Storytelling: Planning the Story

Hopefully you all had a chance to look at our last post on the subject of storytelling! We have already talked about the first step in the storytelling process, discovering your target audience or more specifically target segments. We took a quick look at The Moxy Hotel that the Marriott has recently launched across Europe. In case you are not familiar, you can check out the short promo video here for the hotel chain before we dive deeper into why this story was so effective.

This week, we are talking about planning your story. This story is your brand narrative which will convey to your customer the value of your brand and how it will positively change their life. Your story needs to be cohesive and strategic, because this is a tool you will use to communicate with your target segments to encourage them to use your product or service! Keep in mind, this translates the company values to both potential and existing customers. This story could be the first glimpse at your brand and needs to make a lasting impression to differentiate you from the competition and engage your audience!

In order to captivate the audience, it is detrimental to make decisions on how exactly the story will be told. You must make decisions on if the story will portray fantasy or reality for your customers. Stories can often mirror the plot of a children’s book, a situation evolution, the conflict, and a resolution which is most often your product or service. This encourages your user to purchase the product or service because it highlights the benefits it could have on their own life. The ultimate goal is to motivate change and draw your customer in.

Let’s look again at the Moxy ad previously mentioned. This story highlights many young millennial ideals of traveling the world. This fantasy becomes reality at the Moxy Hotel chain in the ad showing the hip, young, carefree lifestyle they hope to encompass themselves. It depicts young adults, like the target segment, interacting in the hotel, having a fabulous time in the luxury yet youthful environment which is a different experience than a typical Marriott hotel.

Stories can be effective on many mediums. As mentioned last week, the Moxy ad campaign #atthemoxy and #dodistrub launched on both YouTube and Instagram while also appearing on Facebook and going viral across many mediums due to the humor portrayed and the social influencer endorsement by various guests who appeared in the advertisements.

Now, this doesn’t look the same for all companies. Some companies, utilize animation to portray their story such as the Redbull ‘Give Me Wings’ campaign. Stories can also come in a variety of contexts. Some stories are more effective when portrayed on a personal account rather than through paid actors because they tend to better connect with the audience and display emotion. The balance and ideal combination is a tricky situation to uncover which is why people often consult with an ad agency to determine the best copy for their story and the best method to telling that story.