Reading Time: 6 minutesEven the phrase “brand story” implies one thing. A single artefact. But the story of a brand comes together in more than just one piece of text. Telling your whole brand story is cumulative: a series of stories, told in different ways, to different audiences. In point of fact, the best brand stories are an […]
Tag: Interest
What makes a great brand story?
Reading Time: 5 minutesStorytelling is of course very much an idea whose time has come. And brands are increasingly using story formats to express themselves and to explain their place in the market and the world. But, what gives a story “lean-in” value? What turns any brand story into a great brand story? In this TED talk, filmmaker […]
Great brand storytelling is all about structuring your storylines
Reading Time: 6 minutesBrand story has two distinct roles: it forms the basis for the different levels of narrative you unfurl over time to your audience; and it acts as the “brand in your head” reference point internally. The key to success is structuring your storylines so that they incorporate all the classic elements of good storytelling. Any […]
Take the time to make the most of your brand story
Reading Time: 3 minutesA brand story is pretty much useless if you don’t apply it. The reason many brands don’t do justice to their story is that they treat it as a background exercise. Something the brand keeps to itself. But the true and valuable purpose of your story is to guide and shape your market narrative, particularly […]
Choosing your brand’s talking points
Reading Time: 5 minutesThere’s a discretion to being articulate that often gets missed. At a time when AI in particular means you could talk about anything, what will your brand’s talking points be? So many brands seem to get the balance between under-share and over-share wrong. They either make no effort to engage sincerely and effectively (preferring to […]
Become an Articulate Company
Reading Time: 4 minutesIn a world bursting with content, the temptation for any brand storyteller is to give in to the machines. To leave it all to AI and the algorithms and succumb to the temptations of volume. Say lots. Say anything. Just keep talking. But that’s not how you become an articulate company. Content is important of […]
How to turn your brand into a storyworld
Reading Time: 4 minutesAssociative memory studies show that brands that are closely connected with a product struggle to get beyond line extensions, but brands that are connected with an idea can go wherever that idea allows them to go. A storyworld is a powerful way for a brand to build and expand an intriguing mythology that goes beyond […]
What does it take to be a brand storyteller?
Reading Time: 4 minutes“Storytelling” is the new panacea. But when every brand has a story, and many of the stories are interchangeable, none of those stories matter. It takes more than that to be a brand storyteller. Being articulate as a brand is actually an artful science. Say too little and you risk being talked-over and seen-past. But […]
How to identify and meet unmet customer needs
Reading Time: 10 minutesMany people believe that an innovation will sell itself; that if they present a solution that is well crafted, brimming with features and solves the problem they have identified, then they will enjoy success. But catering to unmet customer needs, while potentially lucrative, is nowhere near as simple as just presenting buyers with something new. […]
Building a cult brand: the first 3 secrets
Reading Time: 2 minutesWe coined the term ‘cultrepreneur’ some years back to describe enterprising business people who consciously set about developing brands that are anti-scale, hard to find and fervently followed – cults. A number of people have asked how you go about building a cult brand. So here’s the first three secrets: Cult brands are evasive Make […]
Brand campaign lessons from the Ice Bucket Challenge
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe “Ice Bucket Challenge”, the viral awareness campaign to raise money for ALS, has swept the world in the past month or so, raising over $100 million for a cause that was previously under-profiled, and flooding social media, so to speak, with videos of people from all walks of life pouring ice-cold water over themselves.
The power of brand rituals
Reading Time: 3 minutesCall them rituals, ceremonies, habits … associating a brand with a set behaviour can have a powerful effect on loyalty and enjoyment.