STORYTELLING AS A TOOL  Reflection – Fernanda Dourado, July 4, 2019

Background    In my profession, storytelling is one of the most important tools for shaping powerful and engaging  messages. I work as a copywriter at an advertising agency in Sweden.

One of our latest assignments was for a shoe retail company here in Scandinavia. The task was to re- position their brand so that it would better match an increasingly changing world and a younger  target group. At the same time, they wanted us to evaluate a new strategy they had formed - and if  we thought it was the right way to go - make this strategy more communicatively available.

Challenge

The new strategy was formulated "Everyday Shoe Fashion" – and although it was right in meaning - it  was not an expression that could engage and ignite its audience. Our challenge, therefore, was to  convince our client to use a more exciting message in order to achieve the goal.

Selection

To create a saying that could work as a cause and igniter we chose the story telling tool. This allowed  us to focus on the people in the process and their emotional experience. With a story driven  approach, we would bring employees together and make them work in the same direction. From a  consumer perspective it gave us the opportunity to stand out from competition and build loyalty as  well as “brand love”.

Insights

As a starting point we considered and investigated the company's target group – consisting of trendy  consumers who sought constant renewal. After some research and interviewing we realized that this  group of individuals most of all wanted new impressions, experiences and a sense of fast fashion to  feel attracted to our offer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 It became clear to us that, in order to inspire and tickle the consumers desire, we needed to create  our own fashion arena and invite them there – regardless if it was our stores, the web site or a  temporary meeting place.     Application     We summarized our insights in one strong sentence – "Just walk in" - with the short supplement  "Welcome to our arena. Today it is yours.” By doing so we wanted to express the simple fact that an  arena is nothing without its audience. Our stores, web site and other appearances become truly alive  when customers come to visit. At the same time, we’re the ones providing the most interesting place  to be, by constantly presenting new fashion and exciting happenings. It’s easy, inspiring and fun to  visit us. There’s always a reason to stop by.

To bring the story to life and engage the employees, we proved how our message "Just walk in"  could be applied on several levels, with a similar story but a different angle.

1. With emotional and story driven commercials on an image-building level  2. With thematized fashion campaigns on a middle level  3. With sales-driven messages on a tactical level, without losing the passion in our story

Furthermore, we showed how the message “Just walk in” could be varied endlessly and how we  would talk about our arena in different contexts. What then happened was that the staff quickly took  the expression to their hearts and started using it in their daily work. By talking in terms of fashion  arena and being the one inviting to it, their work became consistent and successful. It also became  clearer to consumers what the company was standing for. But this is still an ongoing process.     Approach    Since our client had a clear vision of the target group and the strategy had already been decided, we  felt that mind mapping the customer journey was unnecessary. However, for describing how our  message could be applied on different levels we used the visualization tool by describing a marketing  pyramid with different levels (see Approach).     The assignment is still ongoing, and we plan to do a small-scale test by implementing one of our  ideas in real life – a kind of learning launch. Then we will be able to see how well the concept works  and what can be improved.


STORYTELLING AS A TOOL Reflection – Fernanda Dourado , July 4 , 2019 Background In my profession , storytelling is one of the most important tools for shaping powerful and engaging messages . I work as a copywriter at an advertising agency in Sweden . One of our latest assignments was for a shoe retail company here in Scandinavia . The task was to re- position their brand so that it would better match an increasingly changing world and a younger target group . At the same time , they wanted us to evaluate a new strategy they had formed - and if we thought it was the right way to go - make this strategy more communicatively available . Challenge The new strategy was formulated " Everyday Shoe Fashion " – and although it was right in meaning - it was not an expression that could engage and ignite its audience . Our challenge , therefore , was to convince our client to use a more exciting message in order to achieve the goal . Selection To create a saying that could work as a cause and igniter we chose the story telling tool . This allowed us to focus on the people in the process and their emotional experience . With a story driven approach , we would bring employees together and make them work in the same direction . From a consumer perspective it gave us the opportunity to stand out from competition and build loyalty as well as “ brand love ” . Insights As a starting point we considered and investigated the company 's target group – consisting of trendy consumers who sought constant renewal . After some research and interviewing we realized that this group of individuals most of all wanted new impressions , experiences and a sense of fast fashion to feel attracted to our offer . It became clear to us that , in order to inspire and tickle the consumers desire , we needed to create our own fashion arena and invite them there – regardless if it was our stores , the web site or a temporary meeting place . Application We summarized our insights in one strong sentence – " Just walk in " - with the short supplement " Welcome to our arena . Today it is yours . ” By doing so we wanted to express the simple fact that an arena is nothing without its audience . Our stores , web site and other appearances become truly alive when customers come to visit . At the same time , we ’re the ones providing the most interesting place to be , by constantly presenting new fashion and exciting happenings . It ’s easy , inspiring and fun to visit us . There ’s always a reason to stop by . To bring the story to life and engage the employees , we proved how our message " Just walk in " could be applied on several levels , with a similar story but a different angle . 1 . With emotional and story driven commercials on an image - building level 2 . With thematized fashion campaigns on a middle level 3 . With sales - driven messages on a tactical level , without losing the passion in our story Furthermore , we showed how the message “ Just walk in ” could be varied endlessly and how we would talk about our arena in different contexts . What then happened was that the staff quickly took the expression to their hearts and started using it in their daily work . By talking in terms of fashion arena and being the one inviting to it , their work became consistent and successful . It also became clearer to consumers what the company was standing for . But this is still an ongoing process . Approach Since our client had a clear vision of the target group and the strategy had already been decided , we felt that mind mapping the customer journey was unnecessary . However , for describing how our message could be applied on different levels we used the visualization tool by describing a marketing pyramid with different levels ( see Approach ) . The assignment is still ongoing , and we plan to do a small - scale test by implementing one of our ideas in real life – a kind of learning launch . Then we will be able to see how well the concept works and what can be improved .