Reflection - Storytelling

Challenge  I am part of a student organization of around 30 students from different disciplines which  designs and manufactures Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) at my University. These  vehicles are then employed in international competitions, where the themes are marine  exploration and inspection, as well as more manual operations such as plastic removal and  infrastructure maintenance. The management department of the organization, which I am part  of, was tasked with finding a solution to our growing problem of low new applications numbers,  as well as the generally low awareness of our organization when compared to other more  renowned student teams inside the University. The marketing strategy until then had mainly  consisted of posting photos and videos of our vehicles in action on Facebook and Instagram,  however the number of followers and likes were stagnating. Considering our organization did  not have the kind of resources that allow for expensive advertisement, we found ourselves  struggling to raise awareness.     Selection  We figured that a good strategy to engage more students would be to make our cause more  inspiring through telling a great story about what our organization does and what it can achieve.  Storytelling is a very valuable tool when it comes to engaging people emotionally and  highlighting what the brand stands for and why the community should care. However, our  organization’s short history and the lack of real life inspiring AUV stories brought us to create a  parallel between ocean exploration and another, generally more compelling, kind of exploration:  space exploration. Our University offers mainly engineering courses, therefore we realized that  we would be able to engage the community (especially mechanical and aerospace engineering  students) to a much greater extent if only we would be able to show that ocean exploration can  be as inspiring and exciting as space exploration.    Application  The idea was that for each story we would tell about space exploration, we would connect it to  and create a parallel with ocean exploration. For example, we would talk about the story of the  Hubble SpaceTelescope and show its famous deep space pictures, then show pictures of deep  ocean floors, geology and relics, indicating that only 1% of the ocean floor has been explored  and photographed. Otherwise we would mention the story of the Chandra X-ray Observatory,  which since 1999 has been scanning the skies with its X-ray from outside the atmosphere, and  we would show its pictures of distant bizarre astronomical events such as remnants of  supernovas. After that we would present X-ray and UV vision pictures of unique deep sea  animals, to convey the idea that technology and marine exploration can enable us to discover a  vast number of wonders still largely unknown to humans. One last example was the story of  Dextre, the two arm robot on the International Space Station, which we connected to AUVs’  maintenance operations in subsea installations. Some of these stories were published on our  Instagram and Facebook pages, some were shown to the audience through PowerPoint  presentations, others mentioned in the mails that were sent out for recruitment purposes.

Insight  As a result of our storytelling strategy, we noticed an increase in general interest as more  students applied and were wishing to be part of our team. As we had predicted, the new stories  had mainly reached aerospace and mechanical engineering students. While the number of  followers on our social media pages showed no sign of a great boost, the new posts did receive  a much higher number of likes. Overall, while not revolutionary, the storytelling strategy was  successful in enhancing the organization’s brand in our community. Furthermore, we noticed  that the strategy had had the effect of more strongly defining our company culture, which  members now felt it had evolved from being mainly a student project to becoming a more alive  organization with its own character.     Approach    While our management department was generally satisfied with the outcome, we immediately  started brainstorming new creative ideas to increase the students’ awareness of our  organization and cause. That’s when we came across different Design Thinking techniques  such as Learning Launch, which we are planning to implement to test our new ideas and help  us design a more customer driven marketing strategy. Ideally, our future strategies will integrate  different Design Thinking techniques together, with storytelling being at the forefront to enable  us to tell great stories about the organization’s scope and achievements.


Reflection - Storytelling Challenge I am part of a student organization of around 30 students from different disciplines which designs and manufactures Autonomous Underwater Vehicles ( AUVs ) at my University . These vehicles are then employed in international competitions , where the themes are marine exploration and inspection , as well as more manual operations such as plastic removal and infrastructure maintenance . The management department of the organization , which I am part of , was tasked with finding a solution to our growing problem of low new applications numbers , as well as the generally low awareness of our organization when compared to other more renowned student teams inside the University . The marketing strategy until then had mainly consisted of posting photos and videos of our vehicles in action on Facebook and Instagram , however the number of followers and likes were stagnating . Considering our organization did not have the kind of resources that allow for expensive advertisement , we found ourselves struggling to raise awareness . Selection We figured that a good strategy to engage more students would be to make our cause more inspiring through telling a great story about what our organization does and what it can achieve . Storytelling is a very valuable tool when it comes to engaging people emotionally and highlighting what the brand stands for and why the community should care . However , our organization ’s short history and the lack of real life inspiring AUV stories brought us to create a parallel between ocean exploration and another , generally more compelling , kind of exploration : space exploration . Our University offers mainly engineering courses , therefore we realized that we would be able to engage the community ( especially mechanical and aerospace engineering students ) to a much greater extent if only we would be able to show that ocean exploration can be as inspiring and exciting as space exploration . Application The idea was that for each story we would tell about space exploration , we would connect it to and create a parallel with ocean exploration . For example , we would talk about the story of the Hubble SpaceTelescope and show its famous deep space pictures , then show pictures of deep ocean floors , geology and relics , indicating that only 1 % of the ocean floor has been explored and photographed . Otherwise we would mention the story of the Chandra X - ray Observatory , which since 1999 has been scanning the skies with its X - ray from outside the atmosphere , and we would show its pictures of distant bizarre astronomical events such as remnants of supernovas . After that we would present X - ray and UV vision pictures of unique deep sea animals , to convey the idea that technology and marine exploration can enable us to discover a vast number of wonders still largely unknown to humans . One last example was the story of Dextre , the two arm robot on the International Space Station , which we connected to AUVs ’ maintenance operations in subsea installations . Some of these stories were published on our Instagram and Facebook pages , some were shown to the audience through PowerPoint presentations , others mentioned in the mails that were sent out for recruitment purposes . Insight As a result of our storytelling strategy , we noticed an increase in general interest as more students applied and were wishing to be part of our team . As we had predicted , the new stories had mainly reached aerospace and mechanical engineering students . While the number of followers on our social media pages showed no sign of a great boost , the new posts did receive a much higher number of likes . Overall , while not revolutionary , the storytelling strategy was successful in enhancing the organization ’s brand in our community . Furthermore , we noticed that the strategy had had the effect of more strongly defining our company culture , which members now felt it had evolved from being mainly a student project to becoming a more alive organization with its own character . Approach While our management department was generally satisfied with the outcome , we immediately started brainstorming new creative ideas to increase the students ’ awareness of our organization and cause . That ’s when we came across different Design Thinking techniques such as Learning Launch , which we are planning to implement to test our new ideas and help us design a more customer driven marketing strategy . Ideally , our future strategies will integrate different Design Thinking techniques together , with storytelling being at the forefront to enable us to tell great stories about the organization ’s scope and achievements .