Brand storytelling is getting quite a bit of buzz these days. And the good folks at ad agency BBDO (I got an image of Don Draper lighting a cigarette in my head the moment I typed that) have recently come out with the results of a study on “telling more effective brand stories.”
Most of the results are no surprise if you’ve been following Brandtelling for a while. But it’s always nice to have a few numbers to back up our assertions. Here are a few interesting stats from the the BBDO study:
46% say “a great brand is like an interesting person at a party”
57% want to know about the history and quirky details of a brand
45% are looking for interesting stories about the brand
Do you see the significance here? You want to look for ways that your brand story can become the lively, interesting guy or gal at the party — the one with interesting stories, a nice laugh and a self-deprecating manner. You don’t want to be that guy who is loud, obnoxious and only talks about himself in the third person (you know the one).
But, guess what? You already knew that. We’re all attracted to the good storytellers. That explains the short nerdy guy who walked into the party with the stunning redhead on his arm. He’s a great storyteller. What makes him great? All his stories are about her! They involve her, they pull her into his nerdy little world.
The study results BBDO announced support a number of tenants for Brandtelling success, including the need to be genuine. But I was particularly interested in the comments on “passionate brands.” According to the survey:
“Passionate brands are: consistent, genuine, make you feel better, try to do the right thing, interesting, accessible, decent, responsive”
I like that. I think that we need to work on making our brand stories more passionate. Now I can’t wait for my redhead to come home to her short nerdy guy!
What do you think?