Brands telling stories is nothing new. What is new is the focus on the concept, with the rise of content marketing and social media. Seventeen years ago when I first started in marketing and branding, we knew that what we were doing was telling stories, but I’d never seen the term in a marketing plan or strategic document. Today, I hear and see it all the time.
We are more accustomed to seeing brands tell short stories through the use of print, radio and television advertising. There would be a short plot somehow tied to the product (albeit at times a bit too loosely) and the brands would hope we’d quickly connect to the idea orstory presented in the ad and remember their product. If the brands were a product that could easily be demonstrated, we would get a bit more robust story of the brand via in-person appearances if the brands were lucky enough to catch our attention as we passed them in, say, a grocery aisle…
