Storytelling: Branding in Practice revives the primeval human fascination for stories in the context of modern branding.
Book review
Storytelling: Branding in Practice by Klaus Fog, Christian Budtz and Baris Yakaboylu helps in extrapolating the power of stories to build brands, says KV Sridhar
Storytelling: Branding in Practice revives the primeval human fascination for stories in the context of modern branding. Authors Fog, Christian Budtz and Baris Yakaboylu argue that at a time when traditional value systems and institutions are on the wane, consumers are left grappling with too much choice and too few navigational mechanisms.
To steer their way through this chaos, they are increasingly turning to brand stories as one of the means of signaling who they are and what they stand for. Brand choice is, therefore, becoming a derivative of the story that the brand is telling.
To illustrate the growing role of storytelling in branding, the authors put down four basic elements of traditional storytelling - message, conflict, characters and plot - and trace how these work as effectively in the context of brands as they did in popular folklore and fairytales over time.
They also tell engaging anecdotes of legendary brands — some associated with brands that made it big by finding their core story and driving it through employee and customer stories, and some associated with brands that nearly lost the plot by straying away from their core story.
Most significantly perhaps, this is one book that lives up to its promise of being ‘written for practitioners by practitioners’ by looking at the power of storytelling beyond brand communication, when stories are allowed to permeate into the organisational and societal culture to strengthen the core brand story.
Quite apart from providing a highly readable dialogue on modern branding, this book stands apart for providing companies with a practical, hands-on set of tools to apply storytelling as a source of gaining consumer preference and employee motivation.
Highly recommended for anyone who retains a basic interest in stories and wants to extrapolate their power to build brands.
(The author is national creative director, Leo Burnett)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}