I have to tell you, I love stories! ????
Until recently, I thought it was also a matter of taste. Where we would have some who like the stories and others who don’t.
I was surprised to find that everyone around me loved them too. Then I came across this quote from Jonathan Gottschall:
“We are, as a species, addicted to stories. Even when the body falls asleep, the mind stays awake all night, telling itself stories.”
So, you love them too! ???? Obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.
But as you might expect, we’re not going to talk about just any story. These are those that can allow you to optimize your marketing strategy.
If you still have doubts, know that they are very effective as Melinda Partin indicates:
“At its core, marketing is a story. The best advertising campaigns take us on an emotional journey – appealing to our wants, needs and desires – while telling us about a product or service.“
Indeed, a study suggests that by telling their brand story well, companies have the power to increase the value of a product or service. more than 20 times. ????
This figure is consistent enough to justify the power of brand story in web marketing.
This is why I created this video gallery which focuses on various stories culminating in superb lessons. The goal is to give you enough ideas so that you can come up with stories that fit with your business or marketing campaigns.
It will then be enough to adapt them to your needs to take your audience on a powerful emotional journey that will enable you to achieve your objectives.
Make your choices according to your tastes ????
Please note that in addition to these videos, there is this article whose objective is to help you understand storytelling a little more and use it properly.
Chapter 1: What does Storytelling mean?
In this chapter, we will cover in detail everything that can help you understand the basics of Storytelling.
1.1. What is Storytelling?
In simple terms, Storytelling, also called “narration” or “narrative” is the art of telling a story.
In marketing, however, it refers to a strategy that allows webmasters to communicate certain information using the context of a story with the aim of acting on the sentiment of readers so that they move on to making an important decision.
Source : slideserve
Storytelling essentially uses the digital medium to the best of its abilities by enhancing everything traditional storytelling has taught us.
Instead of simply telling an oral or written story, storytelling marketing typically uses:
- Images ;
- Of text ;
- From recorded audio,
- From the video;
- Animation;
- Music ;
- Etc.
The use of storytelling in marketing illustrates how powerful a brand can be without the old-fashioned advertising technique. The latter involved putting a product in front of potential customers and hoping they respond positively. ????
Most of the time, we don’t buy a product because we want or need it, but we buy the style or aesthetic that the product brings out, or even its story.
Stories cause the brain to release hormones and endorphins and make you feel a certain way.
Source : Amymyersmd
The hook is probably the most important part of storytelling due to the amount of content created by brand marketing because grabbing someone’s attention these days has become a difficult feat.
The hook is the reason a piece resonates with an audience. If you create something that doesn’t resonate, people won’t feel anything towards your brand. ????
Feeling something is why storytelling in marketing is a crucial part of using the digital medium to get your story heard.
1.2. The powerful mechanics of Storytelling
Brands often use the power of narrative marketing to:
- Make their positioning strategy unique;
- Increase user engagement, primarily on social networks;
- Improve brand distribution.
In essence, it’s about applying the power of storytelling to modern marketing techniques by leveraging content.
In reality, the strength of narration lies in its nature to easily capture the reader’s attention and time. ????
Although attention spans on the web are becoming increasingly short, Storytelling combined with good strategies is capable of immediately capturing attention.
In addition to exploiting the advantages of more serene communication:
- Stories focus on details;
- Stories act on emotions;
- Stories also easily go viral.
The idea behind Narrative Marketing is to present or remind users of the company’s main values.
These, in turn, develop a positive feeling towards the brand and are more inclined to make themselves available to future communications from the company.
The main keys that regulate marketing communication techniques do not only pass through the heart of the target, but are part of an even broader marketing strategy.
The stories you tell must always be relevant and consistent with your company’s values and remain in line with your objectives. ????
It is therefore obvious that storytelling techniques must rely on quality content, capable on the one hand of conveying the values of our brand, on the other hand of creating engagement through emotions.
To do this, here are some channels that can serve as a successful narrative marketing strategy:
1.2.1. First there is the written text
With all its advantages and difficulties, in fact:
- The text takes time to read;
- It should not be too long;
- It must contain everything we want to say;
- It should be written with the intention of being attractive;
- It should be written in such a way that it is SEO oriented.
Source : Brandanew
This may seem like a lot of effort, but it remains a priority in implementing any marketing technique.
Indeed, text allows you to benefit from many unique advantages. First of all, it requires the user’s concentration, it is an invaluable asset since it creates trust between the brand and the consumer. Which can lead to his loyalty.
To do this, simply hire a writer who knows how to use persuasive writing and SEO writing techniques.
