are the reason why some stories fascinate us more than others. Many companies use their core story to promote their success. Think of Apple as the outsider challenging Microsoft‘s IT uniformity, IKEA as the forerunner of affordable design for the masses, or LEGO‘s mission to develop toys for children to play with creatively. Often the company founders like Steve Jobs of Apple or Ingvar Kamprad of IKEA play the central role, they are the heroes of the story. Not all companies may be blessed with myths and stories about the battles their founders fought, but, all the same, there‘s a story to be found in every single one. Stories made by and for different target groups and about different topics. From a brand viewpoint it is important to reveal the core story.

A brand‘s core story should answer the questions: Who are we and why should people choose us? The core story connects all the brand‘s dimensions, from communications, management and corporate culture up to the products and services. They give a brand its intrinsic „raison d‘être“ and provide the reason why it‘s a good thing that this brand exists. At BMW this is „Freude am Fahren“ (Sheer Driving Pleasure), at Starbucks, it‘s a promise of the best coffee in surroundings that feel like home. The core story, also known as the brand story, provides the narrative framework for the corporate brand. Further stories are added to the core story, enhancing it, giving it a different twist and spinning it further. Extensive interviews with employees and customers are useful aids for exploring narrative elements and constructing the brand story. A number of questions that have proven useful in uncovering the material from which to spin the story are: - What is the story related to founding the company? - What would be missing if this company didn‘t exist? - What stories do employees and customers tell about the company? - What are the most important success stories of the company? - Which crises has the company overcome? - What are company-specific customs or traditions? - What typically takes place on these occasions? - What kind of an attitude or philosophy is transported on these occasions? - Where does the story play out? - How should the story continue? - What will people say about the company with hindsight? Pivotal are the daily recurring stories in and about the company and the way the company is viewed both from the internal and external perspective. For the brand story to have relevance it should not simply relate to the past, it should also point to the future and be linked with the strategic plans of the company management today.

Successful brand stories also set out the brand‘s relevance to the customer and its practical value to the target group. The story transports a service and value proposition that can be both sensed and felt. The customer needs to be genuinely touched by the story for it to make an impact. In order to achieve this effect, certain central elements need to be considered when defining the brand story: Can we present the story in a credible and authentic manner? Does the story provide the employees with a positive message? Is that message clear to the employees and will they be able to convey it meaningfully?

Summed up, the following elements should be identified. Elements that contribute jointly or singularly to the brand story and can be translated into suitable images. - People: Names and personalities that have played a role in developing the brand story – from the founder, important employees, teams, right up to the CEO. Target groups should equally be included. - Positioning: The brand‘s claim about its role in the world. A commitment to its vision and objectives for the present and the future. A claim of differentiation toward the competition. - Location: Places that characterize the brand. These help define where the brand is localized and create local associations and clear images (e.g. MINI in big cities, Beck’s beer on the world oceans). - Tradition: The origin of the brand and important events, as well as unusual successes or founding stories connected with it, help establish a time context. Always include a link to the present and the future. - Actions: With the help of moving actions and events a brand story becomes lively and effective. This creates a context for the target group to link up with. - Promise: Drawing on the company, its products and services, the brand story touches on the functional and emotional customer added value and benefits. - Values: Brand values are conveyed in the brand story narrative. Instead of merely listing a few adjectives, they should be apparent from the context of the story and from the images. Thus the brand story becomes a narrated summary of the brand personality. This raises the question of how to integrate the brand story into brand management and the consequences.

1. The brand as a steering instrument: A brand story does follow clear targets in the strategic sense. It should be developed as an integral element of the brand personality, coordinated in accordance with the brand values. 2. Integrating the agenda settings: The strategic topic or agenda setting, usually managed by the PR department, is aligned with the brand story and used to promote it. 3. Identity and market-oriented approach: It is essential to listen closely to what is being said both inside and outside the company. Perspectives and stories can differ widely depending on who is telling them. Therefore, alignment of the internal and external views is essential. 4. Narrative Interviews: A means for collecting stories is to conduct a series of narrative interviews. These provide opportunities for uncovering personal narrating styles and help identify common patterns. 5. More content: The story distinguishes the brand from the competition. Increasingly, brand management is more and more becoming a matter of managing topics and content. This should always be aligned with visual imagery. 6. Focus on moving images: Film media are exceptionally suitable for meeting narrative and emotional requirements. Motion Design as a discipline is fast becoming an integral part of brand communication. 7. Flexible brand systems: Successful stories offer the opportunity for discreet adaptations. This also applies to brands: If the story‘s strong enough, it will permit a flexible system all round and doesn‘t require too many strict guidelines. 8. Leadership stories: Storytelling does not make a halt at management’s door. Quite the opposite:leadership plays a central role in disseminating the core story. Management’s stories throughout the organization are fundamental to this aspect. Conclusion: A brand is only as good as the story that can be told about it. One could almost say: branding follows story. It is therefore vital that the corporate strategy is linked to a story. Because here too: A strategy is only as good as the story that can be told through it.

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