
MAKE THEM CRY TO LOVE YOUR BRAND MORE!
Handling brands and their communications has come to the age of storifying facts, data, analysis to the effect of generating meaning and satisfaction trough the emotional cord of the consumers experience.
So crafting and sharing stories is at the heart of brands purpose in order to stir up the business returns. Though, plenty of them that has a strong market presence, which the creative works won some of the most prestigious awards are actually piling up mountains of stories that customers are not buying into it.
A reason to that would be that at a certain period of time, these brands had in-house storytellers leading the marketing and shaping of their strategies. But, as winds blew them away, the brands hired well groomed marketing geniuses that curiously seem not having any clue about what a good strategy means.
The best among all advertising men are convinced that great storytelling is the cornerstone to gigantic business rewards. Luke Sullivan is of the opinion that “ Good advertising builds sales, but great advertising builds factories”.
David Ogilvy, James W Young or Alex Osborne, just to call a few, were great storytellers above everything. However, during their time being, the moral values of the society were black or white, good or bad, moral or immoral, etc. which resulted about them using mostly narrative stories in their advertisements.
But story like a coin has two faces that are: Narratives and Storytelling. It’s of utmost importance for people who work in developing the inner content, The DNA and ideology of any brand to be aware of.
From the years 2001 with the bombing of the World Trade Center and 2003 with the second invasion of Iraq, when suddenly the whole world discovered that the leaders of the free world, America, lied to their own people, story has evolved into its very dark face bringing the light on to common knowledge that the good can reveal to be so evil and the bad often save the children.
As a matter of consequence the telling of brand stories shifted from the narrative stories to the storytelling ones. In addition, most advertisers agree that new technologies and digital has changed the way modern consumers interact with stories on one hand and brand stories on the other hand.
“We bring you joy”, “ We’re the best of the best”, “You’ll outplay all of them in a beauty contest, thank us later”, “ A new formula that’ll keep you from getting old” and all narrative stories that sell stunning promises, happen to be less convincing nowadays.
The modern audience wants stories that get them to act, react, feel understood, to be guided or helped renouncing or taking a new step in their life.
In a competitive market where all competing brands are offering almost the same benefits, services, products, professionals of customer care, etc. the winning belt goes to the brands whose stories get to generate the strongest long-lasting emotions and feelings into the consumers.
It’s more of a reason to why people who work in developing brands DNA and strategies must have first of all the skills of crafting and creating original storytelling directions for their job is to find out the original voice of the brand. Therefore, their journey would take them far into the mastering of the designing principles of stories both narratives and storytelling.
From there they’ll absolutely drive close to the knowledge that in regards with the two faces of the story, exist also two natures of human emotions that are their equivalent matching pair: the Intellectual emotions and the Heartfelt ones.
To explain this, let’s just imagine you are given a job in a very neat place, where skyscrapers expand like mushrooms, roads are beautiful to the heaven, the cars like that of “Fast And Furious 9” look old fashion. Everyone will get impressed and feel lucky to have got work in such a paradisal city.
Though, as soon as you start interacting with the people there and find out that in their vast majority they are sad, mistreated, enslaved and orphaned and given you cannot do anything get better for them, you’ll now find the same impressive city fall to being grotesque.
Even if you enjoy living in a city that offers you the last generation of gadgets and facilities, your impression will gradually fade out.
Let’s then suppose that after six months you’re going on holidays in a poor city where no one can afford buying a smart phone, but people look happy helping each other, sharing the very little means they have, hoping and working hard altogether for their growth. I am to think that most people would be incline to take a job in that city, knowing the pay is going to be far less money than in their current station.
The people’s courage and generosity to fight against their fate arouse the emotional connection into you and get you want to make sacrifice for their wellness. It strictly comes from the heart and this could remain vivid for a very long time.
So to say, intellectual emotions derive from the impressive state of feelings that are driven by narrative stories. While on the other hand, heartfelt emotions come from the state of feelings that hit the heart place of human beings and are brought by the storytelling side of stories.
Why being able to differentiate the types of stories associated with the nature of the emotions they induce into people so important for brands?
Primo, as the market becomes more competitive, services get cheap and net profit lowers, brands would gain learning from serial storytelling so to sustain the competition for long years and still growing their season.
Secundo, strategy is the functional asset of stories. Put it simply, let’s think of the first time a television were sold along with a remote control. That was one of the very best strategic move in the history of marketing. Though we couldn’t get to use a remote control until somebody had to think of it in its entire design and utility. The thinking had to come long before they could draw it, manufacture, market and utilise it.
That’s the same as how story works for brands. It’s preeminent to any strategy. It’s the strategy itself.
Tercio, building brand strategy starting from the story directions is a pain killer to pre-conceived strategies and warmed-up leftover concepts which result in fresh and original layers of the brand strategies.
Quatro, it’s when your stories are true to the reality of your characters and setting that the audience starts trusting and feeling true emotions for it and cherishes your brand. A series like “Scandal” for example has become a brand of its own, same as many others did. They didn’t evolve into brands by thinking marketing strategies will bring them there, it’s inversely subsequent to the stories they are telling season after season that they became successful brands.
The emotional arc of a consumer starts with captivation, then he has to trust what he hears of, sees or touches about the product, then he has to feel true feelings for it as he gets used to it.
Narrative or Storytelling? Intellectual or Heartfelt emotions, the choice is critical and at the stake of your brand strategy.
But I had come to the understanding that in most couples that remain married for so long years, most often the wife has got tangible evidence to quit but chooses to stay because of the heartfelt emotional connection she built with the husband for years and vice versa.
It’s called the “cry to love more effect” of true love!
Consumers feel happy, hopeful, entrusted to act for the better of themselves or for the sake of the other people when they are touched by heart and get emotionally connected to the things, the causes or the people.
Brands ought to tell well crafted original story to the consumers, not who they are, not their vision or mission as it reads in their webpages.
They ought to show them love. Make them feel that your brand is the friend who cares, a mother who’s worried about how life treats them. Talk about your struggles as a brand that’s trying to make them become a better version of themselves as they envision it. Show the pain you feel every time they don’t get what they fought for or tried to achieve. Show them proof of that you get your best returns, when they cry out their happiness. Pray with the ones who lost their faith or trust in the hard rock roads of their life’s experience. Give them hope for eternal life when they lost somebody who meant everything for them.
We are in the advertising age of storytelling and brands have now myriads of ways to tell the kind of stories they wouldn’t risk telling like twenty years ago.
