This document discusses how storytelling can be used as an effective marketing tool. It explains that humans are hardwired to understand and relate to stories as they help make sense of the world. Well-structured stories that follow common narrative patterns like Freytag's pyramid or Campbell's monomyth are more compelling and memorable. The document also provides examples of brands like Johnny Walker and Coca-Cola that use storytelling techniques in their advertising to connect emotionally with consumers and position their product as the hero/solution. It emphasizes that an authentic brand narrative should reflect the reality of the brand's relationship with its audience.

2. Rob Clark
Storyteller & Problem Solver
@theelusivefish

3. The Brand
Narrative
Ideas, experiences
and values that
represent the
tangible, authentic
depth and integrity of
the brand’s
relationship with its
consumer. A good
brand narrative is the
incomparable force
multiplier.

4. Storytelling
Advantages
• Compelling and
emotionally
engaging format
• Captivating content
that attracts the
right kind of leads
• Inspires and
optimizes content

5. Case Study:
Uber’s New Logo
Uber’s culture is one of bits and atoms.
Bits representing the machine efficiency
involved in Uber’s mapping and dispatch
software. Atoms representing people.

6. If you talked to people the way
advertising talks to people they’d
punch you in the face.
- Hugh MacLeod

8. Stories are a tool
of persuasion,
changing both
opinion and
behaviour.

9. …and the children
were never seen or
heard from again.
The end.

11. We evolved as storytelling creatures.
Telling stories gave us distinct advantages
and is hard-wired into how our brains work.

12. Our brains are always converting raw data into
meaningful patterns.

14. • Experiences translate into an
understanding of the world.
• Memories expand our
available data from which we
model the world.
• Language and the written
word allow us to share
experiences further
expanding our available data.
Our brains are continually
trying to model the world
around us

15. Stories allow
us to codify
our collective
past in order
to better
understand
the now.

16. Mirror
Neurons

17. I finally took the gun. I liked
the heavy way it sat in my
hand. I could see myself as
someone out of an Ed
McBain story or a John D.
MacDonald novel. I pointed
the gun at a large tin with
smelly rubbish spilling out of
it and squeezed.
KA-BLAM!
The gun jumped in my hand.
Fire shot from the end. It felt
as if my wrist was broken.
My heart was in my mouth.
A big hole appeared in the
surface of the tin – it was the
work of an evil magician.
‘Jesus!’ I screamed.

18. I finally took the gun. I liked
the heavy way it sat in my
hand. I could see myself as
someone out of an Ed
McBain story or a John D.
MacDonald novel. I pointed
the gun at a large tin with
smelly rubbish spilling out of
it and squeezed.
KA-BLAM!
The gun jumped in my hand.
Fire shot from the end. It felt
as if my wrist was broken.
My heart was in my mouth.
A big hole appeared in the
surface of the tin – it was the
work of an evil magician.
‘Jesus!’ I screamed.

19. Stories allow
us to have
experiences
without facing
the physical
risk.

20. From our brain’s model of
the world, we better
understand cause and
effect.

21. From our brain’s model of
the world, we better
understand cause and
effect.
and intuit what
comes next

22. Not sure if actually
experiencing the future…
Or just
hearing a
really good
story.

23. Stories allow
us to accept
change by
experiencing
it in a safe
setting and
fully examine
the rewards
of taking risk.

24. Stories we’re most likely to
latch onto are structured
around change, which
comes about through
conflict
• Action / Consequence
• Protagonist / Antagonist
• Emotional weight
The hardwiring
and working of
our brains make
some stories more
acceptable to us
than others.

25. Freytag’s Pyramid
Inciting
incident
Rising
action
Falling
action
Denouement
Climax
Resolution
Exposition

26. Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth
Call to adventure
Reward
KNOWN
UNKNOWN
Meeting Mentor
Crossing
the
Threshold
Tests
Helpers
Climax / Ordeal
Refusal of the call
Enemies
Return with
Treasure
The
Road
Back

27. PAYOFFSETUP
Our brains seek to
give meaning to
patterns and loves
to connect the
dots:
If this, then that.

28. Establishing
quickly that there
is a puzzle or
emergent pattern
helps hook your
audience
Every summer Lin Kong returned
to Goose Village to divorce his
wife, Shuyu.
Once upon a time, there was a
woman who discovered she had
turned into the wrong person.
It was a bright cold day in April,
and the clocks were striking
thirteen.

29. My name was Salmon, like
the fish; first name, Susie. I
was fourteen years old when
I was murdered on
December 6th 1973.

31. What a twist!

32. WTF?!?

33. The brain is
looking to connect
details. Remove
anything that
doesn’t have
relevance.
If Chekhov’s gun shows
up in the first act, it
absolutely must be fired
by the end of the third
act.

34. The brain wants reality
to fit the model it has
built for itself.
The brain doesn`t like
randomness or
abstraction and will
seek to impose order or
establish a pattern.

35. Your audience
should always be
asking, “and
then?”
However, your
narrative should
never be
connected by ‘and
then’
Connect your
narrative with:
• Therefore
• But
• Meanwhile

36. So what’s
any of this
got to do
with
marketing?

37. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnSIp76CvUI

38. A bottle of Johnny
Walker is no
longer just a
bottle of scotch.
It’s a family
history, a
heritage,
connected to the
ever forward
movement of
society.

39. Protagonist /
Antagonist

40. https://youtu.be/PWPkZH_UicU

41. Dollar shave club
is the hero,
rescuing you from
the conflict of a
hostile/indifferent
customer
experience.

42. Your brand doesn’t
have to be the hero.
Call to adventure
Reward
KNOWN
UNKNOWN
Meeting Mentor
Crossing
the
Threshold
Tests
Helpers
Climax / Ordeal
Refusal of the call
Enemies
Return with
Treasure
The
Road
Back

43. Only with the
smooth
refreshing
taste of
Coca-Cola
can we usher
in world
peace and
global
harmony.

45. Emotions help
set our highest
goals.
They give
weight to the
actions and
consequences
of a story.

46. https://youtu.be/Dd1FNPx_YN4

47. The ‘story’
happened
outside of this
narrative.
Ad is designed
to evoke our
emotions and
then connect it
to the brand.
Inciting
incident
Rising
action
Falling
action
Denouement
Climax
Resolution
Exposition

48. https://youtu.be/cYROcGmdDDc

49. What’s NOT
in this ad?

50. So back to
brand
narrative…

54. Their
cigarettes are
poisonous;
Lucky Strike is
‘toasted’.

55. If you’re going to be
naked, you better be buff.
Story needs
to be
authentic…
or at least
within the
realms of
believability.

56. What
people
think about
our brand.
What we
want
people to
think about
our brand.
The reality
of our
brand.

58. Questions?