Storytelling Branding in Practice Klaus Fog • Christian Budtz Baris Yakaboylu Storytelling Branding in Practice Springer Klaus Fog Christian Budtz Bar is Yakaboylu SIGMA Wilders Plads 13A 1403 Copenhagen Denmark Klaus Fog [email protected] Christian Budtz [email protected] Baris Yakaboylu [email protected] Original Danish edition published by Samfundslitteratur 2003 with the title Storytelling-branding ipraksis (Klaus Fog, Christian Budtz, Baris Yakaboylu), 1. udgave 2002,2. opiag 2003. Translation by Tara Stevens. Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for Library of Congress Control Number: 2004114981 A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche BibUothek hsts this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data available in the internet at http://dnb.ddb.de ISBN 3-540-23501-9 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9,1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law. Springer is a part of Springer Science+Business Media springeronline.com © springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005 Printed in Denmark The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: Erich Kirchner, Heidelberg Production: Helmut Petri Printing: Narayana Press SPIN 11334644 Printed on acid-free paper - 42/3130 - 5 4 3 2 1 0 Contents Foreword 9 Chapter 1: Branding Through Storytelling 12 Once Upon a Time 16 When Emotions Take Hold 17 What a Difference a Story Makes 19 Values and Emotions 20 How the Book is Structured 23 PART ONE: THE TOOLBOX Chapter 2: The Four Elements of Storytelling 28 The Message 32 The Conflict 33 A TEST: The Conflict Barometer 35 The Characters 36 The Plot 42 A TEST: Tell a Tale 44 Chapter 3: Storytelling in Business 46 Storytelling as a Branding Concept 48 Corporate and Product Brands 49 Storytelling as a Communication Tool 50 A Holistic Approach to Storytelling 53 The Brand Tree 54 Chapter 4: The Company Core Story 58 Building a Foundation Starts From Within 60 The Perilous Quest of Companies 62 • CASE: NASALS Core Story 63 From Values to Story 66 StoryLab: Developing the Company Core Story 67 Would Your Company Be Missed? 69 ATEST: The Obituary Test 70 • CASE: Coca-Cola's Real-life Obituary Test 70 Screening the Basic Data 73 Internal Basic Data 73 External Basic Data 74 Distilling the Basic Data 75 Formulating the Company Core Story 78 Your Message 79 Your Conflict 81 ATEST: The Black & White Test 82 The Conflict Barometer 84 Your Characters 86 The Classical Hero 89 Your Plot 91 • CASE: The Fairy-tale of Independent Grocers 92 A TEST: If Your Company Was a Fairy-tale 94 The Acid Test 95 Chapter 5: Authentic Raw Material for Storytelling .. 96 All Companies Have a Story to Tell 98 Employee Stories 99 • CASE: Nothing is Too Much Trouble 101 Stories About the CEO 102 The Big Bang: Stories About the Founding of the Company 103 Milestones: Successes and Crises 105 Product Stories 106 • CASE: Accidental Corn Flakes 108 Stories From Working Partners 109 • CASE: The Art of Illy 109 Stories From Customers Ill • CASE: Stairway to the Stars 113 • CASE: Shoe Love 113 Stories From Opinion Leaders 115 • CASE: Building Blocks for Life 116 A Few Rules of Thumb 117 The StoryDrivers of the Company 118 PART TWO: STORYTELLING APPLIED Chapter 6: Storytelling as a Management Tool 124 Building Blocks for a Strong Company Culture 127 • CASE: A Playground for Idea Makers 128 Make Storytelling Your Co-pilot 131 • CASE: SAS in Moments of Truth 132 • CASE: The Story Hunters 134 A TEST: Who Are the Heroes of Your Company? 138 The Symbolic Significance of the CEO 138 A TEST: What is the Message of Your Story? 143 A Tool for Knowledge Sharing 144 • CASE: Sharing Knowledge Through Stories at IBM 144 A TEST: Kick Starting Your Company's Storytelling-circulation 147 Chapter 7: Storytelling in Advertising 150 The Commercial Serial as a Long-term Platform 152 • CASE: Love Over Gold 153 • CASE: A French Affair 155 • CASE: Hollywood Supercars 160 Use Well-known Stories 164 • CASE: Apple and 1984 165 • CASE: The Meatrix 167 Telling the Real Story in Advertising 169 • CASE: E-wine 170 Chapter 8: When Storytelling Becomes Dialogue ... 