Huff, puff and blow the house down: effective storytelling to make brands memorable

Try to remember any articles you read last week, or even the week before that. Can you recall them in any significant detail? Chances are that you probably can’t, and the reason might not be as straightforward as you think.

I can almost guarantee that if you were asked to tell us all about the hijinks of Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks or the Three Little Pigs, you could regale us with every detail. I bet you could even specify whether Grandma’s ‘oh so big’ spectacles were bifocal, trifocal or photochromic. Well, maybe not so detailed, but you get my point.

So why is it that the stories we were read not so long after we took our first steps are permanently etched into our minds?

The answer lies in the art of storytelling, a craft we’ve mastered over 20 years here at Onyx Health.

The science behind a good story

Research suggests that messages delivered as stories can be up to 22 times more memorable than simply stating facts.¹ That’s because when we hear or read an engaging story, we use our brain’s visual processing centers, imagining sensations that spark emotional reactions.

There is a neurological and chemical reaction that takes place when we hear a good story. Our neural activity fires off five times as much, and our brains also release oxytocin, known as the love drug or cuddle chemical, the same one associated with relationship building.^2,3 It’s the release of this chemical that bonds us to the story.⁴

Triggering emotions

Have you ever read a book that you couldn’t put down, looked up at the clock, and wondered who pressed the fast-forward button because three hours simply couldn’t have gone by? What makes us want to keep turning those pages is the emotional draw and the anticipation of what’s coming next.

It’s important to make sure that the reader has perspicacity and empathy with what’s unfolding, even if it’s the thinnest relatable life thread. Moving out of a family home, travelling, overcoming adversity or succeeding in work are all loosely relatable life experiences that trigger different emotions.

The bigger the emotional draw, the better; your audience should feel as though they’re experiencing the story and that they’re in some way part of it. Taking them on a journey that feeds their inner thoughts and emotions provokes the kind of brain reactions we looked at earlier. Going for real emotional triggers is key; what we need for a good story are the emotions that light a fuse under our hippocampus.

The power of immersion

Using multiple sensory inputs like sight, sound, touch and even smell is what coalesces to give a multidimensional, rich experience to a story. The key to this is within you as the author or creator, but it can only be achieved with a technique called visualisation.

You first need to place yourself in the scene. Imagine and visualise the moment-to-moment experiences, feel the emotional reflections on what happened, what is happening, and what might happen. Being there is the best way for you to describe the setting, characters and actions with consistent sensory details.

The way you depict YOUR experience is the key to creating an immersive experience for your audience. Author Stephen King calls it ‘telepathy’, where you create an image of a scene in your mind that you want to be reimagined in the minds of your readers. You want your audience to feel like they’re at the centre of the world in your story.

The true sign of intelligence is imagination

Let’s go back to exploring fairy tales for a moment. What is it about them that endures and stands the test of time?

Fairy tales float our imaginations back and forth across a blurred line between reader and immersive participant, encouraging us to connect the wonder to our own lives.

If we strip fairy tales down to their most basic narrative, they’re just stories of love and loss, desire and death, riches and ruin. It’s the connection to our own lives that makes them endure. These are the things in life that drive us, the things we’ll always yearn for, or in some cases, have no choice but to experience. We all want to overcome the ogres, move to better pastures and be cared for as best we can.

Storytelling in marketing

We’ve discussed what makes a story resonate, the elements that make it stand out, be memorable and trigger the right emotions. So, how does that work when it comes to using storytelling in marketing?

It doesn’t take much cognitive processing to realise there’s a story in everything. With a vivid enough imagination, we can craft stories out of anything. Have you ever played that game where you pick people out at random from across a room, give them a name, occupation and background story?

The very best marketers are great at this, and it’s easy to understand why. Doing this requires three things:

1. Imagination: creating fictional scenarios

2. Visualisation: picturing those scenarios as reality

3. Immersion: immersing yourself in the scenario and letting it play out as you observe

Harvard Business Review says brands that use emotional storytelling are more likely to be remembered and shared.⁵ Still not convinced? Here are a few more reasons why you should be using storytelling in your marketing:

• 92% of consumers want brands to make ads that feel like a story⁶
• 55% of people say they would consider buying from a brand after reading a compelling story⁷
• 65% of people feel an emotional connection to a brand after a story⁷
• Branded content that tells a story is 22 times more engaging than a simple ad⁸
• 84% of consumers say they buy from brands they feel an emotional connection to.⁹

How we’ve used storytelling for our clients

One of our clients, Bayer, gave us a challenge. They wanted to break the mould of habituality in healthcare. They’d had enough of healthcare providers overlooking the amazing 24-hour patient benefits offered by one of the company’s antihistamine products.

