Every brand has a story. Most don’t know how to tell it. Learn how you can uncover the unique elements that differentiate your brand and tell a story that will captivate your
audience.
This presentation was originally given at interact15, a regional interactive + digital marketing conference in the Central Ohio area. More detailed and in-depth material is available upon request, including the option of holding a hands-on & customized storytelling workshop for your organization.
1. There’s More
to the Story
MARY GARRICK
UPWARD BRAND INTERACTIONS
CONTENT MARKETING
2. “There are only two or three
great human stories, and they
go on repeating themselves as
fiercely as if they had never
happened before.”
-Willa Cather
5. The Lesson
CONTENT MARKETING
• The number one tenant of storytelling is not to deceive the audience
• Not any story will do – humans are built to discern the difference
between a genuine story and a fabricated one
7. • MVA = Market Value Added
– The measure of how much value a company has added to,
or subtracted from, its shareholder investment.
• EVA = Economic Value Added
– The financial performance measure that aims to capture
the true economic profit of an enterprise
– Most directly linked to the creation of Shareholder wealth
over time
Economics 101
CONTENT MARKETING
8. Reason to Believe
CONTENT MARKETING
Brands associated with
archetypal identities
positively and profoundly
influence the real asset
valuation of their
company.
10. Reason to Believe
CONTENT MARKETING
The MVA of the strongly
aligned brands rose by 97%
more than the MVA of
confused brands.97%
The EVA of strongly
aligned brands grew at a
rate 66% greater than the
EVA of confused brands.
66%
12. Answer: “There are only two
or three great human stories,
and they go on repeating
themselves as fiercely as if
they had never happened
before.”
13. The World of Archetypes
CONTENT MARKETING
Ruler Jester Lover
Regular
Guy/Gal
CreatorCaregiver
Hero Innocent Sage ExplorerOutlawMagician
14. Archetypes + Primary Function
CONTENT MARKETING
Archetype… Helps People… Brand Example…
Creator Craft something new Williams-Sonoma
Caregiver Care for others Marriott
Ruler Exert control American Express
Jester Have a good time Miller Lite
Regular Guy/Gal Be OK just as they are Wendy’s
Lover Find and give love Hallmark
Hero Act courageously Nike
Outlaw Break the rules Harley-Davidson
Magician Affect transformation Polaroid
Innocent Retain or or renew faith Ivory
Explorer Maintain independence Levi’s
Sage Understand their world Oprah’s Book Club
15. Archetypal Theory + Human Motivation
CONTENT MARKETING
Stability + Control
Belonging+Enjoyment
Independence+Fulfillment
Mastery + Risk
16. Independence + Fulfillment
CONTENT MARKETING
• Seeks fulfillment in
the here and now
• Values simplicity,
peace and goodness
• Motto: “Free to be
you and me”
• Hits the road in
search of fulfillment
• Independent-minded
• Motto: “Don’t fence
me in”
• Fulfillment is a result
of education or
understanding
• Enjoys learning and
learning curves
• Motto: “The truth will
set you free”
Innocent Explorer Sage
17. • Juzo helps people feel free
• Product helps people express individuality
• Brand encourages autonomy, ability to be
true to one’s soul
Juzo – The Explorer
CONTENT MARKETING
18. Belonging + Enjoyment
CONTENT MARKETING
• Lives in the moment
without worrying
what others might
think
• Motto: “If I can’t
dance, I don’t want
to be a part of your
revolution”
• Part of the group
• Places value on all
people
• Motto: “All men and
women are created
equal”
• Implicitly promises
beauty and sexual
appeal
• Motto: “I only have
eyes for you”
Regular
Guy
LoverJester
19. Risk + Mastery
CONTENT MARKETING
• Takes great
personal risk in
order to defeat evil
forces to protect
society or sacred
values
• Motto: “Where
there’s a will,
there’s a way”
• Acts as a disruptive
force either for good
or for evil
• Motto: “Rules are
meant to be broken”
• Acts as a catalyst
for social or
institutional
transformation or
healing
• Motto: “It can
happen!”
Outlaw MagicianHero
20. Chipotle - The Outlaw
CONTENT MARKETING
• Chipotle doesn’t advertise on TV, but is proving great content
can replace traditional commercials with equal or greater
results
• Not selling, but telling
“Before you know it, Chipotle – a food brand
– could wind up owning the conversation
around food ethics and sustainability. Now
that’s the power of great storytelling.”
Joe Lazauskas, Contently.com
21. Stability + Control
CONTENT MARKETING
• Compelled to create
or innovate
• Inherently
nonconformist
• Motto: “If it can be
imagined, it can be
created”
• Driven to make
people feel safe and
nurtured
• Places emphasis on
others’ problems
before their own
• Motto: “Love your
neighbor as yourself”
• Takes control of
situations
• Makes life as
predictable and
stable as possible
• Motto: “Power isn’t
everything. It’s the
only thing.”
