SAME GAME, DIFFERENT RULES

Why Storytelling Is An Essential Part of Modern Marketing and Communications

May 27 2013

for WOM MARKETING SUMIMIT 2013

Who Are We?

@AlexErasmus @AtsuoIshida

If You Want To Tweet...

#WOMJ

I‟d like to start by telling a short story…

What Is “Media”?

A Multi-Screen World

Think Like A Media Company

89%

NEED TO HEAR INFORMATION

MORE THAN THREE TIMES

37%

33%

31%

22%

20%

18%

15%

15%

Technical expert in the company

Academic or expert

A person like yourself

CEO

NGO representative

Regular employee

Financial or industry analyst

Government official or regulator8%

14%

16%

18%

22%

24%

32%

42%

Government official or regulator

Financial or industry analyst

Regular employee

NGO representative

A person like yourself

CEO

Academic or expert

Technical expert in the company

+ 9

+ 7

2012 2013

But…

Infinite Amount of Content

Limited Attention Span

Storytelling

The Importance of a Story

“Those who tell the stories rule society.” Plato, legendary philosopher

“If you give your audience half a chance, they‟ll do half your acting for you.” Katherine Hepburn, Oscar winner

What business impact does telling stories have?

(US Share Price)

Why are Japanese companies failing to tell a compelling story?

Most Japanese companies don‟t have a „Master Narrative.‟

Promoting Your Story

The key to promoting your story is creating good content.

Good content is relevant to the brand and… Funny// Provocative// Interesting// Useful

“Public engagement will become the only way to truly influence behavior change.” Steve Rubel, Edelman’s Chief Content Officer

Public Advertising

Speed News Trigger

How do you make content viral?

Good content and timing. (And advertising).

Measuring the Success

What does success look like?

Twitter/YouTube – Information and Greater Awareness

Facebook – ‘Discovery’ and Initial Awareness

Blog – Deeper Product Research

Website – Purchase Consideration

Sale PR and other Marketing

Data can tell you to choose A or B. But it can‟t tell you what A or B is.

Tips for Online Measurement

1. Set the agreed metrics – Edelman Digital Houseboat

2. Check base metrics before starting content activities – Edelman Conversation Audit

3. Ensure content team combines different departments for quality convergence tracking – Edelman Content Workshop

4. Set up ongoing measurement because it’s difficult to grade the success over a short period –

Edelman Actionable Insights Report