Example reflection – Story telling

Challenge and selection    Story telling is a very powerful tool and perhaps the most popular one for me to use. As how  through the hero’s journey one can develop interest in a narrative and convey deep  messages as well as create an interest hook through the climax and anticlimax. I work in an  advertising agency on the account of one of the biggest personal care brands. The brand  had been loosing market share in the country to new players as well as competitors. The  relevance of the brand was dwindling as it seemed to be nothing but a beauty brand of the  older generation and its image needed a revamp. An important part of a brands image is  story telling to narrate the brand proposition and concept in a relatable way. In the past  decade the brands stories have been about fragrance and other traits that the consumer  doesn’t give merit too, atleast the target consumer. We needed to weave a new story with  new characters to make it resonate with audience and tell a narrative which has the brand  purpose in it with an insight relevant to the target audience.

Application    So this is how we weaved the story of relevance, first we wrote new bar statements that  shifted the product benefit to glowing face and glowing skin. We started highlighting  ingredients in our story to build an RTB so that the story can be believed and so that we can  give it an head. The next phase was to bring in new talent to the team, people who have  been at the forefront and their names on the back of some of the biggest brand stories. So  we put into research the multiple concepts that we had, out of these the concepts that won  were a glowing face and face cream like glow in a bar. So we wrote three stories one for an  urban audience suited to their pallet but without the brands purpose of expressing oneself  unapologetically. The other story for the urban audience was slightly elevated and had  purpose woven into it, these two were supported by the story for the rural audience which  would be a much more linear one , simpler to understand. So we made animated versions of  these stories and put them into research to test which would prevail and win.     The research of the story would measure three things ; enjoyment, comprehension and  most importantly recall as these are the three pillars of a successful story. The research ran  over a month, the difference in characters of the story would be key to the results. In one  story we got two new characters on the brand that are at the peak of their fame, the other  two stories had a character that came from a popular family and was still relevant to the  culture and married into royalty. So after extensive research it was found that the script  with the new talent worked better and was liked more. So this had to be further enhanced  and we did that by leveraging a song that was popular classic and making a remix out of it  with one of the best music directors. This did help as songs is an essential tool to uplift  stories  and can be used to great benefit.

The story starts with the male character sitting and when his spouse walks in he is left in  awe with her radiance. Her radiating face leads him to sing the song and do a dance which  increases the joy of the story and storytelling. So he sings the song and the main line of the  song chand sa roshan chehra also became the brand benefit articulation.

Insight and approach    So the idea stemmed through multiple research and consumer sessions conducted. We  wrote multiple bar statements to help the consumer visualize the product and the feel of  using the product. Many bar statements failed various angles were used some tried to  leverage product use experience and some the ingredients but none of them worked, the  only one that clicked with consumers was the one that offered face cream like benefits in a  bar of soap. From this we made a creative brief and made a script that went into animatics  and then came out well and is now going to be a film.


Example reflection – Story telling Challenge and selection Story telling is a very powerful tool and perhaps the most popular one for me to use . As how through the hero ’s journey one can develop interest in a narrative and convey deep messages as well as create an interest hook through the climax and anticlimax . I work in an advertising agency on the account of one of the biggest personal care brands . The brand had been loosing market share in the country to new players as well as competitors . The relevance of the brand was dwindling as it seemed to be nothing but a beauty brand of the older generation and its image needed a revamp . An important part of a brands image is story telling to narrate the brand proposition and concept in a relatable way . In the past decade the brands stories have been about fragrance and other traits that the consumer does n’t give merit too , atleast the target consumer . We needed to weave a new story with new characters to make it resonate with audience and tell a narrative which has the brand purpose in it with an insight relevant to the target audience . Application So this is how we weaved the story of relevance , first we wrote new bar statements that shifted the product benefit to glowing face and glowing skin . We started highlighting ingredients in our story to build an RTB so that the story can be believed and so that we can give it an head . The next phase was to bring in new talent to the team , people who have been at the forefront and their names on the back of some of the biggest brand stories . So we put into research the multiple concepts that we had , out of these the concepts that won were a glowing face and face cream like glow in a bar . So we wrote three stories one for an urban audience suited to their pallet but without the brands purpose of expressing oneself unapologetically . The other story for the urban audience was slightly elevated and had purpose woven into it , these two were supported by the story for the rural audience which would be a much more linear one , simpler to understand . So we made animated versions of these stories and put them into research to test which would prevail and win . The research of the story would measure three things ; enjoyment , comprehension and most importantly recall as these are the three pillars of a successful story . The research ran over a month , the difference in characters of the story would be key to the results . In one story we got two new characters on the brand that are at the peak of their fame , the other two stories had a character that came from a popular family and was still relevant to the culture and married into royalty . So after extensive research it was found that the script with the new talent worked better and was liked more . So this had to be further enhanced and we did that by leveraging a song that was popular classic and making a remix out of it with one of the best music directors . This did help as songs is an essential tool to uplift stories and can be used to great benefit . The story starts with the male character sitting and when his spouse walks in he is left in awe with her radiance . Her radiating face leads him to sing the song and do a dance which increases the joy of the story and storytelling . So he sings the song and the main line of the song chand sa roshan chehra also became the brand benefit articulation . Insight and approach So the idea stemmed through multiple research and consumer sessions conducted . We wrote multiple bar statements to help the consumer visualize the product and the feel of using the product . Many bar statements failed various angles were used some tried to leverage product use experience and some the ingredients but none of them worked , the only one that clicked with consumers was the one that offered face cream like benefits in a bar of soap . From this we made a creative brief and made a script that went into animatics and then came out well and is now going to be a film .