1.2.2. There is the video channel
When it comes to using video for narrative marketing, the content is generally shorter.
But video in narrative marketing often consists of the trio “text, images and music” to create engaging atmospheres and communicate values.
Storytelling integrates perfectly with the videos, to the point of also allowing the mechanism of seriality.
Generally, we find narrative videos in the form of advertisements which precede certain YouTube videos.
In most cases, these are the videos that keep the user attached to the screen without making them want to press the “Skip Ad” button.
1.2.3. There are also graphics
Finally, even graphics can contribute to narrative marketing strategies with animated GIFs, comics, slides, etc.
In this case, graphic creativity plays a fundamental role in attracting the consumer, while the texts have the task of telling your story.
This channel should not be underestimated at all, because it has the advantage of being little exploited, it therefore benefits from a more innovative flavor towards groups of users now accustomed to everything that the web can offer.
1.3. Storytelling and the psychological impact of stories on the human mind
Many studies conducted in the past have extensively explained the power of stories on the human mind.
In particular, many agree that we are not entirely able to clearly distinguish between something that actually happened to us and something we heard or saw depicted on a screen. ????
This is due to the particular predisposition of the human brain to follow the unfolding of history from beginning to end. Thus, a story instantly modifies the perception of the world, both internal and external.
Source : Culturaldetective
For example, when we follow a story whose author may lack solutions or ideas in these actions, our neurons suggest them to us and sometimes we unconsciously take action in an unremarkable way.
This example justifies the existence of a connective territory which, at an unconscious level, puts us in close contact with the stories we follow. ????
1.4. Other advantages of Storytelling
Here’s a quick overview of how storytelling benefits your business or brand:
1.4.1. It allows you to personalize a brand
Most of the time, storytelling makes brands much more enjoyable and easier to understand.
When you create simple articles or blogs describing the benefits of your services or products, you’re not really connecting with consumers in a way that ensures they like you.
Branding your descriptive pages builds trust, which streamlines and speeds up the conversion process.
Source : Business2community
After all, people are more likely to buy from brands they feel connected to than those they don’t.
1.4.2. Keep Your Content Interesting
One way to improve the value of marketing content is to add graphics and statistics. These additions serve as proof that your claims are legitimate.
Unfortunately, publishing too many graphs and statistics can be boring; these are not things that will keep readers interested.
Storytelling is a great way to captivate the audience and always leaves room for the insertion of real facts.
The marketing industry’s strongest storytellers craft personal, colorful narratives that include in-depth research.
As such, their readers get both good value and intriguing content.
1.4.3. It helps boost your Page Rank
While there are countless factors for algorithms to consider in the page ranking process, nothing trumps inherent popularity.
If people like a site well and visit it regularly for new content, then it will inevitably rank well.
Good storytelling can attract people to your pages and keep them there, which in turn lowers your bounce rate and shows search engines that people are really interested in your website.
Source : Searchenginejournal
Although illustrative images and statistics relating to the topic you are talking about may well satisfy the needs of your audience, conveying information in a way that provokes emotions will lead people to visit your page regularly.
Chapter 2: Major Trends in Storytelling
Today, consumers are becoming less and less sensitive to sales promises and advertising banners.
This is why a large number of web marketers strive to invest in brand storytelling to make a difference.
But most fail because they don’t provide clear leadership with a vision that is both innovative and intuitive.
With each need, customers behave differently, which means that online marketers must be aware of the market and adapt their business approach to the needs each time. ????
From video to virtual reality to social media and beyond, there are a multitude of mediums through which a brand can tell its story and many ways to do it.
Here are the big trends to remember when talking about brand storytelling:
2.1. Data-Driven Storytelling
According to a study, 1.7 megabytes data is created every second, for every person on earth.
This is particularly an opportunity for brands to leverage the colossal amounts of digital data available to create engaging and targeted stories.
Additionally, the average human processes images 60,000 times faster than text. Brands are therefore more likely to leverage data to create visual stories to attract more customers and provide detailed solutions.
A perfect example of powerful data-driven visual storytelling comes to us from Google Trends.
The brand aggregated all of its research data from an entire year to create a video as an additional layer to its story.
This served as a way for him to explain how to launch a more effective advertising campaign.
This allowed Google Trends to capture the attention of a large audience on a global scale and tell a highly engaging brand story. It was a great success.
Data is key to developing good content and ultimately telling a story that resonates.
2.2. Mini-ads
With traditional advertising struggling to gain traction these days, businesses need to consider new and inventive ways to connect with consumers and deliver their message as part of their digital strategy.