174 Companies are Losing Power 177 Involve Your Customers in Your Storytelling 177 • CASE: The People's Car 178 • CASE: Topdanmark's Lucky Heroes 180 • CASE: A Match Made Over Coffee 182 When Your Customers Become Part of Your Story 185 • CASE: Your Pen-Pal is a Calvin Klein Model 185 • CASE: Motorola's Virtual Night Club 188 Digital Storytelling - Something for Everyone 192 Chapter 9: The Media as a Storytelling Partner 194 The Journalist's Story 196 A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words 198 • CASE: Voluptuous Virgin vs. Curvy Coke 199 Staging the Conflict 201 Find Your Angle 202 • CASE: Giant Turtle Turns 50! 203 A TEST: The Honing Experience - The Cutting Edge . 206 Chapter 10: Tearing Down the Walls 208 Stop Thinking in the Box! 210 Candy for Breakfast 212 Are You Getting Your Message Across? 215 • CASE: Oticon Conquers the World 218 An Intelligent Strategy 219 • CASE: Bringing a Legend to Life 224 You Decide the Ending 226 Bibliography 228 Index 231 About the Authors 237 Foreword Today's world is overflowing with fancy buzzwords. The vast majority of them however, refer to short-lived phenomena that have been invented for the sole purpose of selling hot air. They are gone as quickly as they arrived. Others, are a product of the times, but have deeper roots. They touch upon something familiar, but contribute to a new consciousness, and take a firm hold in our future vocabulary. "Storytelling'' is one of them. At the European based communication unit SIGMA, we have been helping companies to build their brands by finding their unique story since 1996. At that time, it was called PR, com munication, advertising or marketing. Today the lines dividing those categories have blurred. But at the very core of all that we do, is our deep belief in the inherent power of telling a company's unique story. Along the way, we have found that companies are increasingly interested in this subject, but, that there is also confusion as to what the term actually means when it comes to its practical application. For this reason, we have written a book, which shares our experiences of branding through storytelling, offering practical tools that provide a good start ing point for companies to tell stories of their own. The book came to life in a bustling loft in Copenhagen, Denmark, during the heat wave of the summer of 2002. It is the result of years of experience, new ideas, ups and downs, late nights and early mornings, praise and criticism. Many people have been involved in its conception. First and foremost our thanks to Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, CEO, the LEGO Company, Lars Kolind, former CEO of Oticon, and Torben Ballegaard S0rensen, CEO of Bang and Olufsen for their courage in taking our advice to heart; that a good story is the key to global success. Their faith, meant that we at SIGMA received confirmation of the powerful effect a story has when told in the right way, to the right people at the right time. We must also thank Morten Jonas, Hanne Andersen, Klavs Hjort and Glaus Moseholm, who during their time with SIGMA, contributed thoughts and ideas that form the basis of this book. Also a heartfelt thank you to Tara Stevens and Kurt Pitzer who on many occasions have travelled to Denmark from London, L.A., Bosnia and Barcelona to help us in our search for the good story. Thank you to all the people at SIGMA who have contributed with input and support. A special thank you to Tue Paarup for his keen model development and his critical and clarifying feedback. To Trine Mollgaard for constructive criticism, Peter Thielst Jessen for inspired graphic design, Thomas Thorhauge for his amazing illustrations, to Julie Thygesen for research, and to Tara Stevens and Niels Blom for translating the book into English. For comments and feedback we must also thank Eva Lykkegaard, Christian Schou, Glen Jacobsen and Christine Antorini. Thanks to Ken Harper for inspirational dialogue on digital storytelling and Henrik Schjerning from Samfunds- litteratur. And to futurologist Rolf Jensen for his pioneering work in bringing storytelling to the attention of the business community, while we were busy implementing it in practice. Finally we owe a debt of heartfelt gratitude to Julie, Lykke, Iluuna, Markus, Anna, David, Sarah and Tine for their patience, love and support.