Caregiver RulerCreator
22. GE - Caregiver…turned Magician
CONTENT MARKETING
• From “We bring good things to life” to “Imagination at work”
• Also throws in some Jester identity into certain content pieces
or campaigns
Notas do Editor
Willa was a Pulitzer prize winning author from the early 1900s (Song of the Lark, One of Ours)
If you’ve read or heard any industry discourse in the past 5 years, you’ve noticed that storytelling is showing up more and more each year. It’s been around as long as the human race has existed, or so we’re told…
Shane Snow, cofounder of Contently
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=888635374537591 (Watch CMI video)
“Those who tell the stories rule the world” – Native American proverb
Stories help us remember and make us care
Not any story will do – humans are built to discern (know when a story smells bad)
Distill information, uphold the number one tenant of storytelling – not to deceive
Great stories build relationships
Get to know people or brands through their stories, building connections
The power of great stories
Okay that’s all fine and good, I don’t know about you but I need more to convince me than stories…Let’s get nerdy for a minute…
Bear with me…
Margaret Mark –Young & Rubicam’s BrandAsset Group (researched the archetypal identities of brands) began working with some pioneering concepts of economic performance developed by Stern Stewart. Their analysis showed that brands associated with archetypal identities positively and profoundly influenced the real asset valuation of their company.
The Y&R analysis explored changes during a 6 year period in the mid-to late-90s for a set of 50 well known brands like AmEx, Fruit of the Loom, Disney, Sears, Harley D and the Gap.
DISTINGUISH BETWEEN BRAND and company identity – most companies are successful because they have an equal balance of archetypes represented somewhere within them, but brands need to pick one
So storytelling is where it’s at…
The Hero and the Outlaw, by Margaret Mark and Carol Peterson
Their work was inspired by Joseph Campbell and his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and his description of the heros journey
Levi’s, once a strong Explorer, went from Outlaw to Hero, back to Explorer, then to Regular Guy/Gal and then Jester and sometimes a patchwork combo of multiples (reflective of confused management) and the company’s market share declined accordingly
Examples to reference: Microsoft = Ruler, Apple = Outlaw, Nonprofits = Caregivers, Colleges = Sage, Entertainment & Recreation, Ben & Jerry’s = Jester
Creator, Hero
These are the four main human motivations, as agreed upon by the century’s prevailing experts in such matters.
Choose one that resonates best with your brand; if you cannot chose, plot your brand where it best fits
Brands that fulfill the basic human need of independence and fulfillment
INNOCENT: Cotton, soaps, breakfast foods, other domestic products; big brands = McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Disney, PBS,
EXPLORER: Starbucks (first mate on the whaling ship, level headed, stable balance to Captain Ahab’s obsessive craziness); Amazon.com
SAGE: Universities, Academic Hospitals like the Mayo Clinic, high-end consulting firms, traditional media outlet, computer hardware and software companies
Through ongoing Facebook campaigns, Juzo has not only grown their social presence but has also become a trusted source for information on compression
All three express and affirm a critical sense of likability, popularity and connectedness
JESTER - Fun foods, like candy, snack foods, liquor, cigarettes
REGULAR GUY – (Wendy’s, VISA, GAP, Buckeyes) Community colleges, Country music, neighborhood festivals and carnivals, labor unions, diners and situation comedies
LOVER - Cosmetics, Jewelry, Fashion, Travel; Godiva, Victoria’s Secret, Barilla Pasta
All take a stand against some limiting, restrictive or harmful reality
HERO – Nike (goddess of victory), FedEx
OUTLAW – Apple (apple’s logo – bite out of the forbidden fruit), Jack Daniel; While the Hero wants to be admired, the Outlaw is satisfied with being feared
MAGICIAN - Sparkling water, champagne, cruise lines, spas, chic hotels, cosmetics, herbs, fitness campaigns; Sony and DuPont
Examples of good brand storytelling:
http://contently.com/strategist/2013/09/26/best-of-branded-content-chipotles-the-scarecrow-is-brand-storytelling-at-its-finest/
Chipotle’s “The Scarecrow” captures the essence of Chipotle’s brand without telling you who is behind the video until the very end. It grabs your attention and heart-strings without “selling” you anything. It also builds off of previous “Back to the Start” video. To understand what this means, Scarecrow has 14M views, Back to the Start has 8.7M views. The next highest viewed videos (which are Scarecrow trailers) have around 400,000 view, the next most viewed (not related to Scarecrow or Start) video has 200,000 views.