For this purpose, visual support in the form of a short ad give excellent results.
For example, video continues to be a powerful way to tell a brand’s story. To this end, companies actively using video benefit from 41 % more web traffic than non-users.
But since users’ attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, Facebook announced the launch of six-second ads to allow brands to tell a more condensed story.
Faced with this change in behavior, YouTube also initiated its “Six-Second Story Challenge”, which produced a multitude of incredibly inventive results. ????
Not only do these new ads have the power to bring a brand’s story to life, but this quick six-second format positively impacts an audience overwhelmed with content.
2.3. Customer-led storytelling
As the world becomes more connected, consumers have many channels to share their thoughts and opinions.
According to studies, 92% of people trust their peers more than traditional advertising.
One way brands can build trust through marketing storytelling is to ask actual users of the product to power the process.
When companies do this, they put customers in the spotlight. This approach is also called customer-led storytelling.
This user-generated storytelling will help increase engagement, build trust, and significantly expand your reach.
This can be done simply by your team by hosting a social media takeover day, with blogger outreach, or by inviting influential clients to write guest posts on your blog.
As an example, we can take inspiration from Airbnb’s customer-centric storytelling.
As a completely customer-facing company, rather than telling its story itself, the company harnesses the power of customer-led storytelling to give people a chance to spark stories.
The company launches the platform it calls “Stories from the Airbnb community”, where incredibly engaging stories are published regularly.
Source : Airbnb
When it comes to customer-focused storytelling, strong leadership is essential to not only give your team the confidence to reach your company’s audience, but provide them with access to a wealth of digital mediums for TO DO.
That said, it’s essential that as a leader, learning to understand your audience through social listening and staying abreast of ever-changing customer outreach tactics is a priority.
2.4. The philanthropic narrative
In today’s world, customers seek transparency and want to know more about companies:
- The way they carry out their activities;
- The way they treat their employees;
- Their philosophy;
- How they source materials and handle their products.
So when it comes to telling a brand story in the modern age, it pays to be clear, concise and honest.
According to Adobe and Goldsmiths, 75 % of marketers fail to understand changing consumer behavior, which has a significant impact on business performance.
However, by understanding what consumers are looking for, you will be able to craft your message accordingly. You will also be able to guide others on the path to brand storytelling.
Patagonia is a great example of ethical brand storytelling, the kind that resonates with a younger, more adventurous and increasingly environmentally conscious generation.
Addressing the mission statementCreate the best product, don’t cause unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis’’, the brand focuses on showcasing its efforts through its savvy marketing campaigns.
Through its Worn Wear initiative, it hires 45 full-time repair technicians to repair Patagonia clothing that needs a little TLC.
Alongside the workforce, its video campaign “The Stories We Wear” highlights the fact that people who wear the brand to show the benefits of the product as well as the attachment they have for these clothes.
Not only is this smart and effective approach to storytelling incredibly relevant, but it can also be used to help steer your digital marketing campaigns in the right direction.
As a leader, it’s essential to ensure your team is engaged in everything the company does, from new developments to potential charitable partnerships.
By researching key company events and staying informed yourself, you will be able to provide insights and details that can provide transparency during campaigns.
Some of these exciting new developments and ethical improvements may even become the centerpiece.
2.5. Storytelling via social media
As social platforms like Facebook and Instagram started to take the top ranks when it comes to communication, people are leveraging them to the fullest to spread brand stories.
These platforms are real channels for businesses and influencers to connect more with audiences and live-stream storytelling-driven content.
With social media, people can now get a more personalized insight into the world that was previously inaccessible. Any life event or achievement can now be seen live.
Live streams create a more personal connection with viewers because they feel like they’re playing a small part in an unfolding story.
Viewers can ask questions and make comments that they hope the streamer will respond to.
This gives them the chance to feel connected to the streamers in some way despite the great distance between them.
As a trending feature focused on creating a stronger connection between people, it’s no surprise to see brands increasingly using streaming as a cost-effective marketing tool to increase awareness.
Streaming is getting more attention at this point as 82 % of audiences prefer to engage with live videos from a brand rather than a simple social media post.
Storytelling in the form of live streaming is already gradually taking over the market by increasing advertising growth by 113% each year.
Promoting live on social media creates an interpersonal relationship with audiences who are typically accustomed to conventional forms of advertising.
Additionally, visual storytelling through live media helps cause great viewer engagement with your content because you’re giving people something worth following. ✨
Audiences will now have the chance to feel like they’ve created a more personal connection with your brand, just like they would with any famous streamer.
