Do you know about the exploits of Georgio Peviani? For a brief, glorious moment in 2017, he was the toast of the fashion world, with his denim jeans at the Paris Fashion Week. It was, in fact, a carefully crafted ruse by Vice.com’s Oobah Butler who picked up knock-off streetwear, put together a website and bluffed his way among fashion’s A-listers. Butler struck again with ‘The Shed’, a non-existent restaurant which became the number 1 restaurant in London on TripAdvisor. Driving all these endeavors was a diabolical mind, and yes, a compelling sto-ry.
A good story is the best way to introduce your brand to the customer. Bajaj auto told the story of Indian armed forces with the Bajaj V, built from the scrap of INS Vikrant. It linked the new bike with the proud history of India’s first aircraft carrier! The customer wasn’t just buying a bike; they were buying into the proud history of the Indian armed forces.
Every brand today is looking for a narrative to carry their product messaging to the custom-ers. These narratives are mounted on various media vehicles, some miss their mark, some hit home; but more than the media strategy, it is the narrative that has helped brands reach for better. Even new age brands like Airbnb doesn’t talk about the global enterprise they have built from scratch, but instead, focuses on the stories of their customers and partners through community stories.
Burberry was among the first luxury labels to take social media seriously. Burberry revenue growth had dropped from 15% in 2008 to 7% in 2009. Art of Trench was born out of the need for the brand to become relevant to a younger audience who were increasingly spend-ing time online. It married the brand’s vintage trench coats to the then-hot trend of street photography and set up a website where customers can share their pictures wearing the classic trench. The site had 7.5 million views from 150 countries in the first year and helped push online sales by 50% year-on-year. It was the power of the brand utilizing its heritage as a storytelling device to build trust with younger, millennial customers and ‘aspirationals’.
But while speaking to respective demographics, brands ensure that they also address indi-viduals through a personalized pitch. HDFC insurance’s ‘Sar utha ke jio’ campaign turned the traditional narrative of the life insurance category on its head. Life insurance as a product was pitched to people as a safety net for their family in case of their untimely death. This campaign pitched it as their way to maintain their dignity and financial freedom in their post-retirement life. The 70s Bollywood trope of old, helpless parents being looked after or abandoned by their children was destroyed in 30 seconds by a brilliant insight-based cam-paign.
The storytelling device has helped marketers across ages. From De Beers’ changing how people proposed with their tagline ‘A diamond is forever’ in the 1940s to P&G thanking mothers across the globe in the Rio 2016 campaign, marketers have tried to reach for better by either building timeless narratives (diamonds!) or have taken cues from real world to re-tell a story that is likely to strike a chord with their audience (Bajaj). In either scenario, it has worked because everyone loves a good story.
Author: Soubhik Mukherjee
Soubhik Mukherjee is an experienced marketing communication professional with exposure in Digital strategy across social media marketing platforms & multiple content management domains. Currently, Soubhik is a Senior Manager (Digital communication) with Max Bu-pa Health Insurance.
Why a good marketer must be a good storyteller?
Why a good marketer must be a good storyteller?
Do you know about the exploits of Georgio Peviani? For a brief, glorious moment in 2017, he was the toast of the fashion world, with his denim jeans at the Paris Fashion Week. It was, in fact, a carefully crafted ruse by Vice.com’s Oobah Butler who picked up knock-off streetwear, put together a website and bluffed his way among fashion’s A-listers. Butler struck again with ‘The Shed’, a non-existent restaurant which became the number 1 restaurant in London on TripAdvisor. Driving all these endeavors was a diabolical mind, and yes, a compelling sto-ry.
A good story is the best way to introduce your brand to the customer. Bajaj auto told the story of Indian armed forces with the Bajaj V, built from the scrap of INS Vikrant. It linked the new bike with the proud history of India’s first aircraft carrier! The customer wasn’t just buying a bike; they were buying into the proud history of the Indian armed forces.
Every brand today is looking for a narrative to carry their product messaging to the custom-ers. These narratives are mounted on various media vehicles, some miss their mark, some hit home; but more than the media strategy, it is the narrative that has helped brands reach for better. Even new age brands like Airbnb doesn’t talk about the global enterprise they have built from scratch, but instead, focuses on the stories of their customers and partners through community stories.
Burberry was among the first luxury labels to take social media seriously. Burberry revenue growth had dropped from 15% in 2008 to 7% in 2009. Art of Trench was born out of the need for the brand to become relevant to a younger audience who were increasingly spend-ing time online. It married the brand’s vintage trench coats to the then-hot trend of street photography and set up a website where customers can share their pictures wearing the classic trench. The site had 7.5 million views from 150 countries in the first year and helped push online sales by 50% year-on-year. It was the power of the brand utilizing its heritage as a storytelling device to build trust with younger, millennial customers and ‘aspirationals’.
But while speaking to respective demographics, brands ensure that they also address indi-viduals through a personalized pitch. HDFC insurance’s ‘Sar utha ke jio’ campaign turned the traditional narrative of the life insurance category on its head. Life insurance as a product was pitched to people as a safety net for their family in case of their untimely death. This campaign pitched it as their way to maintain their dignity and financial freedom in their post-retirement life. The 70s Bollywood trope of old, helpless parents being looked after or abandoned by their children was destroyed in 30 seconds by a brilliant insight-based cam-paign.
The storytelling device has helped marketers across ages. From De Beers’ changing how people proposed with their tagline ‘A diamond is forever’ in the 1940s to P&G thanking mothers across the globe in the Rio 2016 campaign, marketers have tried to reach for better by either building timeless narratives (diamonds!) or have taken cues from real world to re-tell a story that is likely to strike a chord with their audience (Bajaj). In either scenario, it has worked because everyone loves a good story.
Author: Soubhik Mukherjee
Soubhik Mukherjee is an experienced marketing communication professional with exposure in Digital strategy across social media marketing platforms & multiple content management domains. Currently, Soubhik is a Senior Manager (Digital communication) with Max Bu-pa Health Insurance.
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