Brands are stories waiting to be told
22nd Feb 2011 | Posted by Francesco Paciocco
Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading Robert McKee’s Story, but I’ve become really interested lately in how brands tell their stories—be it through TV spots, online programming or even just executives commenting at speaking engagements. To understand why or even how brands approach telling their story in an appealing way, I’d like to first talk about some of the things that make a story great.
We’ve all been in that situation—a friend or family member tells you about their troubling experience—a telling that’s filled with ups and downs, problems and solutions, difficulties spread throughout like peanut butter on bread until finally, a resolution is achieved. A sigh of relief. Great stories have twists and turns, challenge our thinking into what is possible, what humans can withstand and, in the end, overcome.
Brands are not immune to ups and downs—the stock market fluctuates, products succeed and fail, corporate scandals come and go. But, what remains a constant is our (consumers’) intrigue into “What will happen next?”
The truth is all of us are invested in brands. We’ve grown up with marques like Coca Cola, GM, Nike, GE—we know them like family members and have charted their progress over the years. We’re intrigued as to where they go from here. This is why we’re troubled when we hear of Cyanide poisoning in Tylenol, probably the same medication we’ve been taking since we were a child. Or even, when brakes on a Toyota malfunction. It’s almost as if someone we know is in trouble. In short, we’re hooked on brands in a way very similar to a reader thumbing through a good book or a movie-goer glued to their seat after a thrilling Act 2 climax.
We want to know what happens next.
Lately, there have been many really interesting examples to look at across the corporate spectrum that speak to my theory that we’re invested in brands like good stories. The American auto industry is a great one to look at. After rebounding from the recession and taking a beating in terms of corporate reputation associated with TARP money, many American automakers are weaving these not-so-fortunate experiences into material for great storytelling. Spots for Dodge, Chrysler and Chevy all reference a rebounding of sorts, and a return to supremacy as the world’s greatest car. We root for characters like this—the underdog that triumphs over adversity, the shy girl in the back of the class that gets the lead part in the play.
Similar to the American auto industry, financial institutions certainly have a lot of work to do in restoring consumers’ trust, and it is no surprise to me that they’re turning to the storytelling medium. Citi is a great example of a battered brand working tirelessly to restore trust through storytelling. Their blog, launched shortly after the financial crisis, has done an excellent job of profiling their people and ensuring us (consumers) that what happens next is positive and an improvement over previous years.
Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citi, takes us through his company’s journey through the financial crisis and assures us the new Citi is renewed, re-invigorated and ready to get your trust back on Citi’s blog
It’ll be interesting to see how the storytelling medium continues to be leveraged in the future by brands—both in good times and in bad. One thing is certain, however: great stories are the ones that manage to strike a chord with us emotionally, and there is no law that says companies cannot reach us on that level.