2.6. Digital and printed media
Here, the story is told by word of mouth and the written press. There are pros and cons to both print and digital media, as many of them are based on what the audience is looking for in their reading experience.
2.6.1. Printed media
Most standard print ads are intrusive, but one method to creatively capture the attention of your target audience with print ads is to use advertorials.
Advertorials are advertisements disguised as editorials, so that they blend in with the rest of the content in a print magazine.
When it comes to creative storytelling with print, the benefit is that there are fewer internal distractions.
Source : Slideshare
Unlike digital, which has external links, millions of pieces of content, and ads in the digital sidebar, the reader is able to more actively pay attention to the content presented.
For content, this means the emphasis is on narrative and telling one good story at a time.
2.6.2. Digital support
The digital and print worlds are very different in terms of the creative techniques that capture people’s attention.
Since viewers no longer have enough time to spend on the Internet, digital content is covering users’ attention spans.
The great thing about digital stories is that you can tell your brand story in small video modules.
Social media allows you to expose digital stories across multiple platforms, a method called transmedia storytelling.
This technique not only allows you to tailor certain aspects of your story to the intended audience, but you can also change the medium in which you deliver the message.
Source: Freepik
Digital media excels at visual storytelling. In addition to graphics and illustrations, it can use animated graphics such as videos, gifs and animated photos.
Some social platforms, like Twitter, also allow sharing user-generated content, which can be a compelling way to share customer testimonials. ????
Okay, now let’s move on to the SEO factors that can be impacted by storytelling.
Chapter 3: The 5 SEO ranking factors that are directly impacted by storytelling
You can take a look at these 5 specific factors that benefit your SEO and how storytelling can be used to improve their effectiveness.
First factor: Click-through rate
While it’s true that most people click on the first result on Google when they search, a connection with a brand trumps that impulse.
When people are searching and see a site on the results page that they know and like, but which is in third place, they will immediately click on that site over the others.
In many cases, people choose the site despite its position because they absolutely recognize and trust it.
As more and more people make this same decision based on their previous experiences, search engines view your site as more useful and valuable and therefore improve its ranking.
This is called a click-through rate and it measures how many people choose your site over others when it appears in search results.
Source : twaino
Two sites can have the same authority, but the one with a stronger story, a stronger connection with the user, wins the click every time.
Second factor: User engagement
The two elements that make up this factor that we will talk about here are bounce rate and time on page.
It tracks how much time people spend on your site and whether or not they visit more than one page before leaving. Together, they represent a user’s engagement with your content.
When you create a good story of your brand by strictly following the rules of this strategy, you have a good chance of retaining visitors on your page for a long time.
Otherwise, they won’t leave until they finish reading and chances are they’ll want to read more if your storytelling was good enough.
You don’t need to be a full-fledged author, but it’s enough to stimulate your readers’ emotions through your brand story.
Third factor: Backlinks
Backlinks from other sites act as seals of approval in the eyes of search engines.
For most search engines, having authority and ranking well as a result starts with strengthening your link profile.
Source : twaino
Obviously, storytelling marketing can earn you valuable links to build a more powerful backlink profile.
When you find a highly credible source and link to it in your content, you are providing a backlink to that site. You did it because you trust and believe what they say.
By using storytelling to build your brand, you can create the same level of credibility and authority for yourself.
People and bloggers will read your content and trust what you say because you have connected with them on an emotional and intellectual level.
When the time comes to place a link, they will remember you and you will earn that backlink from them without even asking.
Fourth factor: Social shares
Having a social media presence is great for promoting your content, but it doesn’t directly lead to better SEO.
Instead, it’s the actual quality of the content being shared that drives clicks. People’s desire to share content is based on emotional and personal resonance.
Source : Ignitedfundraising
The true psychology of sharing reveals that we like to share things that promote our desired image.
Without doing it consciously, we wonder how sharing something will make us seem smarter, kinder, funnier.
If a reader can connect with your brand’s storytelling, it reflects on their personal brand, ultimately driving them to share the content.
Fifth factor: Traffic diversity
Traffic numbers to your site are important, but where they come from is also quite important.
Google’s algorithms are able to easily detect the source of your traffic, ultimately ranking sites based on the diversity of said traffic.
If someone finds your content through search, then that’s organic search traffic, but if they come to your site through social media, it’s different again.
The same goes for people who contact you through an email marketing campaign.
Showcasing a strong sense of storytelling gives your content a universal path and expands the places from which your traffic can reach you.
Chapter 4: What really makes good storytelling?
A study of ABC Copywriting, tells us that more and more marketing content takes the form of a story these days.
They are not only created in the form of narration, but they especially abound on social networks as well as several other communication channels and circulate very quickly.
