Reading Time: 2 minutesIn a world of choice, it’s tempting to retouch your brand story to make it more appealing.
Tag: storytellers
Layering your story
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIn this presentation from last year I talk about how great stories are structured and about the power of the nutshell of truth that lives at the centre of a great story. I show how changing just one word of that kernel can have dramatic effects. Towards the end of the excerpt I touch on […]
Brands as extended storylines
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe temptation when you’re working with a brand is to continue to treat it just as a product or service. It’s simpler to do so. It’s contained. You can add features to it or introduce a variation to it. But I’ve wondered aloud with marketers in the past whether treating a brand as the personification […]
Declaration: Step 5 in building a purposeful culture
Reading Time: 2 minutesAt some point, a culture that is serious about what it intends must put those intentions in writing. That’s about a lot more than documentation. Declaring what you come to work for collectively amounts to a commitment. So many companies squander this opportunity in my view. They market what is happening rather than explaining it. […]
Branding behaviours not just products
Reading Time: 4 minutesDr Gerrard Gibbons once shared this wonderful insight: “Every day, brands make bets on human behaviour”. He’s absolutely right – but it’s a confronting thought because, at first airing, it puts so much of what marketers do at risk and beyond our control.
Tell all your brand’s stories
Reading Time: 4 minutesMarketers often talk about story as if it is one thing. But brands with multiple stakeholders need to cater for different responses and priorities by streaming a range of stories to a range of audiences at different times. The reason is simple. The things that make a brand attractive in one context are different from […]
Could CMOs be doing more with stories?
Reading Time: 3 minutesMarketers are busy talking up the value of telling the stories of their brands. But why aren’t more organisations structuring their own strategies and issues as stories, and what role are marketers taking in making that happen?
How to avoid short-selling your brand story
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI’m dismayed by how frequently the conversation around content seems to devolve to quantity and tactics. That’s hardly surprising in some ways because of course the two are quickly linked. When everyone’s using the same tactics, quantity starts to look like the only differentiator.
Should your brand tell a counter-story?
Reading Time: 3 minutesStories add to the humanity of brands. They help consumers think through and act upon a narrative that is fundamentally rooted in human truths. Stories generate empathy. We see ourselves in the tale. Or we see a side of ourselves. Or we see the ‘me’ that we would like to be. Without that narrative, everything […]
Brands and history
Reading Time: 3 minutesEveryone loves a good story, and the critical strength of heritage brands is that they have such stories in abundance. Little wonder then that as American consumer confidence starts to look up, the brands that remind consumers of what they have, where they are and where they’ve come from are doing well. It’s a timely […]
Telling stories that connect
Reading Time: < 1 minuteYou can read the full story here.
Inverting the brand story
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe case for brands to engage in storytelling is well made and well documented. Stories are so much more effective than facts, they engage us and in so doing, they motivate brands and buyers alike to get involved and to act.