Many start-up companies assume that the main purpose of advertising is to sell a product, but this statement is not always true. For example, a marketing story for a product allows advertisers to engage with its audience and immerse them in that brand’s world.
The benefit of storytelling ads is huge: it allows you to extend the timing of your product’s ad viewing. The difficulty of keeping the audience’s interest is that now the era when the concentration of attention on objects is decreasing due to the huge choice of content has come.
First, let’s take a look at the storytelling rules that work.
- What defines a unique story for your brand?
A) Your product demonstrates how it changes the consumer’s life. It shouldn’t be a BIG coup, but a kind of a skill-up.
B) Your product is emotionally influencing. People are driven by perception. Consumers buy a product because of the emotional impact or benefit it offers.
C) Connection with the audience. Your text, podcast or video should engage the consumers as if they were in a conversation.
D) Tell the truth. Revelations are always disposed, no matter whether they are positive or negative. The greater the recognition is, the greater is the response in the hearts of consumers.
- Tools for creating flawless storytelling.
A) Find a hero. It can be a person, a thing, a situation, anything you like, but build the whole storyaround it. Create an obstacle, a goal or a dream for the protagonist, let the consumer get involved in the process.
B) Conflict. No story without the conflict of the protagonist has a chance of success. A conflict is not only a quarrel, but also obstacles, unexpected turns of events. Create an emotional swing.
C) Do not overload. The human brain absorbs up to 65% of the information, so don’t try to use all the special effects at once or create a huge group of main characters.
So how do you create «the right story»? Now we are going to take a look at a few breakthrough cases.
Marriot Hotels
Moxy Hotels is a new kind of Marriott International Hotels. The company is a fashionable harmony of luxury, chic, and youth hostel, and a 24-hour bar. Moxy’s marketers have created an entertaining mini-series “Do Not Disturb” , in which host Taryn Southern showcases her brilliant and daring acting.
Every episode, Instagram post, and even the website’s trendy black and purple design tells Moxy’s story — and refers to the experts services. Wouldn’t this attract a new audience?
Zendesk Mockumentary
Zendesk is a company of guys who write various codes and programs for the IT industry. They came up with an ingenious thing: creating their own pseudo-story about the musical group Zendesk Alternative, writing a song with the lyrics explains the principle of their work, and shooting a humorous mockumentary on this topic.
Their website is completely made in the style of an indie rock band’s poster: clothes, songs, tour dates. But naturally, each section hides information about their services.
Describe me. “Mouth”
Mouth grocery store’s storytelling philosophy is to tell in detail about each of their products: who invented, the recipe, when and where the crop was harvested, and much more. The company also publishes personal stories of small business owners whose products they sell.
For this, Mouth created their Instagram account to be closer to all target audience groups.
Guinness Pint
Guinness has long championed its Irish heritage as a philosophy of friendship, culture and celebration. The company uses St. Patrick’s Day as its stated theme to tell a story and demonstrate the company’s values.
During the height of the pandemic, the brand does not mention it, but broadcasts an inspiring message that many things come and go, and everything that they raise to value remains. It is important to connect your story with the present and even with the future.
Stories as a memory. GoPro
GoPro decided to tell a story on Instagram Stories. The company sent their hero and his family to New Zealand to see the northern lights. The entire trip was documented in Stories, and their followers witnessed his dream come true. At the same time, the heroes were talking about the benefits of GoPro. Thanks to the stories (which disappear after a day), the target audience constantly monitored the company’s profile so as not to miss a new entry.
Animation – a flashback to childhood.
Most often, content marketing is aimed at looking «authentic». Travel Oregon chose a very different path, creating an animated video Only Slightly Exaggerated, which is more like a magical world than reality, taking viewers on a fantastic animated journey through Oregon. This is a cute, abstract and fabulous image with flying whales and a caterpillar on a mountain bike. You can’t help but feel childish joy while watching.
Despite the cartoon approach, Travel Oregon was able to unite viewers and content: «We made sure that all locations looked real and there were no exaggerations. You may not be able to ride a giant rabbit or have lunch with a Yeti, but the feeling that the ad evokes will also come from working with us.”
Remake — let’s remember the good old days.
When Tourism Australia wanted to increase the flow of tourists from the US, they bet on the country’s most popular event-the «Super Cup». And they shot the official trailer for the reboot of everyone’s favorite classic movie «Crocodile Dundee «.
A few weeks before the Super Cup (the most popular TV event in the world), fans saw teasers of Dundee on the web, where Danny McBride played a typically brash American role alongside the laid-back Australian Chris Hemsworth. The story, invented by the agencies Droga5 and Covert, caused delight in the Hollywood press and film fans.
To create a full connection, they created a website for the movie along with a fake page on IMDB (which is not easy). New Yorkers saw Dundee billboards go up at the Times Square, and movie bloggers fanned the flames by creating posts that it was a real movie.
We have brought up the best and latest storytelling campaigns that launch a new form of advertising.
It is worth remembering that the perception of the target audience unconsciously «clings» to an interesting story, but the market is saturated with audio-visual content. Therefore, you will have to adapt to the mental attitude of customers and new opportunities of social networks.