In response to the question of what makes a good story so that it goes viral so quickly, ABC presents us with this infographic.
Source : abccopywriting
1st element: The Drama ????
What interests us most when we read a story is how a solution will be provided to the problem raised.
That said, a story that relates to a fairly dramatic problem interests us a lot and holds more of our attention.
That’s why stories shouldn’t be boring, they need to develop and they need to make us feel something.
In marketing, we see marketers dramatize the problems of their target audiences and then demonstrate that their products can be the effective solution.
2nd element: Familiarity ????
It is human nature to accept something we already know about more easily and quickly.
We read more about things that we have at least a basic understanding of, it can end up really liking us.
Research shows us that a story becomes even more powerful when it is intensively familiar.
3rd element: Simplicity ????
Changing someone’s mind is not an easy enough task. But that’s the point of storytelling strategy.
It’s really hard to play with a person’s beliefs, which is why brands that have found great success through storytelling have always kept it simple.
Powerful storytelling doesn’t leave the reader in the middle of doubts and lets them draw their own conclusions.
4th element: Immersion ????
The closer the drama brings us to the story, the more we immerse ourselves in it with all our attention.
When a story is simple and raises a fairly dramatic fact, we engage and follow the action of each character in the story.
If your message does not appeal to the reader’s interest in any way, there can be no immersion or engagement.
5th element: Correspondence ????
The stories of brands that have moved the web are stories in which readers find themselves or feel truly involved.
When we become emotional, we also relate better to stories. If the story represents a real-life scenario, then we immerse ourselves in them, we identify with them. This is where persuasion plays a role.
These are the elements that can make your story the best on the web. Now let’s see how you can create your own.
Chapter 5: How to do brand storytelling?
Before tackling the three main phases of creating storytelling, we will talk about the necessary elements to take into account.
5.1. Preliminary storytelling practices
Here are some prerequisites for starting a good narrative marketing strategy.
5.1.1. Define your target audience
Ranking well on search engine results pages simply doesn’t stop with keyword optimization.
How your story emotionally grabs readers’ attention and time can be more of a ranking opportunity.
But before you can decide what part of your story to tell and how to do it, you first need to define your target audience.
Source : Wikipedia
Until you can understand your target’s behavior, you also cannot easily decide how to act on their emotions.
Since sentiment can be linked to a class of person, you should note certain demographic data about your target, such as age, gender, interests. ????
This data will help you know your target’s problems and the necessary solutions, so you can easily impact them with your brand story.
5.1.2. Think about your audience’s questions
Imagining your target market’s credentials and answering a few key questions is still not the best way to start brand storytelling.
A more progressive and better guided way to satisfy the curiosity of potential customers is to expose them to the doubts that have beset you personally by providing your explanations and then providing solutions.
Another way to effectively create or strengthen connections with your audience is to rely on the most frequently asked questions and examine the answers provided by your competitors to better craft your brand story.
With this resource, you will be able to effectively answer readers’ questions and keep them coming back.
5.1.3. Establish a timeline
This term refers to the sequential distribution of events or each part of your story, given that social networks allow you to convey your messages via very short videos that cover people’s attention span.
This map will explain to the audience how you got from point A to point B, and how your brand can serve them. ????
Give your story a purpose that helps you stay aligned with your goals, staying consistent with your campaigns.
Laying the foundations of a storytelling timeline is essential to give an idea of clarity and coherence to the audience in front of you.
5.1.4. Personalization and Adaptation
The most important thing your story can do is make potential customers identify with it and feel represented.
Instead of creating a generic storyline that simply highlights your brand, it’s better to create a story that inspires listeners and makes them feel connected.
Additionally, one story doesn’t necessarily fit across all marketing channels, so it’s imperative to make sure you create storylines that align with the platforms used to present them.
For example, when you want to use social networks, you will need to start researching the trends and the most used communication methods.
Source : Uxplanet
It is after this and around this information that you will be able to build a relevant narrative line that gives credit to your work on this particular platform.
Like Facebook and Instagram, other social networks also have their divergent points when it comes to marketing.
Each is aimed at a different and very specific audience, so it’s important to think about storytelling that best suits who will receive your message.
Before you even try to sell, it’s essential to understand how people communicate on different platforms and how the market responds to different ad styles.
Your campaign will obviously have to adapt to the specificities of the network you choose to mobilize.
5.1.5. Share your users’ review videos
If your customers have already left reviews on your products or services, this is a great chance to share the most relevant ones on your site and your pages on social networks.
