1. Paradigm Shift in Brand
Management:
The Storytelling Approach
By
S. Thomas &
KK. Gupta

2. Branding Elements

3. The Brand Building Elements:
A Brief Description
Building a brand requires use of the elements of marketing communication
mix. The dominant elements are :-
Advertising: Is a paid form of non personal communication about an
organization, product, service or idea by an identified sponsor
Personal Selling: Any paid form of personal presentation of goods and
services. Face to face communication between the sender and receiver
Publicity: A non personal, indirectly paid presentation of an organization,
service, or product is termed as publicity
Sales Promotion: A short term inducement of value offered to arouse
interest in buying a product or service
Public Relations: It is an important activity which is done by all from CEO to
the employees of the PR Department
Websites and Internet: The use of electronic medium

4. Objectives of the study
• To provide insights about the shift in Brand Management
through the storytelling approach
• To propose a model adopting the storytelling process
• To examine the managerial implications

5. Research Methodology
• Content Analysis was carried out
• A random search using Google using search key words
– Storytelling approach of branding
– Narrative branding
– Narratives
– Narrative branding activities
• Filtered relevant narrative branding activities
• Articles on Narrative branding
• Details from Websites

6. Proposed Model
Creating the
Brand
Sustaining the Storytelling
Brand Process
Safeguarding
the Brand

7. The Storytelling Approach
• We start our learning process through the
different stories we hear in our childhood
• “In one of his last appearances, ‘man’
emerged as a storytelling animal, an animal
whose main preoccupation is not truth or
power or love or even pleasure, but
meaning”(Gabriel, 2000)

8. The Storytelling Approach contd..
• Narrative is now seen as one of the
fundamental ways in which humans organize
their understanding of the world
• “Narrating is, after all, a major means of
making sense of past experience and sharing it
with others” (Cortazzi, 2001)

9. Creating the Brand
• Brand needs constant shift and release itself in
smaller ideas or patterns to the customers for
better involvement
• Smaller ideas and patterns through stories
make the brands livelier
• Sharing stories becomes pleasurable because
one can share anger and happiness (Schindler
& Holbrook, 2003)

10. Creating the Brand contd..
• Patterns make the brand evolve over time and
these patterns or ideas can build brands which
seem to be more human and could result in a
memorable experience when compared to a
single and bigger idea maintained by a brand
• Narratives happen to be mental constructs that
structure our thoughts towards the phenomena
which provide meaning by uniting constituents
that lead to outcomes

11. Sustaining the Brand
• “Human memory is story-based and episodic
memories provide multiple indices for retrieval
and interpretation and therefore facilitate
learning” (Shank, 1990)
• Instead of maintaining a pertinent "frame of
reference" when focussing on the
audience, brand narratives or stories echo with
target audiences and deliver vital truths to
consumers
• If one tells stories and repeats it on constant basis
then it invites clarity (Weick, 1995)

12. Safeguarding the Brand
• Brands have more meaning when they are regarded as conversations
• Consumers would seldom recite the positioning statements but they
would definitely recite stories in their mundane life. Stories would turn
out ultimately to be more measurable than disassociated facts and as a
result spread faster. The audience are engaged in terms of
hearing, understanding and remembering the company’s larger
narrative concept by sharing stories
• Consumer stories about brands repeatedly involve the user and the
usage associations alongside psychological and symbolic benefits which
enhances the value of the brand (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993)
• What a brand signifies to a consumer is based on the narratives he or
she has structured in the memory that incorporate the brand and it
helps in forming a narrative map that links to our memories (Shank &
Abelson, 1995)
• Brands would survive longer in the memory of the consumers which
would straightforwardly serve the purpose of a brand manager who
aims to safeguard the brand

13. Few Examples
• Harry Potter Novel: Harry Potter fans shared countless stories about the wizard
which provided an altogether new experience. The stories tend to create further
stories and so on. In the technological world these stories which are produced
by a consumer could be disseminated around the world
• Exboyfriendjewelry.com: The women sold on this website specific jewelry which
their ex-boyfriend gifted. In the product description women shared stories of
their breakups which aided in the high sales of the jewelry. The stories are very
popular with the buyers who visit their websites regularly
• Rapha Cycling: The Rapha cycling brand sells high end cycling clothing and each
clothing consists of a narrative of a legendary cyclist or historical cycling events
which make the product more appealing and stronger as a brand

14. Managerial Implications
• The story telling approaches of brand development could be
utilized as a major and effective medium by which brands can
become associated powerfully with consumers
• With storytelling approach the space that brand occupies in the
hearts and minds of the customers are reinforced strongly
• The manager would have a daunting task managing the meaning
in the context of the stories
• Tailor made marketing messages could be devised and moreover
the stories could be narrated keeping in mind the company’s
employees, founder members or consumers since the future lies
in entertaining and emotional narratives
• As a manager the area of prominence would be to realize that
people construct stories to make sense of what goes on in the
marketing world and the true meaning of a brand is often the
outcome of its being part of a story

15. Thank you