Great stories tap into human emotion
Online viewers are becoming more sophisticated decision-makers and they’re increasingly cynical of the paper thin claims made by advertisers. Film-makers will often start with a compelling story, however, there is a lot to learn from a strategic marketing process for creating greater engagement with audiences. People are being bombarded with messages from every direction. As content producers, and storytellers how well are you considering the audience when developing your stories? And does platform play a role in influencing the direction your story will go? Spoiler: it should.
A good communication strategy starts with a clear understanding of the customer
There is a danger as we get swept up in the initial seed of a story that we get complacent, and we don’t stop and think about our audience. A good communication strategy will always start with a clear understanding of the customer or target audience and their needs during the solution design process. Film-makers will often start with a compelling story, however, there is a lot to learn from a classical marketing process for creating greater engagement with audiences. In a previous article, I shared on the importance of thinking differently about how we do things. As storytellers, we have to ask more questions about our audience and the platforms, then circle back to the story.
Use story devices to motivate purchasing decisions
Great stories tap into human emotion. As you will see from the following marketing campaigns, brands are using story devices to motivate purchasing decisions. Ever found yourself feeling teary-eyed watching a TV commercial? Yep, me too! Brands are engaging viewers with long-form storytelling and emotion to build connection and brand value. Why? Because they understand the audience they’re trying to sell to. Just as advertisers use film-making techniques to sell a product, the film-making business can learn from the marketing process to help improve relevance and clarify who the audience is.
Here are 3 great examples of short films on YouTube that use emotion to build a connection with potential customers
https://www.youtube.com/embed//qSZ4h7YSGnQ
In 2018 Hyundai celebrated twenty years of business in India. The underlying story proposition is Hyundai is about quality, value and loyalty, and it is told through a family story. So, was this campaign successful for Hyundai? Did they sell more cars? I haven’t been able to find out what the production budget was for this campaign, but with almost 223 million views and only 0.03% dislikes, if just a small percentage of viewers go out and buy a car from them, then I’d confidently say, yes. What we learn is that if Hyundai wants to reach young families who are trying to stretch their family budget, then purchasing a Hyundai could be a good investment.
https://www.youtube.com/embed//CfWzeGlaFvI
Car manufacturer, Volvo, has been known for decades as a safety-conscious brand. In this campaign, they expand their vision to the safety of those outside the vehicle, or more specifically, those that may come into contact with a car! Ouch! According to a study, cycling one hour may add an hour to a person’s life expectancy! Another study claims that if you ride a bike to work, you’re more than 500 times more likely to die than travelling by bus! Either way, we know if you get hit by a car it is going to hurt. Volvo has tried to do something to help. Isn’t that lovely of them? In this factual video, they demonstrate leadership, innovation, care and responsibility with the introduction of Lifepaint.
https://www.youtube.com/embed//ak5HEPpubhk
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I am a bit of a sucker for the annual Christmas campaign season. Once again, we’re taken into the land of fantasy and make-believe to imagine (and believe) the founder of the company was the original inspiration for the Santa Claus we’ve all come to love! Don’t be so quick to judge. Coca-Cola did the same a hundred years ago. As cynical as I might sound, Sainsbury’s are probably playing in safe territory. Few people participate or know the original story that marks the holiday season, so pretty much anything is up for grabs. And heaven forbid we would ever call into question the need for a public holiday and colossal retail spend. Long live the jolly fat man, right?
Okay, back to reality.
Make your content relevant to your audience
For film-makers, the creative process always starts with the story. It’s good news for creatives that demand for video content is high. As great as these examples are of stories told well, 66% of viewers think most content is irrelevant to them, and it’s not just because the production quality was poor. Online viewers are becoming more sophisticated decision-makers. They’re certainly cynical or suspect of advertisers trying to sell them stuff, and they’re being bombarded with messages from every direction. As content producers, are you considering the audience when developing your story and how does the platform, come into consideration? As you think about this, what would you change? Do any of these examples achieve what we imagine their objectives were? Has each brand built relevance, credibility and respect?
We’re living in times when marketers can no longer simply tell a customer your product (or story) is great. Today they won’t believe you without evidence. As Seth Godin says, “Marketers can no longer use commercials to tell their stories. Instead, they have to live them.” Do our stories ‘live’ the story we’re telling them? This is why empathy is such a powerful tool and it has become such a popular device in the stories we tell.
Do you need to pay more attention upfront, i.e. before heading into production, to the co-relationship between story, audience and platform? What is your process?