If your products or services are brand new and you don’t have any customer reviews yet, now is a good time to create opportunities. This will involve encouraging customers to give their opinions and publishing them on review sites and social networks.
When you find ways to publish user-generated stories regularly, your storytelling strategy becomes more and more winning.
Source : twaino
You should take advantage of these opportunities to demonstrate the value of your business to visitors, because your customers believe that reviews represent your brand and they trust the voices of their peers.
Now, let’s move on to the different phases for creating effective storytelling.
5.2. The three essential phases of Storytelling
Like any article, a story essentially consists of three main parts. It is :
- An introduction ;
- A body of text;
- And a conclusion.
Source : twaino
Using storytelling well means respecting this outline and following its fundamental steps in order to provide content that will appeal to users.
Phase 1: Prepare the scene
The introduction is the first part of your brand’s storytelling and the first message the reader will receive once on the content.
At this stage, you will need to focus primarily on delineating the problems, inconveniences and conflicts that the public is experiencing.
This gives them proof that you have mastered the subject and that you are capable of responding to their problems later on in the reading. It’s a great proof of commitment.
This step is crucial to your narrative marketing because it not only helps you set the tone for the entire story, but also connects your audience to your brand.
Phase 2: Deliver a solution
As a logical consequence of the introduction, in the second phase you will have to answer the questions initially raised.
You will need to be able to link your solution, your brand, directly to the market and in a very personal way, ensuring that you engage your listener as much as possible. ????
This way, readers will find you to be quite confident, easy-going, and an expert in the industry in which you are building your brand.
Phase 3: Call to action
Very often, at the end of every great story, the hero or heroine walks into the sunset with all hope and a breath of victory.
This is exactly what you need to do at the end of your narrative marketing content. At the end of the presentation, you will invite your customers to click the buy button, subscribe to your channel, and trust your brand.
Source : twaino
It is at this moment that, thanks to the impetus provided by your inspired guide, they will make the best decisions. Choose your business specifically to meet their needs.
When you launch a market project with what is called hard-selling, an aggressive approach which effectively ignores the first and second phases, you risk driving away many customers who could otherwise have been won over. by your brand.
Chapter 6: 10 Best Examples of Successful Storytelling
Storytelling is a marketing strategy that has been around for a long time and has proven itself, according to the biggest brands that have experimented with it.
6.1. Coca Cola
Coca-Cola, an old brand of drink that has infiltrated our daily culture for hundreds of years.
For its very first advertisements in 1886, Coca-Cola highlighted the benefits of its drink by calling it “Delicious and refreshing”.
A few years later, the brand found traditional advertising quite insufficient and then changed the situation to look at storytelling marketing.
Coca-Cola, in its campaigns, now focuses on the optimism and joy of living of the current generation and those to come.
In the 1970s, Coca-Cola encouraged its target audience, which consists mainly of young people, to:
- Changer d’attitude ;
- Enjoy your life in an unconventional way;
- And to dare more adventure.
Since the brand’s campaigns often focus on an optimistic feeling and positive attitude towards life, Coca-Cola continues to impact one generation to the next.
The company’s messaging always focuses on the concept that “the simple pleasure of drinking a Coca-Cola makes every moment special.”
In its communication strategy, the brand often tries to dedicate a different campaign to a specific target audience.
For example, a family companion can introduce them to dinner with a can of Coca-Cola in the middle of the table to which everyone smiles.
On the other hand, those intended for a young audience, the brand can base its campaign on competitions and sweepstakes.
Coca-Cola: Storytelling focused on content instead of a campaign
In 2013, Coca-Cola took storytelling to the next level by converting its website into an editorial offering.
Now the homepage of the Coca-Cola brand became a magazine and this campaign was called “travel”.
The idea behind this campaign is to take users on a journey through entertainment and interesting topics.
For example on the home page, in the “Happiness and Entertainment” section, Coca-Cola provides users with advice such as:
- Tips for making DIY vases from Coca-Cola bottles;
- Or the sweating rates in humans and the corresponding needs for sport.
The objective of this content strategy that the brand has adopted is what is called “fluid content”, which would mean that the content must be quite creative.
In addition to being creative, the content is supposed to meet the interests and expectations of consumers.
In other words, brand stories should be used to create content that inspires audiences and serves the brand’s core goals. And ideally, stories should turn into conversations.
A remarkable Coca-Cola campaign that can be noted for this purpose comes from the video series entitled “One Last Summer”.
This video series tells us in four distinct episodes the life of a young girl called Madison and her gang.
It was summer, the time when each of them had to worry about going back to school at high school and college.
