Every Brand Has A Story. But It’s How You Choose To Craft It That Ensures Its Impact.

I was fortunate to have grown up in urban India, where my family had the privilege of a house help called Bachelal who was 25, but had the wisdom of a 60-year-old. He had the ability to tell incredibly engaging stories that live on till this day.

If I look back and apply his principles of storytelling, it could easily be passed on as “a Bechelal matrix” in today’s jargon. Like Bechelal, all successful brands are able to tell consistent engaging stories time and time again, ultimately achieving loyalty- the cornerstone of success.

Indeed, if we apply the Bechelal matrix in the context of brand storytelling, I believe that it would look something like this:

1. CONTENT Before you choose to tell a brand story, you need to write a script, and have the ability to see that many such scripts can be curated from the same arc. Every such script born from this arc must also have “a stretch factor,” so that when you grow multiple scripts, they will seem to come from the same family.
2. STRUCTURE Every script (read as “idea” as well) needs to have a clear beginning, middle, and end. It must know the problem it is trying to solve, the potential audience behavior it wants to affect, and a predictable end result.
3. DELIVERY This is that point where the road meets the rubber, and the consumer starts to react to the content he is being served. If it is not served on his medium in a manner that he likes, you have missed an opportunity. Many such misses over time leads to an increased brand distance, which is often very hard to build back.
4. CONSISTENCY This is the pivotal part of every delivery. Is the story narrative true to the spirit of the brand, and does it sit true/closer to the consumer’s previous experiences with the brand? A good brand story often has a consistent narrative that seems to capture its innate spirit.
5. RELEVANCE The context is extremely important to ensure relevancy. Your brand has to be aware socially and politically so as to ensure that not only is the script relevant, but the delivery of that script is within the context of how people of today interact with content.

The process of telling a story starts first with a belief that there is merit in telling a story. Once that is done, identify the one single strength of your product offering, and build your brand around it.

To tell a brand story, we must first look “inward,” and then, “outward.” There is no point in telling a story that can’t be substantiated. Nike built its story on empowerment, Emirates on service, Amazon on a future need. All they did was focus inwards, and build on their strengths. Manifested externally, they became very powerful stories.

Once you have identified your strength, you have found the “content” for your story. With the most difficult part done, you should be able to see the story develop in your head. You should be able to see at least the beginning, and the middle, if not the end. Apple clearly saw what the combination of design and technology can do. It then identified the possible growth areas, and built products around the same. Once the products were in place, we all know the many stories that came out from those innovations.

Then comes the brand signature. From here on, the brand story starts to be seen/experienced by your potential audience. It is important that the brand aligns itself with the story, and then delivers that seamless experience across customer touchpoints. Emirates have excelled in bringing alive its service story, across its many hundred touchpoints; whether it’s their in-flight entertainment, or its web experience, they all leave you with a very Emirates “feeling.”

Consistency is next. Consistency is not merely a brand color grid. It is a brand tone across any communication channel. I am often amazed how brands like Starbucks, HSBC, and Uber talk the same tone across communication channels in different languages across continents. With the world becoming smaller every day, there is an ever increasing need to walk the same talk, irrespective of language and geography, day after day.

Finally comes relevance. I have seen so many good stories fall by the wayside, simply because there was no relevance of the story to the audience. Establish a strong and relevant context, and watch the magic play out.

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