Living the Brand through Stories

15th Apr 2005 @ 1.51pm

Why do brand owners need storytelling?
Because the destiny of their brands is in the hands of their employees. A brand is a promise consistently delivered. And when it’s delivered by hundreds of different types of customer interactions, across thousands of employees and millions of miles - well that promise hangs by a thread.

Brand owners spend millions on customer and consumer communications - effectively raising the expectations of that promise. But increasingly sophisticated consumers will continually judge those expectations against their personal experiences.

So what is the brand owners’ response?
Well, there’s been a revolution in the way that they engage their customers. Sophisticated relationship-building techniques are commonplace. Yet when it comes to engaging their internal audience, there is a tendency to revert to traditional command and control. ‘Brand bibles’ and ‘Brand police’ still rule the roost!

These tend to focus on the ‘tangible’ aspects of the brand - the look and feel of its identity. But today’s brands are being differentiated by their intangible attributes - their values, personalities and motivations. You cannot deliver these simply by following rules. You have to truly engage in them.

Which all sounds fine in theory, but how the hell do you engage 60,000 people in your brand value’s personalities and motivations?!!
By making them live through stories. Start with the brand itself. Like all good stories, it’s on a journey from its past to the future - facing challenges, winning battles. Then show your employees that they are the heroes of that brand story. Tell them of the extraordinary exploits that ordinary employees are undertaking to make your brand special (I promise you they will be out there). Make them want to become the story heroes of the future. In short, get them to live the brand.

posted by Alison Esse
filed under Brands