The option to tell more stories in more ways in more spaces–driven by a multitude of factors like innovation, changing content strategies, and low barrier to creation entry–has created alternate ways for brands and distributors to connect with audiences. Brands are becoming more like media machines and content providers, and traditional media channels are having to compete for audience attention like never before.
Evidence of the influential power of emotion, story and content immersion cannot be ignored; investing in original storytelling is a powerful tool to engage audiences in deeper, more meaningful ways, and can be an impactful way to both build brand equity and motivate change. These stories can–and should be–told in partnership with traditional marketing and ad units that operate with the intention to interrupt, rather than immerse.
We do have established systems of definition and assessment for many of the other types of content created for other parts of the funnel, but when it comes to brand funded entertainment and storytelling, there’s a gap there that directly impacts proving ROI on the front end, and performance and impact on the back end.
With that in mind, the authors–in partnership with BRAND STORYTELLING–have launched a global, multi-tiered research project to establish a unique and agreed upon set of standards, definitions, best practices, and metrics, to help brands and storytellers across all functions of the industry tell more stories in more ways.