Once again, Coca-Cola puts itself in its mentorship to let cross the hearts of young people, the attitude of enjoying the moment of happiness and the joy of living. ????
Coca-cola: Storytelling in the B2B field
Through its new campaign ‘The Original Way’, Coca-Cola has tried to take a different approach.
This time, the brand is aimed particularly at the bar restaurant and not at the end consumer.
The idea is to make people think of a bottle of Coca-Cola when we talk about gastronomy all over the world.
Under the motto ‘The Original Served’, the drinks brand presents restaurants in the form of stories.
6.2. Apple
In the past, when we talk about a computer, we are referring to a very giant machine, used by scientific centers, governments and large companies.
Suddenly in 1976, Apple introduced personal computers to the market, this is what we call “Portable Computer”.
”It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy”,It was Steve Jobs’ statement, during an Apple retreat, that marked the beginning of the brand’s narrative marketing where it invented a character that made Apple and its customers free thinkers.
Apple’s ad to announce their next MacIntosh computer has been called one of the best ads of the moment. ????
Apple presents its customers as bold heroes, aiming to position itself at the top of the list of laptop suppliers like IBM.
This advertisement left traces of a fairly strong link between an IT company and its viewers.
A pretty notable narration from Apple to showcase the powerful features of their new product is “Share your Gifts,” an ad that tells the story of a young artist.
Living in a hut in the city with her pet dog, the young artist organizes and stores her works created every day on paper.
One day, the artist is surprised to see her dog open a window and let her works be distributed all over the city.
As she ran to catch up with her papers, the people were very happy. Everyone turned their gaze towards the young artist to applaud his works.
This advertisement simply conveyed the wonderful visibility and easy connection between people in the world.
“Share your gifts” was a great success with over 2 million views and 200 likes on YouTube in a short time after its release.
Another rather interesting practical case of advertising from Apple is the story of “Detour” to promote the features of Iphone 7 plus.
“Detour” tells the story of a tricycle that became detached and fell onto the highway while its owner was in the vehicle on vacation.
The tricycle, all alone, goes around the roads looking for its young owner who was also thinking a lot about his lost tricycle.
With this video, “Detour” not only wanted to pay homage to classic French cinema, but also present the incredible features of the iPhone 7 plus such as:
- L’animation ;
- Marine filming;
- The time lapse;
- Etc.
6.3. Vodafone
Before releasing the new 5G and unlimited data packages on the market, the telecommunications brand chose to replace its advertising manager for several years, Mr. Martin Freeman, in order to adopt a completely different approach.
The new advertisement recounted a dance choreographed by a young lady and several of her allies dressed in red, the color that characterizes the brand.
Jon Tapper, head of advertising at Ogilvy UK, declared to Campaign that Vodafone wanted to place more emphasis on craftsmanship and creativity, and planned to release more ads like this.
6.4. Manchester United
Man U is one of the best football teams in the world that has managed to engage millions of fans with it through a storytelling strategy.
Like Coca-Cola and other brands, Manchester United uses storytelling to promote its activities.
A rather remarkable practical case is the advertising made for Turkish Airline which presents the players, carried away by the desire to touch the ball, who began by passing the ball on a plane for their pleasure.
Suddenly Wayne Rooney, the team’s most famous player, shot the ball towards the face of the team’s great legend Bobby Charlton.
Fortunately, Van Der Sar, who was the team’s goalkeeper, managed to prevent the ball from hitting the legend’s face at the last second.
Responsiveness in activities is the message that Manchester United simply wanted to convey.
6.5. Barclaycard
Barclaycard tells the story of a couple in two different videos, each of whom has a taste for a leisure activity that is different from that of the other.
The first video features the couple attending a wrestling show of which the wife is a big fan.
The man is not a fan of wrestling, at the same time, he imagines himself at a music show accompanied by his wife.
In the second advertising video, the opposite happened to the scenario in the first video.
While the man was having a good time at the music festival, the woman’s attention turned to her fantasy of performing in a wrestling match.
With these two videos, Barclaycard simply convey its message that neither man nor woman should miss any of the events.
Alex Naylor, managing director of marketing communications at Barclays UK, said declared to Campaign:
”When it comes to our love of entertainment, our passions and preferences are all unique, whether it’s attending a wrestling match or dancing in the crowd at a music festival. We’re excited to be able to bring this to life in an innovative way using mirrored storytelling.”
6.6. Google
Every year, the web giant compiles the most searched terms into a video. It then puts the compilation online for users. It’s his way of storytelling.
To his 2016 video, which recounted in images both happy and tragic events of the year, users overwhelmingly made their contributions in a very positive way.
