Human beings are story-lovers from childhood. Each of us loves to listen to tales of different genres be it fiction or non-fiction. It is stories that connect us all together. Marketers in today’s world are constantly looking for innovation in marketing, getting customer attention, and making them go through each consumer journey from awareness, interest, desire to action, and advocacy. Adaption of story-telling principles in advertising and marketing has resulted in personalized connection with consumers and consumer loyalty.
“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today” - Robert McKee
The practice of blending fact and fiction to explain something to your audience is known as storytelling. Some stories are true, while others are inflated or made up to better express the central point.
Storytelling is not restricted to the cinema in marketing; stories can be told through photographs, verbally, or in writing. They can be told in a variety of ways, from social media to billboards. In a market that is (by design) distracting, stories can help marketers achieve cut-through by generating advertising that resonates with consumers... and sticks.
Even big brands like Apple, Disney, Guinness, Coca-Cola, and Hyundai all use the element of story-telling to communicate their message to their audience.
Here are some cases of brands with the best story-telling examples:
1. Hyundai: Celebrating 20 years of togetherness campaign
Here, Hyundai uses the emotional appeal of having memories of your old car. Being a child once, we all have unique and special memories which we share with our car. And when it is time to sell the car, it becomes difficult to set the price of it as we are valuating not the metal and engine of the car, but the memories we have created with the car. The car means something different for each member of the family. With the emotional appeal of connecting memories and cars, Hyundai did a wonderful job of bringing tears to the eyes of its customers and its audience.
2. Hyundai: Celebrating 20 years of Brilliant moments | Duty
Here, in this ad., Hyundai uses the patriotic appeal to connect with the audience. A guy with Santro is seen helping a soldier who had to go in the opposite direction for his job interview. The guy with Santro had a clear motive of helping those who help the nation. (“Jo Desh ki duty kare, uski duty sabse pehle”). Here through this Ad., Hyundai is connecting with the patriotic feeling which is present in almost every Indian.
3. When it comes to story-telling, it is hard to miss the ultimate story-telling world: Disney || Disneyland Paris
Here, a duckling is shown reading a Donald Duck comic and making Donald Duck it’s life hero. But due to the troubling weather, they have to fly away and the duckling couldn’t carry the comic of Donald Duck with it. Saddened, it spends its day only to realize that they ended up in Disneyland Paris and the duckling meets Donald Duck there.
It shows that Disneyland is a place where dreams come true. The advertisement has a unique way of connecting with the audience who believe in magic, fiction, and the stories of the world.
4. Prega News
Prega News has done good work in creating awareness about pregnancy-related challenges, risks, and care to be taken. Through this ad., Prega news connects the audience with humanity. The kaamwaali baai being pregnant and the mistress is shown doing all the work and not letting the maid do her work, replacing the maid for all the household chores makes the maid think that she would get fired only to realize that the mistress is doing that to take care of the maid and her baby. The ads by Prega news are really heart-touching.
Being a working mom is difficult enough, in the second ad., they show the staff of the boss being caring. Spreading awareness about post-partum depression. “Becoming a mom is not easy. We are just trying to make it less difficult for you” offices being a pregnancy-friendly place are shown and promoted in the ads. Which hold immense consumer attraction as these are the topics trending these days. Prega News not only does the job of selling pregnancy testing kits but also has connected with the audience through story-telling, sharing tales that everyone needs to know related to pregnancy.
This differentiated Prega News from other pregnancy test selling brands.
5. Coca-cola and its augmented reality campaign
The hype for augmented reality (AR) is ever increasing these days. Through the Coca-Cola AR campaign, the brand brought out the feature by creating an environment around the coke bottle in real life. Putting a camera in front of the coke bottle would bring out characters performing different activities. One scene shows friends in AR playing at a beach, one shows two friends playing using real coke as a prop. These stories were immersed in their surroundings thanks to the use of a genuine Coke can as a prop, which served as the backdrop for each of the scenarios.
"The concept that our work is being activated by Coca-Cola customers in such a joyful and immersive way is a significant part of what drew us to the project," said fellow Creative Director Kevin Lau about the campaign, which ran in Mexico. This was the ideal opportunity to experiment with a new medium and put our narrative skills to the test in a new market."
6. Apple’s Detour Ad
Apple has always done a unique job of advertising its products. They use both rational and emotional appeals. 'Detour' relates the story of a child's tricycle that goes missing and the adventure it takes to find its young owner. It was directed and written by Oscar-winner Michael Gondry ('Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind') for Apple and shot exclusively on the iPhone 7 Plus.
The short pays homage to old French cinema while also demonstrating the iPhone's many features, including animation, underwater filming, time-lapse, and slo-mo. A series of online lectures accompany it, explaining how it was created.
Even though the ad is in French, the visuals make it understandable for the audience of different cultures.
Even if we have more technology than ever before, the power of a simple tale remains unchanged. You'll keep your audience interested no matter how you tell stories - as long as you spin a fantastic yarn with captivating characters, an exciting narrative, and enough emotion. Building an emotional and mental connection with your target audience is the most important. Storytelling marketing not only allows marketers to be more creative but also allows firms to express crucial messages without having to explain them. A real tale is simple to comprehend, regardless of age.
In our upcoming blogs, we would be bringing out the emotional and rational appeals you can use in your marketing strategies to influence your target audience.
The blog is compiled and written by Ms. Vidhi Thakar who is a content contributor on our website. If you have any questions or feedback, kindly please write back to us.