BW Communities

So Tell Me a Story

Mala Bhargava Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, big companies ruled roost over their kingdom of customers. The king companies made what they liked, sold as they pleased, and told customers what to think of the result. If they said their goods were the best, then who were you, the customer, to argue? And the little companies all followed suit. Then one day, one customer dude turned to another and said: Hey, what do you think this coffee really tastes like? And the other dude said: Why, toothpaste and mud, of course – it always has. Well hey, then why should we drink it and pay for it too, they thought. And they proceeded to empty their coffee cups right on the table and walk out. So then the two dudes, now somewhat coffeeless, decided to spend some time online. There, they told all their friends about the coffee that tasted just like toothpaste and mud. And their friends told their friends. And very soon, everyone knew what that coffee tasted like. The coffee makers scratched their heads, wondering why no dudes came in anymore. They looked at each other and said: we'd better advertise… This story could go on, but I think we get the drift. Companies, big and small, have seen full well that their customers suddenly seem to have a say in matters. But unlike some years ago, you can't just broadcast louder and overwhelm opinion. What is needed is a strong, meaningful connection with the customer; so brand managers, eat humble pie, drink your own coffee now and then, and let's look at one of the ways this connect is brought about – through storytelling. Storytelling dates back to when we landed on the planet and that's quite a while ago. It's almost instinctive to us. Nothing new about it. What's more recent is that storytelling is now a tool in the hands of brand managers, marketers, and communication professionals who need to think beyond broadcast messages because their target audience is online and socially active. Using storytelling is both easy and tough. It's easy because you get to use your gut feel, your knowledge and your creativity. It's tough because you now have countless methods of telling that story and you can get paralyzed by sheer choice.  Brand storytelling also seems to be begging for some demystification because of the unhelpful jargon it's been garnished with by many new media gurus. Bob Bejan, Chief Development Officer of MSL Group and a communications architect who works with agencies and clients to help bring about creative storytelling that works, agrees. "The technological world is completely taken with the idea that everything is absolutely new and therefore needs a new name and a new way of talking about any given topic, feature or capability.  This is absolutely true in the storytelling space today", he says. "It is easy to see in India -- or really anywhere in the world -- where marketers are chasing the "answer" and the "secrets" to this new medium and how to use it, when it really has never been simpler.  The palette of social media and the "always on marketplace" allows for the storyteller to express in the purest way so far. What is your story? Who are you trying to tell it to? And what do you want to have happen once you've told your audience the tale? These are the questions to ask." Basically, forget that four-fold brochure and connect with your customers with engaging stories about your brand that you know they will relate to readily. As far as the stories themselves go, no one size fits all. The Kolaveri song – which has a story of sorts and is catchy and funny to begin with – may have gone wildly viral, but the same format may not necessarily do for a brand that has characteristics and customers that pull it in a different direction. Before you reach for the Ramayan or Mahabharata to pick out a good hero or head for the most popular celeb, because that's the flavour of the day, invest in a listening phase to see what your customers respond to most.  If you're comfortable with a matrix and complex paradigms for storytelling, Google and ye shall find. But before you force-fit a story or method on to your brand, stop and think of some of the story's must-haves. Start by choosing a possible content area that is relevant to your customers. That may sound like a no-brainer, but with the tendency to head straight for cliché, it's more than possible you could end up with something working for other brands, but not quite fitting yours. Brand story can be about many things. It can be the brand's history, if it's remarkable enough. It could be its customers. It could focus on a value, a strong characteristic or capability. Best of all, it could be the brand's customers.  Whatever you choose to base a story upon, the two critical parts are creating emotion, and making it something customers and fans can talk about, share, or respond to in some way. In other words, something that engages. People must see something of themselves in the brand -- an aspiration, a fear dealt with, a validation of a strong belief... <table style="width: 300px;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="9"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img src="/businessworld/system/files/images/May_12/Vodafone-Zoozoos-300px.jpg" height="207" width="300"></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Whatever finally emerges, it should be a consistent messages across all communication – though I'd still say there's no formula. Off the top of my head I thought of a brand that is part of my everyday life – Vodafone. Looking at their Facebook page for India, I see no brand story or even a taking up where their wonderful pug-based ads leave off. The Facebook Timeline, actually is a great canvas for a story, executed creatively and with impact. It's also easier to make it shareable because not only because your customers are likely to be there but because the practice of sharing and commentng is something they're more accustomed to. The same is true for YouTube. On some other networks, such as Twitter, for example, or Quora, consumption may happen just as frequently without sharing. PR pundits think you can readily borrow from the elements used in regular storytelling and in particular, everyone who talks about this draws parallels with Star Wars. So, there's a setting, a hero, an antagonist, a conflict, a resolution and a denouement. But one has to watch not to get too formulaic or over the top. Paradoxically, the story shouldn't be too obviously a story, just as selling shouldn't be too blatantly selling – specially on social media.  Whether you ultimately choose to recreate from mythology or Star Wars or wherever, stay authentic and true to what is known of the brand. It's the age of the believable and some brand building storytelling extends the story into actual experiences for customers and fans. The next thing is to take the story where the customer is (read community, tribe, flock, fans, or whatever social jargon rocks your boat).  That doesn't just mean what social network they inhabit, but what media or mix will have the greatest chance of holding their increasingly fleeting attention span.  One thing we do know is that visual rules. Experts say that every brand must develop a visual vocabulary, starting from the logo and moving right through images and videos that have impact and are highly contextual. So whatever channel you choose to tell your stories on, visual is critical, and not an afterthought or mere eye candy. The rich new platforms and tools with which you can tell your story, in fact, sometimes decide what brand stories you choose to create and tell. Santosh Desai, MD of Future Brands, often talks about brands and story telling. He thinks brands don't merely tell stories -- they are stories. Any brand is, at its heart, an idea that is brought alive as a story we can relate to. As everyone learns to tell stories in ways they never thought possible, we also see that those stories become part of the brand's language that is shared by everyone within the company. Just as you would want everyone to have the same one powerful understanding of the brand, so would you also want everyone working with the brand to participate in creating and sharing the stories, remembering that brand stories are not a single event at one point of time, but ongoing, sustaining and adding to the brand over the long term. There's a lovely little story from a few days ago of a marriage proposal. Filmmaker Walt Thompson asked his girlfriend Nealy to marry him. Not in the usual pop-the-question manner, but by making a lovely little stop-motion film with Lego characters, Lego-boy proposing to Lego-girl. I's sweet enough to bring a tear to the eye, but what a story – not just for the happy couple, but for Lego. Case in point.

Mala Bhargava

BW Reporters Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.