Yes, it is indeed another blog post about digital storytelling and its monumental impact to marketing. Why do you suppose that is? Well, “monumental impact” should have been a clue. Aside from the fact that it is the industry’s subject du jour, storytelling IS the new marketing. Gone are the days of throwing out some quick features and benefits along with a snappy new jingle. Today’s savvy consumers need to connect with a brand in ways they never have before. It has become urgently important to engage with your audience, particularly Millennials, in a way that creates an emotional connection. Don’t sell them stuff, bond with them over stuff. As you have probably already guessed, story telling is a great tactic for creating that emotional bond.
Why Storytelling?
When you boil it down to its essence, business and everything that it entails, is about people. People selling to people. And because business is so people-centric, it makes even more sense to gain as much insight as possible into what motivates people to make (or not make) buying decisions.
Our brains are designed to understand and retain stories in a different (read: simpler) way than we understand and retain facts and figures.The truth is, most people are drawn to, and subsequently motivated by, feelings and experiences. Have you ever seen a spreadsheet go viral? Have you ever rushed to social media to tell everyone about an ingredients label on the back of a soup can? I would certainly doubt that you answered “yes” to either question. Feelings and emotional connections come from shared experiences and those experiences are usually imparted in the form of storytelling.
Based on the way we understand and then retain stories, storytelling marketing has the potential to increase not only brand awareness, but brand loyalty, trust and even action (purchase). Our simple little brains crave stories and that’s why novels and film are so popular. Stories leverage our emotions in order to gain, and in most cases keep, our attention. In fact, would you believe that people rely more on their emotions than on intellectual reasoning when making a buying decision? It’s true, and probably the very reason Harley Davidsons sell like they do.
When a Company Tells a Story…
When a company tells a story that is compelling, emotionally engaging and interactive, they not only have the ability to grab and hold the attention of customers, both current and potential, but they get a chance to infuse the nameless, faceless organization with a personality by imparting some of the company’s perspective.
Forget About The Old Hard Sell
Smart consumers are on the lookout for disingenuous sales tactics. They want a brand they can trust, and one that they feel good about doing business with. If a brand can create and emotional response—it doesn’t really matter which one—it is one step closer to that coveted relationship.
How Does One Acquire That which Can’t Be Bought?
An excellent example of subtle, entertaining and ultimately provocative storytelling can be found in “A Gentlemen’s Wager”. The short film is British Director Jake Scott’s breathtakingly cinematic answer to that very question. As the film opens, two apparently enormously wealthy men, played by Jude Law and Giancarlo Giannini, are enjoying a leisurely glass of Johnnie Walker Blue on the deck of a rare vintage yacht in an exclusive tropical locale. After a moment of silent reflection, Jude Law’s character announces that he would like to buy the boat. The older, presumably wiser Giannini launches into a detailed monologue about the vessel’s pedigree and vintage, declaring “there is nothing like it in the world. It’s rarer than rare”. [ Of course this declaration is intended to be a subliminal metaphor for Johnny Walker’s top shelf hooch. ] He then goes on to state that it is not for sale. Unhindered, Law’s character tells his friend that he doesn’t want to buy it with money, but rather he wants to win it …with a dance. “A Dance?” Giannini asks incredulously, but after a moment of consideration he raises his glass in acceptance of the Gentlemen’s Wager.
We are then whisked back to London as Jude’s character prepares for his part of the wager. We see him being fitted for a bespoke suit, Saville Row I am guessing, learning a piano piece and painstakingly plotting out his choreography for what ultimately has to be one pretty spectacular dance. When he is ready, Law summons his older friend to a clandestine London location for the big pay off.
As Jude begins his spectacularly planned number, replete with a jazz band and backup dancers, he periodically stops to seek the approval of Giannini. Seemingly unimpressed, Giannini continues to sip his Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch, hoping to be wowed. Does Jude’s character have it in him? He’ll have to find out for himself as he pushes himself to the limits. Finally, he stops one last time to see if his comrade is impressed, and sure enough, he is. So much so that he joins in the dance.
The film cuts back to the same yacht in the same tropical locale with the same two old friends enjoying what can only be presumed to be the finest scotch money can buy. This time, Giancarlo Giannini pipes up saying that he wants to buy the boat. Jude scoffs as he playfully begins the same speech about the vessel’s pedigree we heard earlier, finishing with a resolute sounding reply that the boat is not for sale. Giannini then says that he doesn’t want to buy the boat with money, but that he wants to buy it… with a story. The two clink glasses to seal the deal, and so we go again.
It is at the very end that we really understand the true nature of the wager, and the true meaning of the film. Here are two men who possess the financial wherewithal to acquire anything that money can buy. But what about things money can’t buy? Nothing truly good in this world comes easy, and sometimes we have to plumb the depths of our soul to find what it takes to get that which we most desire. These are two men who go to great lengths to acquire the very best the world has to offer, so it is only natural that their Scotch of choice be the fabled Johnnie Walker Blue Label. The story is amusing and entertaining and certainly engages an emotion or two, but you may notice when viewing it that the scotch itself is only ancillary to the story.
Nice.
Subtle.
Just as the digital storytelling Gods intended.
–Steve
steve geibel 