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UNIT 2:

Effect: Storytelling is brain-friendly communication

Brand stories work so well because they synch up with the fundamental structure of the brain with the brains perception,
processing and memory storytelling is brain-friendly communication. Brand stories are vivid, animated and appealing.
They are about people interacting with an environment (the jungle, mountains, the wild west, etc.). The interaction is
important because it illustrates how to avoid danger and seek a better, safer life.

Storytelling craft draws on patterns, e.g. characters, action and places, which we learned about as children and which make it
easy for us to understand, process and remember: evil becomes good, poor becomes rich and ugly becomes beautiful.
That we have at our command our own neural network responsible for remembering stories illustrates the importance of
stories to the brain: episodic memory. This neural system has enormous responsibility since we need it to make decisions: we
actually store feelings along with stories and experiences about whether the story turned out good or bad for us so that we
know whether to repeat the experience again or avoid it.

Conclusion: we should anchor our brand in digital media with positive stories and experiences in episodic memory. Brand
experiences are based on the reward promise we formulate (Chapter 1). We need to find suitable and consumer-oriented
experiences which position our brand in a unique way our brand should hang like a Picasso painting in the minds of our
consumers.

Stories create clarity

Researchers are constantly searching for the particularly important dimensions of successful communication. One of these
superdimensions is clarity: how clear and concise is my image of the brand, what does it do and what makes it unique?
Research shows: the clearer the image, the quicker and more focused are our decisions. A central goal of digital branding
should therefore be to create transparency. Easier said than done. Innovation as an example: what do we mean by
innovation? Why is it important to the brand and the consumer? Does innovation help me avoid danger and achieve a better
life?
Digital brand storytelling can create a clear brand image by utilizing storytellings core elements: what people or characters
represent innovation? Which actions? Which places or stages indicate innovation?

Particularly potent elements of storytelling are the images from stories that appear in our minds eye when we think of a
company. Neuroscientist Ernst Pppel says that we must access pictorial or episodic memory in order to elicit and especially
change behavior. The mental images of the brand are what cause consumers to pay more than they would without a picture
in their minds 29 times more for the same crystal from Swarovski as from a warehouse store (WMF). Investors want to be a
part of and profit from a brand with success stories. Journalists report on brands with interesting stories to tell.

DEVELOPMENT: DIGITAL BRAND STORYTELLING CONTINUES THE TRADITION IN A NOVEL WAY


We have always told stories. Digital brand storytelling builds on the ancient and powerful tradition of storytelling like we
know it from around the campfire. Storytelling began as an oral tradition, then came newspapers, magazines, books, radio
programs, television series, film and today we have virtual worlds inside computer gaming.
At first, each new medium tried to copy storytelling methods from a previous medium. Over time, each new medium
developed its own way to tell stories.

Beginnings in information sciences


Digital storytelling traces its beginnings to the information sciences: interest in narratology began to develop in the early
1970s before there were PCs or the concept of personal digital media. Research at this time was focused on one especially
promising field: artificial intelligence (AI). We were already seeing attempts by filmmakers to break from linear narratives in
order to allow audiences to participate in content creation a goal generally described today as interactivity.
The field experienced a boom through video game designers: in 1986 Brenda Laurel received the first doctorate for
designing an interactive fantasy system based on a combination of her background in theater and her expertise in
programming, thereby founding the interactive drama genre. Chris Crawford whom we thank for the term interactive
storytelling and Andrew Glassner also pioneered design and game development.
Digital storytelling began with hypertext as linear scrolling text that extended over many pages, had links and allowed
comment. One of the most famous of these projects of the time were CD ROMS from Eastgate (www.eastgate.com). These

CHAPTER THREE | UNIT TWO 1


early building blocks of text became increasingly interconnected over time and included graphics, video and audio. This lead
to the term hypermediality.

CHAPTER THREE | UNIT TWO 2

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