A Word on Brand Stories

By Galen Mendez 17 Aug 2011

The power of stories is that they connect people, create meaning and endure.

Whether it's parents teaching children morals, two kids unlearning these morals behind the bleachers or even you and me  expressing the horrible or wonderful day that we've just had; stories are about taking big and complex ideas and smashing them into personable little pieces to create meaning and ideas that people can identify with.

Done right, stories fill the space between people with the magic that is meaningful connection.

A Technical Guide to Shooting the Breeze

The brand story is no different; we use it to express products, services or ideas in ways that are meaningful and that beg internalisation – the story takes your brand and makes it relatable.

Breaking it down, I've always found that there are three areas that separate great stories from blasé ones – the ability to connect, include and infect.

Connection – Say, What?

People tell stories all the time, an old favourite – Goldilocks and the Three Bears (actually titled The Three Bears), has been in circulation since the 1800s and arguably even before that. The language used to construct the tale was simple, the story line focused – it was crafted in such a way that a child could understand it and any adult could share it.

Today, companies and organisations tend to be so terrified of speaking plainly that they bury their thoughts, words and intentions under corporate babble. We know how short the consumer’s attention span is, we know they are time-starved but still we dish out big fat words that only we understand. Perhaps it is time to have mercy on the poor consumer.

Why do organisations make their audiences work so hard to understand them? Ask the lemmings! We hold on to our corporate speak because it makes us feel safe – if the herd says “leading so-and-so in the world, for ever and ever”, it must be right... So much for differentiation.

Is it so unthinkable to express what your company does to consumers as you would if you were explaining it to someone in a pub? If they don’t understand you first pass, it is unlikely that they are going to stick around and try to work it out - friends, family and bar staff don't count.

Try it, take what you stand for and say it plainly, cut away all the corporate speak that you are comfortable with and explain it to your kid. Remember, in order to make a connection with an audience, they will need to understand you.

So the kid got it... did the kid like it?

Inclusion – Everyone Likes a Story About Themselves

Even the best storytellers fall flat if their stories don’t get people involved. Let people into your story; give them a few lines of their own. The best brands are centred on their audiences not themselves – they become a part of the audiences’ own story. The aim is to start getting your audience to think about your brand in relation to their own life. A great example of a brand story that includes is Guinness.

The Guinness story revolves around a simple premise – good things come to those who wait. As a message it is crisp, strong and relatable. Most important, it reflects the nature of the product. Any respectable pub knows that pouring a pint of Guinness is an art. It takes time – time enough for your mates to finish a drink that is not a Guinness.

As a product in a category which thrives on moving stock quickly, Guinness was potentially a disaster.  But because the wholesome drink makers took this peculiar nature of their product and embraced it with the idea of good things coming to those who wait, they turned slowness into the anticipation of greatness.

Here’s a true story –I know a guy who orders two Guinnesses at a time and makes the point of telling everybody at the table that while good things come to those who wait, better things come to those who plan in advance! Welcome to the world of advocacy – you’ve included your audience into the story, now they’ve included your brand into their lives.

Infect – Got a Story? Great! Now, Give it to Everyone Else

So, you’ve cut out all the babble that keeps people from understanding you, you’re telling it as it is and you’ve got a message that means something to the audience and not just yourself – What next?

Get your audience to grow the story; take note though, you need to help them go the extra mile. Nike Plus is an education on "brand quiet, audience off-the-chart", storytelling. Obviously, the narrative revolves around runners – the crazy lot of them. The premise is that runners, competitive or otherwise like to know that there are other like-minded lunatics around.

Nike Plus helps you keep track of how far you’ve gone, how many calories you’ve burnt and how quick you’ve gone the distance – on every run. Of course, it also tells your crazy runner-friends about it. This motivates them to endure the same physical gruel but for a longer distance in a shorter frame of time. The tragedy is perpetuated beautifully. The tale Nike Plus runners engage in is that of determination, competition and communal individualism. It celebrates each runner’s efforts and demands that those around him or her do more.

The more you run, the longer your story lasts and the more it drives others to engage with you through the brand. The audience is the hero, the brand is the scribe and you know this brand story is going to have a great, long, happy never-ending.

Have a Drink and a Think, Build Your Story Then Run Wild With It

Effort is involved – stories don’t just happen, they need to be crafted, they need to be spotted and thought through. The upside is that we all have stories to tell; life makes them inevitable! We just need to realise them, bottle them and get others involved in them.

Critical to story telling is the art of listening - the corporate office rarely has the stories that sing. Like any good investigator, you will need to get mud on those brand boots. Go down to your manufacturing line, your customer facing staff, your back-end handlers and under the lens of your brand, absorb. Always, always eavesdrop on your audiences and vendors.

So, with runners in mind and in the Nike Plus spirit of challenge, I leave you to think about your own brands – personal or corporate, service or product and to distill what it is about this brand that speaks to you; dig into the essence of your brand, craft it into a story and get your world talking about it.

The End.
Got to run – have a plan with two pints in it!

Other than images of our work and the illustrations, other photographic images used serve only to make a point. Should you have any concerns about any of these, please contact us directly.