Brand storytelling: how a shared story wins the consumer

Brand storytelling is the strategic use of narrative to communicate the identity, the values and the purpose of a company, so that the public recognises itself in the story and becomes part of it. In a market saturated with messages, facing a demanding and informed consumer, it is one of the few levers that moves a brand beyond the promotion of a product and builds lasting emotional connections with its audience.

The capacity to tell authentic, engaging stories full of meaning is an essential competence for any brand that aims to stand out, create value and connect with its target.

Enrico Giubertoni

As an international keynote speaker (a speaker invited to open or headline a conference) and digital strategy consultant, I have explored these dynamics in several high-profile contexts. In 2017 Cosmetica Italia (the Italian association of the cosmetics industry) invited me to speak at Cosmoprof (the international beauty trade fair held in Bologna), where I gave two talks. They focused on cosmetics, yet the themes they touched apply to the narrative of any brand.

This article uses those two talks to examine the dimensions of brand storytelling: storytelling at corporate level, emotional and sensory storytelling, five practical examples and the way to manage them over time.

My talk: Cosmetics, sense of belonging and the language of myth: the meaning of a collective narrative on social media

Guest speaker at Cosmoprof, international conference “The cosmetics to come: digital economy and new languages, between ecology and technology”

The conference examined the evolution of the digital economy and of new communication languages. The question I had to answer was how brands, cosmetic brands in particular, can move beyond the function of the product and create bonds of identity and community.

For this reason I designed the talk around one idea: brand storytelling can become the engine of an authentic sense of belonging.

In the age of digital storytelling, and especially with the amplification that social media provide, a strong story passes through the cultivation of a collective narrative.

This narrative draws on the language of myth, that is, on the archetypes (recurring models of character and story shared across cultures), the universal values and the deep symbols that resonate with the collective unconscious. The result is a story in which the public recognises itself and feels an active part. This approach is at the heart of the most effective corporate storytelling:

• Corporate storytelling defines the values and the mission with which the community can identify, in addition to the history of the company.
• The collective narrative, supported by digital storytelling, transforms consumers from buyers into members of a tribe, united by shared experiences and ideals.
• Sensory storytelling was a secondary theme of this talk. I introduced it to show that mythical and collective narratives also aim at an immersive experience, which evokes emotions and stimulates imagination. The involvement remains intangible, yet the public perceives it as almost sensory, at emotional and identity level.

My talk: Cosmetics in digital communication: translating the scents and sensations of products into purchasing behaviour

Guest speaker at the event “The Cosmetica Italia Research Centre at Cosmoprof: market data and insights”

This panel was dedicated to market data and consumer insights in the cosmetics sector. The challenge I accepted was to transform the intrinsic qualities of cosmetic products, often intangible and sensory, into concrete levers for action and conversion in the digital environment.

I therefore designed the talk to demonstrate that the great challenge of digital storytelling for cosmetics, and by extension for every sector that sells experiences and sensations, is to communicate what is difficult to communicate: enveloping scents, silky textures, unique sensations on the skin. Here emotional and sensory storytelling take the leading role:

• Emotional storytelling was at the centre of the talk: how to evoke, with words, images and digital interactions, the sensations of wellbeing, beauty or transformation that the product promises.
• The techniques of sensory storytelling: a rich and metaphorical language, visual storytelling of very high quality that almost lets the viewer touch the product, authentic testimonials that describe the tactile and olfactory experience in vivid terms, and interactive storytelling, such as virtual try-on tools or interactive quizzes that guide the user to the product best suited to them.
• The final objective, as I underlined, is to show how this careful sensory and emotional translation can positively influence purchasing behaviour, transforming curiosity into desire and desire into action.

The reflections that emerged from these two talks at Cosmoprof provide a solid base to examine the strategic dimensions of brand storytelling.

Corporate storytelling: defining the soul and the values of your brand

Starting from these ideas, corporate storytelling goes well beyond the chronicle of the company.

Corporate storytelling is the strategic process through which an organisation defines and communicates its “soul”: its fundamental mission, the vision that guides it, the values that inform every action and the culture that makes it unique.

Enrico Giubertoni

An effective corporate narrative invites the public to understand the deep “why” behind the existence of the brand, and in this way it creates a solid base for trust and loyalty, the best protection against customer churn (the share of customers who leave in a given period).

This kind of storytelling requires careful storytelling management, that is, a conscious direction that guarantees consistency and authenticity in every communication and transforms the history of the company into a tangible strategic asset.

The power of emotional storytelling: creating authentic, lasting bonds

Emotional storytelling connects with the public at a level beyond logic and rationality. In cosmetics, evoking sensations is crucial, and the principle holds everywhere: people take decisions, purchasing decisions included, largely on the basis of emotions.

A brand story that arouses joy, hope, empathy, curiosity or a sense of reassurance creates a bond much stronger and more memorable than purely factual communication.

The task is to identify and amplify the emotions that genuinely belong to the experience the brand offers.

Enrico Giubertoni

Interactive storytelling, for example, can be a strong instrument to let the public live these emotions in first person.

Brand storytelling examples: five approaches to win the target

Understanding the “why” and the “how” of storytelling is essential, and concrete brand storytelling examples translate theory into practice. Successful companies in every sector use brand storytelling to differentiate themselves. Here are five particularly effective approaches:

1. The origin story (founder’s story). Many brands build strong narratives around the story of the founder, the challenges overcome and the initial vision. This makes the brand human and communicates its fundamental values in an authentic way.
2. Customer stories (user-generated content and testimonials). Encouraging and sharing the stories of your customers, which is what user-generated content means, is a very strong form of digital storytelling. It is authentic and credible, it creates a strong community effect and it amplifies the reach of the message.
3. Behind-the-scenes stories. Showing production processes, the team at work and the company culture generates transparency, builds trust and brings the brand closer to the public on a human level.
4. Value-driven stories. Telling how the brand commits itself to social or environmental causes, or to the ethical values it believes in. This kind of corporate storytelling attracts and retains consumers who share the same principles.
5. Product stories focused on the “why”. Instead of listing the technical features of a product, narrate the problem it solves, the deep need it satisfies or the unique experience it enables in the life of the customer.

To apply these approaches, a structured method is often useful. Many companies obtain good results from dedicated storytelling workshops, intensive and interactive sessions where teams learn to identify, build and communicate the strongest and most authentic stories of their brand.

The strategic governance of these narratives belongs to storytelling management: a continuous process that aligns the stories of the brand with the business objectives.

Brand storytelling as a strategic imperative in contemporary marketing

In a market where attention is scarce and trust is precious, brand storytelling is a strategic imperative. The capacity of a company to tell its own story, to connect emotionally with its public and to build meaningful collective narratives increasingly determines the success and the longevity of a brand.

Each well-built narrative contributes to brand equity, the value that the brand name adds to the offer. A practical way to begin is to choose one of the five approaches above, write that story in a single page and test it with the team in a workshop, before it reaches any channel. Managers and teams in marketing, sales and product are called to train as skilled narrators, and consulting on performance can support that work.