Storytelling has become a hot topic for brands that are trying to create authentic connections with their consumers.  The viral nature of digital communication enables good storytelling to capture millions of eyeballs at a low cost.  The benefit of developing heart-opening messages that create an aspirational tone for what the brand stands for is big – the brand moves from being a product or service to being a force for good in an area that is important to the target.  Consumers form a relationship with the brand, united in what the brand equity is trying to stand for.

However, many brands focus on creating formulaic stories that are focus group-tested to deliver a heart-tugging emotional response, but fail to demonstrate why the messaging is relevant to the brand.  In most cases, they succeed in generating the expected tears, outrage, or laughter from the viewer.  Unfortunately, the messaging often fails to tie back to an ownable equity for the brand, and the consumer leaves emotionally charged but clueless to who the message represents or why.

A couple of examples can make this evident.  Below is a well-known storytelling effort by Always that leverages an insight regarding changes in self-image in girls at puberty, exactly the moment where Always becomes part of the decision set for a young girl’s new needs.  By championing confidence in young women at the moment where they and their parents are both open to this message, Always successfully creates a strong, positive image for the brand among their target:

 

Quaker Oats tried a similar tactic, leveraging an insight regarding the difficulty for working fathers to engage with their daughters. The ad delivers the expected result – an emotional feel-good reponse to a story of father-daughter bonding:

Unfortunately, the brand plays almost no role in the messaging, and nothing in the story ties back to anything within the Quaker brand equity.  The consumer is left with a five minute Hallmark movie with a brand name randomly slapped on it.  This could have easily been a message for Danskin or even Verizon.  Quaker would have been better off buying the pre-roll ad for an established viral video – they could have delivered more impressions and saved the production costs.

Storytelling is a fantastic way for brands to take consumers on a journey with them that can form strong bonds that go beyond product benefits.  However, if the messaging isn’t ownable and relevant to the brand’s equity, the brand will get lost amid the tears.