A shift in corporate culture led storytelling to fall
out of favor in big businesses. “The industrial age led to
a professionalization of business,” Smith explains. “If
someone walked around the office telling stories, they
were labeled as old school [because] storytelling was
thought of as trite and unprofessional.”
While big businesses launched sleek advertising
campaigns that showcased their mass appeal, mom-
and-pop shops continued engaging customers with
their stories. As the “Buy Local” movement gained
momentum and consumers focused their efforts and
their dollars on supporting local businesses, small com-
panies had a distinct advantage—and big businesses
returned to their storytelling roots.
Expedia recognized the challenges it faced as a major
brand with a high-tech, low-touch service in seeking
to connect with consumers on a personal level. Inviting travelers to share their stories allowed the site to
showcase authentic travel experiences and, in the process, become known as the online booking engine that
can help consumers book similar trips. While the site
is still measuring the results of the Find Yours campaign, initial reports have shown a favorable response.
“If consumers are experiencing Expedia in a way
that’s deeply personal when they’re not traveling, our
hope is that Expedia will be top-of-mind when they need
to book travel,” Gavin says. “Using stories [as a marketing tool] is an incredibly powerful way to connect with
our traveling consumers.”
Above: Clif Bar
& Company
co-owners
Gary Erickson
and Kit
Crawford.
4 Companies
Successfully
Telling Their Stories
As brand narratives surpass product
pitches and well-crafted stories take
the place of boring biographies on
“about us” pages, a few expert corporate storytellers have emerged. To
succeed at storytelling, follow these
examples:
1. Toms Founder Blake
Mycoskie has done a mas-
terly job of letting consum-
ers know that the idea of
donating one pair of shoes for every
pair purchased was sparked during a
life-changing trip to Argentina. Using a
travel narrative to brand the ubiquitous
canvas shoes ensures that consumers
feel as if they are making a purchase
and making a difference.
2. GE The international
brand took its “
imagination at work” tagline to the
next level with GE Stories.
The 2011 ad campaign uses videos to
tell the stories of employees who work
on GE technologies and their real-world impacts, creating an emotional
connection to products like CT scanners and jet engines.
3. Kashi To showcase the
natural ingredients used in
products like cereals and gra-
nola bars, Kashi shoots com-
mercials featuring employees trekking
to remote locations around the world.
Telling stories about what it takes to
produce their products is more effec-
tive than talking about their commit-
ment to superior ingredients.
4. Boeing Instead of touting its success as an aviation manufacturer,
Boeing launched an “Innovation”
campaign to highlight its products in
a series of short videos. The series
features minidocumentaries about
its products and a You Tube channel
with customer stories
presented as news
broadcasts that are educational and engaging.
