In 2007, 14,000 people joined a campaign to bring back a discontinued chocolate bar.
Cadbury’s Wispa bar was discontinued in 2003.
But 14,000 people joined an online campaign group to try and convince Cadbury’s to reintroduce it. When the brand did a 7-week trial run in 2007, they sold 20 million bars. And they finally put it back on our shelves for good in 2008.
It’s just a chocolate bar.
And, frankly, it’s pretty similar to other chocolate options out there (here in the UK, anyway – I refuse to consider the stuff you eat over in America as actual chocolate!). You could get the same taste, the same ingredients, the same sugar boost (and crash) with an Aero.
But it’s not about the taste, the ingredients, or the calorie content. It’s about the story people attached to it.
- The after-school snack.
- The visit to the leisure centre vending machine with still-wet hair after swimming lessons.
- The Christmas morning selection box discovery as you’re sat in your pyjamas under the fluorescent glow of the tree lights.
Because story sells.
And it can help you build an emotional connection with your audience.
Why are stories so effective?
A story kickstarts an emotional connection that we build meaning around.
All the legends we’ve known since childhood have to start somewhere. Whether it’s Thor and his mighty hammer (the original or the Hemsworth version), Robin Hood and his band of merry thieves, or how the Colonel really makes his fried chicken. They all began as myth and reality woven into a compelling narrative.
Whispered to each other at twilight.
Human beings love stories, and we share the good ones. We used to share them around campfires at the mouths of caves, then we traded them in return for food and shelter as we travelled to new towns and lands. We wrote them in books and wove them into songs and turned them into multi-movie franchises where blonde Australians show off their arms. (ahem)
Now we click tiny arrows as we scroll through our phones, sharing the best stories with our friends and followers. And our reach is endless.
Why do you need a good brand story?
Brands come and go. You can seem like the next big thing – a potential unicorn, the TikTok product everyone wants – one day, and the next people have moved on to something shiner.
What makes the difference between your brand being a flash in the pan viral trend and a true lasting legend? Well, you need a good story. And you need to know how to share it.
If you’re not using your website copy and emails to help people weave a story around your business…then you’re missing out on building an emotional connection.
That’s what good copywriting and good messaging do for your business. They weave that story. So that people are invested in your brand. So it becomes a part of their life. So they form campaign groups to bring it back once you’re sunning yourself on your retirement yacht!
How to find the right story for your brand
Great Peta, thanks for that. But unless I founded my brand off the back of some epic Netflix special-worthy life event, how do I find this magical story?
Well, while some stories are more cinematic than others, every single brand has one, you just need to do a little digging. And here are 3 things you can try to get started:
- Tap into your brand’s origin
Just like every superhero has an origin story, every brand does, too. How did you get the idea for your product or service? Were you struggling with something and couldn’t find a solution? Did you discover a talent and realise that you could help people with it? Did you experience something in your life that changed the way you look at the world? Did you decide to confront an injustice?
All of these origin stories will resonate with the right audience. But you need to be telling them (and not just in a small section on your About page)
- Listen to how your customers use your product or service
Your brand story isn’t just about you – it’s about our customers too. Just like the stories people attached to the Wispa bar, people will attach stories to using your product or service.
The app that helps them finish their to-do list so they can make it to their kid’s tennis practice every week. The membership that helped them actually write their book.
The drink they always buy when they’re waiting for the train to go home for the holidays.
Spend time with your customers, and listen to how they talk about your offer. They’ll tell you what resonates. And you can use those stories and that language in your messaging.
- Find the everyday emotions
If you’ve got a huge, sweeping epic of a story then great! Run with it. But the everyday can be just as good (if not better) at helping you form that emotional connection.
Find that everyday moment that people associate your product or service with. Tap into the emotions that are related to that moment. And weave that emotion into how you tell your story.
This is one of the reasons why User Generated Content is so big right now. People want to see stories they relate to – the mum who (just like them) struggles to get her kid to sit at the table and eat, and feels like a terrible parent. But then they found this card game they can play to keep everyone engaged and eating tea.
“This product changed my day/life/mindset because…” is a story – and an incredibly effective one. I’m willing to bet you can find stories like this within your customer base.
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Stories are nothing new. But they can weave magic through your business.
Why not tap into that Wispa magic, and see what stories you can find?
If you’re struggling to land on the story that will build an emotional connection with your audience – or you can’t find one at all – then I can help.
Book a Get My Brain On Your Business call and we can choose the right story, and come up with a plan on how to share it, too!