Stories are powerful and hold the power to connect people. A brand story is a piece of narrative that encompasses the facts and feelings created by your brand.
Now, thanks to smartphones and the internet, people are more contactable than ever before. But customers demand more than just a guarantee that your brand or business is the best. They need to be shown, not told. This all comes down to creating a relationship.
Why are we seeing more and more businesses focusing on their story?
Simply put, a strong brand story possesses the ability conjure an emotional connection with your audience. It is through this connection then that you can begin to build a relationship with your audience.
A strong brand story establishes what your brand is all about – its vision, core values, and mission. While also offering your audience much more than just a product or service, but an experience that can take them away from the everyday.
Let’s take a look at just a handful of the best brands in action…
Dove
Ahead of the curve since 2006, Dove knows the importance of storytelling. Their first video released took a female model and photo shopped her beyond recognition for a spread in a glossy magazine.
Sometime later in another campaign Dove had females describing themselves to a forensic artist. Each woman described themselves much harsher and less attractive than they really were. The video was shared more than 3.1 million times during the viral campaign. To date, with view count that keeps on growing, the video has been watched more than 67million times. The emotion, personal feel, and power of the story it tells makes it a compelling piece and hugely shareable.
Soulcycle
SoulCycle is 45 minutes of not just pedaling, but also handlebar push-ups, light weight-lifting, and a message of spiritual enlightenment set to a mix of the latest earworms. SoulCycle has a power, through their story to compel people to pay close to the price equivalent of a monthly membership at your typical gym, for one 45-minute class.
SoulCycle started with a story: two busy, ambitious women couldn’t find a cardio routine that “made their hearts sing” in New York City. So they decided they should start their own indoor cycling studio, emphasizing a full-body workout and spiritual component. They rented a 72nd street space from Craigslist, folded their own towels, and passed out flyers on the street. They knew every rider who came through their doors.
Today, SoulCycle has 17 studios around New York and LA. Their blog and social media channels tell the stories of both instructors and riders and further deepens the sense of community amongst them.
GoPro
GoPro has allowed us to see the world from new sights, heights and angles like never before. But it was in 2014 that they saw the power that an emotional brand story can hold.
A firefighter saves a kitten from a smoke-filled home. The whole story just happens to be recorded on the GoPro attached to his helmet. They took this emotional and capturing video of a firefighter, Cory Kalanick resuscitating a small kitten back to life. The video went viral and over the years has gained them millions of views online.
GoPro didn’t have to list out any features, or really even show the product. They just simply showed what their camera can catch and just how people, such as Cory can be hero’s, like their hero branded range.
If your customer connects with your brand story on an emotional level, they will want to be part of it.
Would you like to learn more about brand storytelling and how to uncover your company’s “magic slice”? Get in touch here, and call in to our new story studio!
