Telling Stories for Profit - Part 2

Ryan, as usual, provides a very interesting perspective, and I agree that tailoring your advertising message to audience segments is the best way to emotionally connect your brand with various user groups.

One size messaging clearly will not fit all of the emotional connection needs and we've all seen examples of the same commercials run multiple times; "saturation ads" that actually frustrate the audience by their repetitive nature.

Great ad agencies need to plug in better to this dynamic, and lay out ad plans for companies that provide emotional connection variety. Unfortunately, many hone in on a central theme built around the wow factor and creative, and as a result miss or "dis-connect" with many target users.

Dan Nelson, CEO, Leadership Resources

My experience is that a brand's connection to the consumer must be based on one or more very strong consumer insights.

Many brands have difficulty finding that core consumer insight that makes the advertising work for the brand. In the absence of this insight they create advertising messages based on either fact-based information, health or diet trends, or creative advertising twists that grab consumer attention but do not sell or even create 24-hour brand recall.

There are many brands such as the cereal examples used in today's RetailWire article that have multiple consumer targets. In fact, many CPG brands must have consumption across two or more targets if they are to generate the volume required to support a sustained long-term marketing investment. It doesn't surprise me to learn that some brands may have strong consumer insights for one of its core consumer targets (e.g. kids) but not for other important targets (e.g. teens, young adults, or older adults).

My experience also leads me to know that when you get the advertising message right everything else in the marketing plan (coupons, trade promotion, etc.) works even better and creates additional volume!

Phillip T. Straniero, Executive-in-Residence, Western Michigan University

As usual, Ryan opens up with clarity the clouds that engulf today's marketing. In telling a single story, we have Art so that we may not perish from Truth, but Truth serves to be objective in connection and engagement via story telling. I have to get a copy of The Black Monk's and Watts' book.

Gene Hoffman, President/CEO, Corporate Strategies International

From the August issue of Growth Strategies (my other newsletter besides Integrated Retailing):

Donald Gunn was a creative director for advertising agency Leo Burnett. He determined a long time ago that there are but 12 kinds of advertisements. As Seth Stevenson writes on Slate.com, knowing the types (and figuring out which is being used) can be a challenge, a game, and a defensive weapon for consumers under assault from endless advertising messages. Here are the 12 basic formats:
1. The demo (a visual demonstration of the product's capabilities).
2. Show the need or problem (and then the remedy or solution: the product being sold).
3. Symbol, analogy or exaggerated graphic (to demonstrate a problem or solution).
4. Comparison (the product is claimed as superior to competitors).
5. Exemplary story (weaves a narrative that helps illustrate the product’s benefits).
6. Benefit causes story (a trail of events caused by product’s benefit).
7. Tell it (credible testimonial by presenter or real person).
8. Ongoing characters and celebrities (to help cement a brand’s identity).
9. Symbol, analogy or exaggerated graphic (to demonstrate a benefit of the product).
10. Associated user imagery (showcases the type of people associated with the product).
11. Unique personality property (highlights product’s uniqueness).
12. Parody or borrowed format (parodies movies, TV shows, even other ads).

You might think the new advertising landscape would render Donald Gunn's categories obsolete, but the theory holds up. Being equipped with this knowledge allows the target to resist. Or does it? Stevenson relates that one of his favorite advertisements--a parody of reality TV shows--has fooled him more than once. We may know how a magic trick is being done, but we still watch the magician.

Roger Selbert, Ph.D., Editor & Publisher, Integrated Retailing

Know how movie DVDs often come with separate sections which include outtakes, the director's and writer's explanations of why the story was structured in a certain way, the producer's explanation of the market positioning, the actors' stories about how they conceived of their characters, etc.? It's too bad that we can't get DVDs showing ad campaigns with the same sort of background material. Perhaps we'd understand why so many ad campaigns seem to be completely off the mark. Maybe they're achieving their goals...or maybe their goals are inappropriate or unambitious...or maybe there's no reasonable success measure at all.

Mark Lilien, Consultant, Retail Technology Group

While Ryan's observations are both interesting and enlightening as always, I'd venture a guess that he hasn't worked in research or advertising much. Each of these two core marketing disciplines has fundamental constraints that make identifying and communicating a tailored "resonant message" to multiple targets problematic.

