I am often invited by companies and advertising agencies to help find the brand story. What quickly becomes apparent, however, is that it is often only about finding new content for commercials, i.e. emotional/exciting/funny and in any case original and well-told stories.
That is undoubtedly necessary. We all know those people who tell the funniest joke in the world so badly at the bar that you wish there was Prozac in the peanut shell. And then there are those exceptional talents who tell you a mediocre, ancient joke so well that you have to wipe your seat long before the punch line.
No question, good storytelling is vital and difficult enough. But what is crucial for success in terms of lasting impact is not the narrative, but the topic.
We use the same word for two different things, which usually leads to a fatal misunderstanding. The substantial meaning of story is simply forgotten. Story means both:
- The plot - the narrative
- The theme - the meaning
This misunderstanding runs through everything that has to do with stories. Pick up the nearest magazine. Book reviews, theatre reviews or film reviews are usually limited to discussing the plot and assessing the quality of the work. But there is more to it than that.
In art, just as in brand communication, the magnetic power of story lies in meaning, because only this creates relationship, i.e. added value. And added value is nutritional value.
You've probably seen Rocky , if not: catch up. Even after 40 years, Rocky is still in many dimensions a showpiece masterpiece and a textbook example of storytelling, and its success was no accident.
Why did this film move so many people? Identifying with a not furiously intelligent underdog from Philadelphia who wants to become world heavyweight boxing champion doesn't offer much identification potential for us. But the theme does. Strictly speaking, there are two topics that have always and forever moved us humans.
- Even a loser can make it to the top if only given the chance.
- You are worth being loved. Believe it!
Isn't this something that moves us all to a greater or lesser extent? Doesn't it have meaning for each of us? Every one of us wants to be given a chance in matters big and small, or knows the feeling, I would have done this or that if only I had been given a chance.
And the desire for love, for recognition and belonging burns in every human being anyway. However, most people - for a wide variety of mostly irrational reasons - do not feel lovable. And even Rocky, after his heroic fight against Apollo Creed in the ring, doesn't shout "I'm a super boxer!" but "Adrian!!!" That was his real victory, the victory over himself and the realisation: yes, I took my chance, I showed that I'm not a loser, so I'm worthy of being loved by Adrian.
You are worth loving - that's the theme of this film, that's the meaning for us, the longing that everyone shares. Meaning - that's the rocky punch your brand story needs. That's something everyone can learn from us, and without Apollo Creed beating our faces in for a good half hour.
What is your theme?
The ever-popular doctor series are not doctor series about curing people. That's just the setting and the platform on which the actual story unfolds.
A hospital is so practical as a setting for the makers of a series because, firstly, all people of every social class can meet each other here as a matter of course and, secondly, thanks to the suffering of the patients, a basic drama constantly blows through the corridors like the ghost of Prof. Brinkmann through our transfigured memories. (Thank God the professor no longer has to watch his son Udo mutate into a dreamboat captain ...).
Nevertheless, a doctor's series is never about the dramatic solution of medical problems, but about the people who hang around.
When I first saw Grey's Anatomy many years ago, I was simply blown away by the quality of Shonda Rhimes' scripts. I hope they are still as good - I unfortunately had to break off contact when McDreamy was still alive due to time constraints.
Grey's Anatomy is a series about growing up, something that many already quite grown-up people find increasingly difficult in our time. It's about growing up and the responsibility that comes with it. The permanent challenge to recognise what is right and what is wrong - not only medically - and to make the right decisions, which usually ends in a dilemma. That's life.
This is particularly exciting in that doctors have to take responsibility for the fate of others day and night, but at the same time the young ones struggle to take responsibility for themselves and their own lives.
On top of that, of course, there's a lot of love chaos and madness. After all, the working title for the development of the series was Sex & the Surgery . - Does anyone actually know how Carrie Bradshaw is doing?
Story needs a point of view.
Anyone who develops a story needs a point of view. This is true for every brand story and for everything that is literature anyway. In American, this is called the Writer's Voice - what an author has to say, the author's message.
In another doctor series, Dr. House, this point of view is quite obvious: "Everybody lies - patients anyway." So the tension and drama of Dr. House unfolds in a clear perspective, and if you watch a few episodes from that perspective, you will realise how many facets of this point of view are masterfully experienced.
