Brand communication is more about telling stories than reasoning

Brands need a storyteller, and brand communication requires storytelling. In this article, the author explains the origin and significance of brand stories, storytelling methods, and expressions, and reveals the profound meaning of brand storytelling in a simple and easy-to-understand way. It is recommended for those who are interested in brand marketing and brand operations.

01

If the advertising slogan is like a nail firmly driven into the minds of consumers, then the brand story is like a seed that takes root in the minds of opinion leaders, allowing the seeds to germinate, grow, bloom and bear fruit freely.

The brand story is the seed. The quality of the seed determines the future growth of the tree. If a company wants to influence opinion leaders, it must tell a good brand story and find a platform that can influence the brand story.

02

The first step to telling a good brand story is to write a good story. How can we write a good brand story? Today we will talk about it systematically.

First, we need to answer what is the brand story?

Second, what problem does the brand story solve for the brand?

Third, how to write a good brand story.

03

What is the brand story?

A brand story is about the origin of a brand. From a human perspective, people believe that everything happens for a reason. People want to hear an explanation for the appearance of anything. A brand story is a perfect explanation for the birth of a brand.

So, to sum up , the brand story is "everything happens for a reason + because of me". If we want to give a definition of brand story, we can define it as: brand story is a legendary narrative that embodies the brand's mission and spirit during the process of brand creation and development.

04

Brand storytelling can be expressed from the dimensions of time and content.

The time dimension can be described from the mental journey of brand creation and the development process of the brand after creation. The story of creation: that is, why does this brand exist? Generally used in the brand building from zero to one plan to explain the reason for the creation of this brand. The story of the process: In the process of brand development, a series of stories are also needed to consolidate the brand spirit and let the stories that embody the brand spirit continue.

Brand stories should not only explain the origin of the brand, but also express the brand's attitude. Knight, the founder of Nike, is a master of storytelling. He closely connects the Nike brand with the spirit of sports. He tells how he became an agent for a Japanese brand in Japan in order to let people who like sports wear a pair of good sports shoes, gave suggestions to the brand, and finally founded the Nike brand in order to produce good shoes.

Brand stories play the role of "emotional communication" between brands, brand opinion leaders and consumers. They convey the brand spirit in the form of stories, infect consumers with this spirit, form brand reputation in the minds of opinion leaders, and then stimulate the potential purchasing desire of opinion leaders and consumers. Through a good story, they can become free "salesmen" of the brand.

05

Casarte is a high-end brand launched by Haier Group in September 2007, positioned in the international high-end home appliance market. In the first three years after the brand was founded, it started to explore refrigerator products with Haier as its endorsement. In the second half of 2010, Casarte became completely independent from Haier, and all brand information related to Haier no longer appeared in all visual identification designs and brand communications.

At this time, with the help of Haier's accumulated brand assets, Casarte is fully comparable to international brands such as Siemens in terms of product technology, design, price, etc. As a high-end brand that directly competes with Samsung and Siemens, how does Casarte stand out from the market competition?

06

In addition to doing basic brand marketing and influencing mass consumers, Casarte influences opinion leaders by telling good brand stories, establishing a word-of-mouth effect among opinion leaders and forming a "spread" effect.

So, how did they do it specifically? In order to let more opinion leaders know about the new changes in the management, design, and technology of Haier and its brand Casarte, Zhou Yunjie, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Haier Group, personally shared Haier’s experience and lessons in improving the management, design, and technology of the company through digital transformation through columns such as "CEO Reading Club".

07

By telling a book and telling the corporate brand story, we have established in-depth exchanges and communication with opinion leaders, allowing them to establish a brand impression of Casarte that "domestic brands are not worse than foreign brands, and even do better in some aspects."

At the same time, Casarte insists on a "two-pronged approach" in the process of brand management: targeting opinion leaders, it uses brand stories to gain in-depth understanding and achieve a "spreading effect"; targeting the general consumers, it penetrates the minds of consumers through reasons for purchase.

