Brands should always consider storytelling as a tool for their marketing communications for better results.
Developing a campaign is crucial to connecting with people; nothing gets more attention than a well-told story. For that reason, marketers have incorporated storytelling into their marketing efforts to create a connection with the brand and get people interested in their products. However, it is crucial to know how to properly measure it so that it can give concrete monetary results. Seeing the example of one of the biggest storyteller companies in the world, let us analyze how Disney takes advantage of storytelling to increase its profits.
First thing first, Disney does things inversed. When most companies develop a product first, then build a story around it and generate sales. Disney creates a story, engages with the audience, and then releases products appealing to those who connect with the story. As mentioned by Will Burns, a former Forbes collaborator, and advertising veteran, it is common for brands to start with a product, service, or experience and build a story around it, but Disney does the opposite.
Despite some companies starting with a product and others by the story, today you will learn how to measure if it is a successful “content marketing” campaign and get monetary value out of it.
First, what are you trying to achieve with your story?
It is crucial to have a set of goals when creating a campaign. Do you want more people to know the brand? Do you want to duplicate current sales? Do you want to earn a thousand followers at the end of the month? Sit down and think about what you expect to get from this campaign, what are your key performance indicators (KPIs), and how you will know if the story you build gave you the expected results. Once you have all that information, you can start building a story.
For example, Disney wanted to make a movie that would reference iconic films so people could reconnect with the brand and celebrate the 100th anniversary, so they created “Wish”. We can infer some of its objectives were to increase revenue from movie theater tickets, merch, and experiences by attracting people to the upcoming film.
Numbers will Tell the Truth
I remember meeting one of the animators who worked on “Wish” and telling her that although the movie was a masterpiece, its marketing efforts disappointed me and people who commented about it on social media. She looked at me and said, “Well, the numbers will tell”. They did, and according to data, the movie was a flop, but we will leave that analysis for another post. The point is numbers are so important when measuring success. In cases like “Wish” you could be telling the most beautiful story about how the wishing star has been making things possible for over a 100th years, but without a good distribution campaign your story will not succeed, and that is when data will help analyze the reasons why a project did well or bad.
The film had only grossed $233.6 million against a production cost of $175- $200 million, not meeting the first goal of increasing revenue. Since I was working in the parks when the film came out, I know it also did not meet the goal of attracting people to buy merch or attend special meet and greets.
How to Make Money Through Storytelling
If the story is good, what happened? The truth is the story was not appealing enough. Perhaps Disney forgot to investigate its target audience and what they expected to see in a film to celebrate a 100th year of trajectory. Most importantly, they forgot about marketing and took public support for granted. Without a good marketing strategy, a story is only a story. When the movie was released, many people did not know it was already out, and being Thanksgiving weekend, many of them had better plans.
In other words, you can create the most wonderful story about your product. It can be the hero and the answer to all your ideal consumer problems, but people will not know about it until you advertise it.
Remember, if you do not create a strong strategy to market both your product and its story, no one will ever know about the wonders that your brand has to offer.
If you want to convert your story into dollars, you must combine it with the right social media campaign, activations, and marketing effort for it to give back significant profit and meet its goals.
After this example, I hope you have a better idea of how to create a powerful story for your brand and how to sell it to potential consumers to increase brand profit and connect with loyal customers.
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Sources:
Disney Proves That Profitable Marketing Is About Brand Stories by Will Burns
https://www.forbes.com/sites/willburns/2015/06/09/disney-proves-that-profitable-marketing-is-about- brand-stories/?sh=6d66b9e5227b
How can you measure the impact of your storytelling on your change initiatives and outcomes? By LinkedIn
Disney’s Bleak Box Office Streak: ‘Wish’ Is the Latest Crack in the Studio’s Once-Invincible Armor by Rebecca Rubin https://variety.com/2023/film/box-office/disney-bleak-box-office-streak-wish-the-marvels- 1235809251/
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