SoDr. House is a series about truth, or rather about its absence and the search for it. And sometimes the question arises whether truth really exists.
By the way, does the character constellation of Dr. House and Dr. Wilson sound familiar? The similarity of the names to Holmes and Watson is no coincidence ...
Your brand story also needs a clear perspective, because the perspective is nourished by your values. The values create meaning and the meaning creates the relationship with your audience. Values - meaning - relationship, that is the genetic code of a brand story. That is the genetic code of story as a whole.
Find your truth.
The real, truth, authenticity - that's what interests people. This also succeeds in marketing communication. Truth is actually the only chance that brands, companies and organisations have to be taken seriously at all.
For example, what do you think about:
UPDATE: It's a sunny morning in our beautiful little town, and it smells like spring and Sunday. The front door opens, finally: Daddy is back from his business trip! Benny and his mum greet the homecomer like a ... yes: homecomer, almost crushing him in their rush of loving joy. Even Laura comes down, still a bit pubescently sleepy, but still, because now everything is whole again, everything is good again! Ronja, the predatory house cat, sniffs daddy's bag, because he has brought something for her too. He simply thinks of everyone and everything. Just like Dad ...
He sees everything with his alert, flashing eyes, but he sees especially well with his heart - Daddy, the great little prince - and of course he notices immediately what beautiful things have happened here in the meantime.
CLOSE UP: We see - please tick as appropriate:
Things turn green that should rather not turn green, Dad's face for example, because he also suddenly feels it, this Leiner moment(and does not experience it as the rest of us usually do with the usual moments).
Furnishings that normally don't move move because house spirit Mia was atMömaxbefore and here afterwards, and after a moment of shock everything looks better right away.
David Alaba emerges from the kitchen box and points out to everyone present that although he is the only one who is a kicker, they can all be kika if they wanted to be, and that is really good news for a change.
Are you all right? Pass me the Prozac bowl!
That's exactly what advertising is and that's exactly what gets on people's nerves so insanely that more and more people spend money on it so that they don't have to encounter any more. Admittedly, the first part of the commercial is invented, actually just found, but it exists in all of us. It is the longing of us humans for an ideal world that is so prevalent in the minds of those responsible for marketing communication that it obscures our view of reality.
There is still a big misunderstanding that successful brand stories have to be nice and good, that all the participants have to be likeable and that there should be at least a bit of fun at the end. That is one possibility, but it is anything but a prerequisite for effective storytelling. Story needs one thing above all: truth.
Truth is the great, irresistible strength of Story. Story is the image of our real life, our values, our deep longing. Story also needs empathy, because empathy is real and rooted inside people, sympathy evaporates. However, when both come together, it's not wrong either ...
Brands that seriously and respectfully go where it hurts, where real life lives and people really need something, are in the right place for successful brand stories. That's when their values and aspirations connect with those of their audience. That's when advertising becomes conversation and storytelling becomes storysharing, values shared with each other. We are in agreement.
The current campaign of IKEA in Sweden "Where life happens" aims at this. The spot "Every other week" is a perfect emotional fit with the lives of all too many (ex-)families and dramatises the products in a skilful dramaturgical way.
The IKEA storypacks a rocky punch. It has a theme, it has meaning, it has a point of view. IKEA has understood that it's not about the furniture, but about creating the feeling(!) of home, with everything that goes with it.
To ensure that good advertising stories don't remain stupid advertising, IKEA would do well to extend "Where life happens" into real life, perhaps with smart initiatives for single parents among its employees, in the stores, on the website, out in the world. Because then a powerful brand story not only becomes true, but a tangible reality.
Then the so-called immersive brand experience is created, i.e. the possibility to really experience the brand values comprehensively. And then the brand gets the most precious thing it can get from its audience: Time. Time with Brand.
Does that apply to all companies and brands? No, but for the successful ones. Truth in the brand story is not a question of company size, but a necessity for successful communication. It doesn't matter whether it's a global corporation, an SME or a small business - every person, every brand, every company has an image, some kind of story, stands for something, even if it's nothing.
My grandmother, old Story Dudette, was known for her damn hard right hook, which even Rocky would have had a hard time balancing. And she had a tattoo on her right bicep that is still in my mind today: "No Story. No Glory."