In this way, Casarte has become the preferred high-end home appliance brand in the minds of the majority of opinion leaders. As early as 2014, Casarte won the championship in refrigerators priced above 15,000 yuan with a share of 26.63%, leading Samsung and Siemens by more than 5 percentage points. In 2015, its sales exceeded 10 billion yuan; in 2021, Casarte's cumulative market share of household air conditioners priced above 15,000 yuan exceeded 46%, ranking first in the market. While maintaining its first place in the high-end market, Casarte is also moving towards its brand mission of "leading China's lifestyle transformation" and has achieved super high brand value.

08

When telling brand stories, we can learn from the summary of the famous theologian Joseph Campbell, who spent years searching and reading myths and religious stories from all over the world and wrote the masterpiece "The Hero with a Thousand Faces".

Campbell summarized a common feature of all mythological stories: the hero's journey mainly consists of four stages.

• Departure: abandoning the current situation and entering the realm of adventure;
• Enlightenment: To gain some kind of understanding expressed in a symbolic way;
• Test: Falling into danger and fighting against fate;
• Return: Finally returning to normal life. This is the inevitable journey for every hero.

A good brand story will have these four stages, namely introduction, development, transition and conclusion.

09

Dimensions of brand story content: brand spirit communication + legendary plot setting. Brand spirit communication: All stories are conveying an idea and must play the role of conveying the brand spirit. This is the right logic, or it can be said to be the logic of strategy.

Legendary plot setting: If you want to make the concept deeply rooted in people's hearts and even spread it by word of mouth, you need an unusual and attractive plot. It is a good logic, or it can be said to be creative logic.

So, what is a brand story not? A brand story is not a brand introduction. A brand introduction is a simple and straightforward narrative; a brand story is a wonderful plot with ups and downs. A brand story does not solve cognitive problems, but creates a favorable impression. A brand story is not a perfunctory task: a brand story is not about simply completing a task and then sealing it in a small corner. Instead, it should show the inner soul of the brand in the form of a brand story from the dimension of brand strategy.

10

What problems do brand stories solve? Brand stories solve problems that influence brand opinion leaders. The three most important elements of a brand are brand awareness, brand association, and brand loyalty. To establish brand association and loyalty, it is not enough to rely solely on product experience. The brand must also be endowed with a "soul". Brand stories are the soul of a brand.

Only when brand opinion leaders have a deep understanding of your "soul" can positive associations and loyalty be formed.

In other words, brand stories need to answer three philosophical questions: Who am I? Who am I mainly tells the brand's positioning; Where did my brand come from? The brand's mission is clearly stated; The next step is to tell where the brand is going? What kind of place does the company need to go with the support of brand opinion leaders, partners, and consumers?

The brand story in the founding period solves the problem of the rationality of the enterprise's existence. The brand story in the process solves the problem of consolidating the brand concept.

11

Let's review the definition of brand story. Brand story is a legendary narrative that reflects the brand's mission and spirit during the creation and development of the brand. From the perspective of brand story writing, brand story also follows the writing logic of news, and news has six elements (5W+1H). "Five Ws", namely Who, What, When, Where, Why, and "one H": How, that is, "time, place, people, cause, process, and result of the event."

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When conceiving a brand story, the first thing to do is to be clear about the brand spirit, that is, what is the core concept of the brand? Brand stories written before the brand spirit is established are like water without a source and trees without roots. A good brand story also needs to be spreadable. There is a very vulgar saying, but it is a wise saying: "A dog biting a man is not news, but a man biting a dog is news." This is the importance of the legendary nature of the story.

13

When it comes to brand story, you can look for it from these angles:

1. The story of product development, and the energy the founders put into research and development before the brand was born.
2. Category story: what is the differentiation and integration that the category occupied by the brand has experienced in the process of development? What is the significance of each?
3. Founder’s experience: As a founder, what is the reason or driving force for starting a business?
4. Brand concept, what kind of concept does this brand hold? Where does the brand name and brand logo come from? What is the significance of the choice of brand name and brand logo?
5. Pain points and conflicts faced by the target group: Develop products based on certain pain points and conflicts of consumers.

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In terms of writing style, you should follow the logic of "introduction, development, turn and conclusion" of the article.