Research is bounded by what consumers can or will tell you, which is often irrelevant or misleading. For example, consumers always told us that they wanted Betty Crocker Cake Mix to "taste like homemade." What they didn't tell us is that they secretly did not want to believe that any cake mix could taste like "homemade." So we chased an endless series of "product improvements" based on sophisticated sensory research that probably didn't make a bit of difference to what consumers thought about the cakes they baked.

Advertising (until somewhat recently via the internet) offers a very limited number of opportunities to communicate multiple messages. The costs of producing multiple ads and the blunt nature of the available communication mediums made it economically infeasible even if you tried.

None of this, of course, makes Ryan's and Watts' observations any less relevant or correct. And, if I sound like an apologist for the marketers of the 80s well--so be it. But the fact remains, even today's marketers don't have the flexibility to tailor the story to every audience on the fly the way the storytellers of old could. And if they did, they would be called disingenuous because the story they told in the last town would have already been repeated in the next town on the internet by the time they got there! Stonings would be at an all time high! (Just ask BP.)

Ben Ball, Senior Vice President, Dechert-Hampe

It's amazing how many products seem to die for lack of a story. The story, in many cases, is the connection that allows a product to flourish. Are there any products without stories? I don't believe there are--there are only executives with no imagination. I can tell you from a lifetime of sales experience that product stories are the only way to effectively separate yourself from the competition in the mind of a buyer or consumer. Not having a story is akin to not having a product.

Ed Dennis, president, Dennis Enterprises

To ease Ben's concerns, I have had my share of research and advertising experience which is precisely what leads me to my deep commitment to finding different ways to connect with the consumer.

He raises an excellent point on cost, which is always an increasingly complicated problem. Several of the commentators have also alluded to problems associated with measurement (as in, "What were they thinking?). Cost and measurements are VERY real problems but they have to be overcome if advertising is going to have any viable future.

The real problem (as Ben mentioned) is that traditional research has failed to develop effective filters for transmuting the leaden responses of a world full of "professional respondents" into the gold of increased sales. The notion of an "objective sample" is a quaint relic of a more genteel marketing age. We're all (assuming we're connected to the Internet or walk around malls or watch television) more or less professional respondents. Through mass media America has become one big focus group and (at the risk of offending my friend Ben) I don't have much use for focus groups.

Mark mentioned that he'd like ads to come in "director's cut" editions. I think that's a great--if scary--idea. The reason storytelling doesn't work is precisely because the storyteller doesn't know the audience. Worse still, today, the audience is starting to demand the right to rewrite or retell the story. It's going to be a rocky few decades for all those who still believe they are in full control of messaging.

Ryan Mathews, Founder, ceo, Black Monk Consulting

I too would like to witness the thought process behind the telling of some "commercial stories." I'm convinced there is someone whose job it is to hit the lowest IQ level possible--even with kid-oriented commercials. The famous Project Zero study at Harvard found that virtually all children under the age of four tested at a genius level against seven variables. So why do commercials and ads reflect the intelligence of a hockey puck?

Let me offer three formulas for good stories--especially good "commercial stories." My suggestion is that you tell your story in three parts, with each part having a purpose. Your overall purpose determines which formula will work best.

1) Interact - Connect - Create
2) Engage - Enable - Elevate.
3) Question - Explore - Discover

One of these formulas will fit every story you want to tell. Selling custom home services? Use #1. Selling self-esteem products like make-up? Use #2. Selling educational products or tourism? Use #3.

Another dimension of story-telling is whether or not the story reflects a world of lack or a world of abundance. Most media promote a world of lack--news is all about death and destruction; in movies it's always the rich guy who is hated and never gets the girl; all super heroes start as unloved homeless orphans, etc. So telling a positive, abundance-oriented story is like pushing a large rock up a hill.

And thanks for this story line, Ryan.

Ian Percy, President, The Ian Percy Corporation

Ian raises an excellent point here. If Rule Number One of storytelling is "Thou Shalt Know Your Audience" then "Thou Shalt Not Take Them For Granted or Insult Them" ought to be Rule Number Two. We need to think about why some forms of messaging (YouTube, MySpace, etc.) are so effective while traditional advertising struggles so hard to connect. My guess? It's their emotional proximity to the audience which in the cases of YouTube and MySpace are also the product producers. Think that's overstated? Well when's the last time you sat and watched the DDB presidential candidate debates?