Thanks to this short video, Google finds its rank of 3eme place on the list of the top 1 of all advertisements of the year.
This feat by Google in 2016 allowed it to express the emotion of its target audience and engage them more.
6.7. Airbnb
Knowing its audience deeply, Airbnb leverages its consumer data to create stories.
Their messages often tend to provoke the attitude of vacationers to enjoy the rest by engaging in a more local travel experience.
In a short video, the brand tells the story of around 550,000 travelers who passed the New Year’s Eve 2015 in one of their many locations across 20,000 cities.
Airbnb is trying to highlight, through this advertising video, the most popular choices for AirBnB customers to celebrate the New Year, New York tops the list with 47,000 travelers.
This is a perfect example of how the brand relies on data to do its storytelling marketing.
6.8. Disney
Disney is also a fairly well-known brand that leverages storytelling marketing to engage its consumers.
It’s the heartwarming story of a little duckling who finds a Donald Duck comic book and becomes obsessed with his new hero.
But bad weather approaches and the duckling and his family must take flight, leaving his beloved cartoon behind.
The family endures a cold, wet night before the sun reappears and they arrive unexpectedly at Disneyland Paris, where the duckling is greeted by his idol Donald Duck.
Through a clever display of anthropomorphism that he has perfected over decades, Disney captures the wonder and excitement that children feel for Disneyland Paris.
6.9. Square
Credit card processing company Square has produced a series of 12 short videos which allowed him to tell the story of how people overcame certain difficulties in life.
All films in the series feature Square sellers from all types of backgrounds who are connected by their shared dream of entrepreneurship and the risks each of them took to become small business owners.
”Sister Hearts” tells the story of a former prison inmate who starts a second-hand business on a street corner, but eventually turns into a mortar shop.
This company employs women who have also been incarcerated, in addition to a young man, a former Syrian refugee.
According to the Tribeca X jury, Square films demonstrated an extremely skillful sense of craft in telling a compelling and human story while maintaining a strong brand message throughout.
We specifically responded to the film Sister Hearts, which elegantly told a poignant story about a marginalized community rising up.
We note in this series the intimacy captured with these women who confided in their painful past and whose presence and unfiltered character on camera make us smile and demonstrate a resilience that inspires.
The role Square plays fits seamlessly into the narrative, not raising her head to show off, but rather lending a helping hand on the impressive journey these inspiring women have commanded.
6.10. Fairmont
Fairmont is a large hotel “The Queen Elizabeth” located in Montreal, which has no shortage of stories to tell us.
Against the Vietnam War, the couple John Lennon and Yoko Ono organized their emblematic demonstration “Bed-in for Peace” in 1969 which took place in this hotel.
The couple did not spend their 7 days of resistance alone, they invited friends and journalists to their room.
It was in this hotel room that the famous anthem “Give Peace a Chance” was born.
The renowned brand hotel, Fairmont, decided to celebrate this newly redesigned historic event.
They invite people, however, to experience bed-in again with a virtual reality or augmented reality experience created by UNLTD.
Guests donned headsets placed on the bedside tables of each bed to relieve an exclusive immersive experience.
As the attendee relaxes on the bed, a maid begins to clean the room and, before they know it, they are transported back to the 1960s as reporters rush into the room and bombard them with questions.
In reality the Suite 1742 project is designed to take people on a journey of the present and the past or both into fiction and gives an insight into the ideas and values of John and Yoko at the time, which are still very relevant today at said director Carl Ruscica.
6.11. Guinness
Guinesse’s “Made of more” campaign was initiated years ago to promote inclusion within rugby.
Not to put an end to it, this time the brand tells us the true story of the Japanese women’s rugby team Liberty Fields RFC.
The film began in 1989 in Tokyo and showed the expectations for women’s rugby and how young girls defied these social expectations to represent their country at the Women’s World Cup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE_mVvJyWQY
Niall Mckee, head of Guinness Stout Europe at Diageo, declared to Campaign :
‘’We discovered the Liberty Fields story and felt it captured the Made of More campaign brilliantly. It was really relevant to what’s happening in the world right now, especially in light of this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. It felt like a really natural and authentic story for Guinness to be able to tell in that context.”
Conclusion
Storytelling is an effective tool that can help you connect with your audience and share your story. By using it in your content, you can make your content strategies more interesting and engaging.
If you want to add storytelling to your marketing strategy, there are some things you need to keep in mind that we’ve talked about in this guide.
Above all, don’t forget to browse the examples of storytelling created by big brands and which have had great success.
They can give you interesting ideas to use in your strategies. ????