• Introduction: The introduction is the beginning and the way to break the topic. The introduction needs to attract consumers. The brand story should first make consumers want to continue reading.
• Cheng: Cheng means to carry on and raise a question. It can both connect the previous and the next. Connecting the previous is the progress of the story and the sublimation of emotions, while connecting the next is to pave the way for the emergence of the brand character.
• Transition: Transition means turning point. This part needs to introduce the brand, what are the characteristics of the brand, and what role it plays in the process.
• Conclusion: Conclusion is the summary. Ultimately, what problem did the emergence of the brand solve? The story is summarized and sublimated to officially launch the brand, thereby changing the lifestyle of consumers.

15

Do you remember how Haier became famous? Haier became famous when its chairman Zhang Ruimin smashed refrigerators. The brand story of Haier is that after customers reported quality problems with the products, 76 defective refrigerators were smashed after an investigation.

Since then, "Zhang Ruimin smashing the refrigerator" has become a milestone in Haier's brand story in its development. Whenever the refrigerator smashing incident is mentioned, people will think of Haier's corporate responsibility and the high quality of its products. Haier's brand story tells a kind of pragmatism, which is also the original intention of the company to take products as the source.

16

The brand story of Chu Orange x Chu Shijian tells a story of "Life always has ups and downs, but spirit can be passed on". Chu Shijian, the legendary orange king, if you don't know him, your parents must have heard of him. He is Chu Shijian. This former "cigarette king" is an indispensable figure in China's reform history and one of the most controversial figures in China.

At the age of 75, after experiencing the lowest point in his life, he started again; at the age of 85, he made a comeback with the "Chu Orange" that he had worked hard on for 10 years. Today, he has deservedly become the "Orange King" of his generation; his "Chu Orange" has become a veritable "inspirational orange". A legendary life, with ups and downs, but no matter when, he still has the spirit of a veteran who is always proud of himself.

This is a kind of heroism that is free from the ups and downs of the world. Because of this brand story, Chu Orange has also become an inspirational orange.

17

Cosmetics brands tend to tell their brand stories in a more structured way.

Let’s take the story of LAMER and the ocean as an example:

Origin: Originated from an accident. The birth of the brand began with an accident that Dr. Max Huber encountered in the laboratory, which aroused his exploration journey of repairing his face.

Cheng: He began to crack the secret of repairing the ocean. During the day, he was still a space physicist, and when night fell, he turned into a dreamer. With the desire to crack the secret of repairing energy, he set his sights on the beloved ocean.

Forward: After many years and thousands of experiments, the secret repair formula was finally found. After 12 years and 6,000 experiments, the doctor finally had an epiphany that benefited him for the rest of his life. He fermented and extracted the soul ingredient and repair secret formula of the La Mer brand - the magical essence Miracke BrothTM from deep-sea giant kelp and other pure ingredients.

Together: He finally found the answer and transformed his skin. This is a story about hope, repair and a person's deep respect for the ever-lasting ocean. A laboratory accident led to a spirit of dedication and never giving up.

18

After writing a brand story, the key step is to tell the brand story. If the brand story only stays on the company's introduction PPT, brand feature film, and brand brochure, the communication effect is very limited. To tell a brand story, you must find the right platform to tell it directly to the brand's opinion leaders. After the opinion leaders recognize the brand story, it will form a particularly good "broadcast". Writing it out and telling it out are the keys to making the brand story "come alive".

19

If you think that brand storytelling is too thin, you can find a suitable book and extend the storytelling from the book to the brand story, which can make the brand story more full and moving. In the thousands of years of human history, you will definitely find a classic book that fits your brand spirit. Through the logic of such a book + a story, it is a way to tell a brand story in a gorgeous way.

20

The success of a brand does not depend on doing more things, but on doing the right things. To do the right things, we must firmly grasp two core points: first, for opinion leaders, we must stand on the right stage and tell them a brand story that touches people 's hearts; second, for consumers, we must create reasons to buy and repeatedly output them to leave an impression in the minds of consumers. Tell a good brand story, influence opinion leaders, and let opinion leaders "spread" your brand.

Author: Liu Yichun

Source: WeChat public account "Liu Yichun's Brand Business Innovation (ID: shangyeyiguohui)"