Ryan Mathews, Founder, ceo, Black Monk Consulting

Great perspective Ryan. As audiences become more fragmented and use different media, there is not only the opportunity but also the mandate to use different stories.

Successful stories are not created from traditional marketing research. Stories are based upon gaining deep insight into how people live their lives, the obstacles they face, the help they wish they had, the things that provide relief or a break. You cannot create those connections from responses to a survey or to an effectively segmented audience based on demographics. The segments and stories have to be based upon the lives of consumers.

Camille P. Schuster, Ph.D., President, Global Collaborations, Inc.

One of my favorite fun things to do on weekends is to go looking at "old stuff"--from high end antique shows to outdoor flea markets. It is interesting how often advertising items and packaging from an earlier era are displayed and sold for amazing prices. You see colorful cans and boxes, artistic fruit crates, great slogans on funny (but useful) advertising "giveaways" such as pie tins, ashtrays, dishtowels, and fans, memorable graphic logos, point of sale posters, and framed print ads from turn of the (last) century publications. A fair number of brands still exist in 2007.

I have probably learned more about advertising and marketing from this hobby, and gained more actual insight than from any college course or seminar. While some of the products were augmented by radio ads after the 1920s, most of the items from the "golden age" just stood on their own reputations, telling their own stories, and selling like hotcakes. Obviously, they resonated and "spoke" to consumers or these treasures would not have been kept and passed on for several generations, now be sold as antiques.

In our current era replete with media cacophony, demographic segmentation, customer surveys, and target marketing, it may be worthwhile to take the time to examine how companies "did it" before all these modern developments complicated the storytelling.

'Liatt'

Hey Ryan, I LOVE focus groups. Always have. But like most sophisticated market research techniques, you have to understand how to use them properly.

The trick to focus groups is to always make sure you are the most senior exec in attendance. That's because back at the office, "what the groups said" is always the one thing the one person said that supports the predisposition of the most senior person in attendance. It's a wonderful research technique for proving anything you please.

Ben Ball, Senior Vice President, Dechert-Hampe

Where to begin? Perhaps at the beginning. Road Warriors do not typically return to apartments. Instead, they return to families in houses where someone else is responsible for making sure there's fresh milk in the fridge for cereal. That is, if cereal is what the Road Warriors seek. Which they don't. Rather, they're looking for a sandwich or even some leftovers to remind them of family meals they've missed. Beware the ECB (East Coast Bias), Ryan. (As an aside, the definition of "best" sandwich is one that is made by someone else. As another aside, it's "SAND-wich," not "sahwich." That's for you, Jay Leno.)

What I missed in this report are examples of advertisers who do a good job of what Ryan thinks is important--storytelling. Perhaps they're all doing it wrong. I was ecstatic (well, interested) when the J. Peterman catalogue recently resumed publication. Wow, talk about storytelling! Its long-form advertising copy (that's what we call it in the ad biz, Ryan) is both captivating and entertaining. They sell $350 bumbershoots, which requires a lot of "story," for Pete's sake! Over a decade ago I wore The J. Peterman Coat while traveling and was asked for autographs in airports. Perhaps the Peterman mythology is true. (For you guys who know what "sleeves" athletic shirts are, check out the website or catalogue. I ordered all colors, and the quality is superb.)

Ben Ball got it right, as usual. Nimrods have been making ivory tower pronouncements about advertising for decades. However, reducing advertising to a formula ended after the Rosser Reeves era (the Anacin guy, you could look it up). Rather, for quite a long time semiotics have been guiding advertising creative. Simply put, advertising messages are intuitive, not formulaic. Media placement can make even the dumbest commercials work, even though they’re annoying ("Head On, Apply Directly To The Forehead,"--thanks, Rosser). But for content, it's always intuitive. Sometimes this includes storytelling (like the achingly boring TV shopping channels), and sometimes not.

And sometimes it's just seeing the product. According to Rod Stewart, "Every picture tells a story, don't it?" Just ask Steve Jobs about the iPhone.

M. Jericho Banks PhD, President, CEO, Forensic Marketing LLC