They asked us to think of a way to position Claritin front of mind, with a campaign that resonates, ensuring its products were recommended to patients ahead of competitors.

We knew we’d need to win the hearts and minds of HCPs and to do this we created the Knight and Day Campaign. A traditional tale of heroes and villains, where the much-loathed allergy monster sets out each day to ruin the lives of young children. That is until its treacherous plan is thwarted using the sword and shield protection of Claritin.

We fused our creative concept with storytelling to complement the scientific narrative and data at hand. Our mission was to use storytelling to broaden the myopic lens of healthcare providers so that they could see the world of allergies through the eyes of children (their patients) and recommend Claritin as the antihistamine of choice.

Our story was delivered as a comprehensive global campaign toolkit and guidebook that included our healthcare provider awareness-to-adoption strategy, content stories, campaign materials, image library, iconography, illustrations and animations.

Our top tips for storytelling in marketing:

• Know your audience: understanding your audience is crucial for effective storytelling. Tailor your story to resonate with the interests, needs, experiences and preferences of your specific audience. By making your story relevant and relatable, you can capture their attention and keep them engaged throughout
• Start with a strong hook: grab your audience’s attention right from the start. Whether it’s an intriguing question, a compelling anecdote or a startling fact, a strong hook sets the stage for an engaging story
• Involve your audience: find ways to involve your audience in your story. This keeps your audience engaged and creates a sense of connection and involvement
• Keep it simple and clear: there’s beauty in simplicity and clarity in storytelling. Complex plots or jargon-filled language can confuse or alienate audiences. Focus on conveying your message in a straightforward way that everyone can understand
• Create emotional connection: if it’s not clear by now, emotions are a powerful tool in storytelling. Incorporate elements that evoke emotions such as empathy, humour or inspiration. Emotional connections can deepen the impact of your story and make it more memorable
• Show, don’t tell: allow your audience to visualise the story through vivid descriptions, language and imagery which can bring your story to life and make it more engaging. Remember that we talked about how important it was to include sensory details as part of your storytelling technique – it helps to paint a vivid picture in your audience’s mind
• Create suspense, anticipation or intrigue: suspense and anticipation are closely related, and both are essential for keeping your audience invested in the story. Uncertainty creates intrigue, and it’s that uncertainty that creates a desire in readers to find the missing piece of the puzzle
• Try to be authentic: authenticity is key to building trust and credibility with your audience. Whilst it doesn’t necessarily have to be your own experiences, sharing experiences or insights that resonate with your audience is key

References

1. Bruner JS. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds [Internet]. Harvard University Press. 2009. Available from:

2. Lazauskas J, et al. The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming into the Void, and Make People Love You [Internet]. Wiley. 2018. Available from: https://www.wiley.com/en-br/The+Storytelling+Edge%3A+How+to+Transform+Your+Business%2C+Stop+Screaming+into+the+Void%2C+and+Make+People+Love+You-p-9781119483472 [Accessed July 2024].

3. Zak PJ. Why inspiring stories make us react: the neuroscience of narrative. Cerebrum: the Dana forum on brain science. 2015;2015(2):2. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445577/ [Accessed July 2024].

4. Guastella AJ, et al. Oxytocin enhances the encoding of positive social memories in humans. Biological psychiatry. 2008;64(3):256–8. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18343353/ [Accessed July 2024].

5. Fryer B. Storytelling That Moves People [Internet]. Harvard Business Review. 2003. Available from: https://hbr.org/2003/06/storytelling-that-moves-people [Accessed July 2024].

6. Bogwasi T. Brand Storytelling in 2023: the Latest Statistics and Trends [Internet]. The Brand Shop. 2023. Available from: https://www.blog.thebrandshopbw.com/brand-storytelling-statistics-and-trends/ [Accessed July 2024].

7. Vojinovic I. 50+ Eye-Opening Branding Statistics [Internet]. SmallBizGenius. 2019. Available from: https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/branding-statistics/ [Accessed July 2024].

8. Sutton K. Research Finds Branded Podcasts Are 22% Better Than TV at Engaging Consumers Who Avoid Ads [Internet]. Adweek. 2019. Available from: https://www.adweek.com/convergent-tv/research-finds-branded-podcasts-are-22-better-than-tv-at-engaging-consumers-who-avoid-ads/ [Accessed July 2024].

9. Sprout Social. #BrandsGetReal: What consumers want from brands in a divided society [Internet]. Sprout Social. 2018. Available from: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/data/social-media-connection/ [Accessed July 2024].