By Chloe McHale
Do you remember when Pepsi’s ‘Live for Now’ ad featuring Kendall Jenner sparked chaos instead of connection? The ad featured Jenner leaving a photoshoot to join a protest. Once at the protest, she handed a police officer a can of Pepsi as a peace offering. The ad, meant to convey unity, sparked outrage instead. Viewers felt that Pepsi’s ad trivialized the significant social issues occurring around the world. This marketing misstep from Pepsi may not have caused long-term damage to its bottom line, but it left a lasting impression on the public—one that many still remember with a cringe.
Storytelling in advertisements requires more than a popular celebrity or catchy phrase; it requires a deep understanding of the brand’s audience and an authentic understanding of the issues and emotions the brand wants to trigger in viewers.
The Power of Storytelling in Shaping a Brand
In a crowded market, storytelling allows brands to be different. Telling the right story has the power to make an unforgettable brand. Brand storytelling humanizes a brand; it creates an emotional response, allowing viewers to connect with the brand on a deeper level. By using storytelling techniques, brands can effectively express their values and personality to set them apart from competitors. By learning the audience, brands can know which emotion to invoke in viewers to create a successful storytelling campaign.
But, what is the best approach? Is it laughter or a humanizing connection? Let’s take a closer look at each.
Creating Bonds Through Laughter
Humor can be a powerful tool in brand storytelling. A clever ad or well-timed joke can leave a lasting impression on audiences by breaking down barriers and making the audience more loyal and accepting of the brand.
Humorous storytelling should never feel forced; it should serve a purpose that aligns with the brand’s values and personality. Brands should find their humorous voice and style to showcase a point, not just be funny.
There isn’t just one type of humor in storytelling. Finding the right humor for a brand is important. If the wrong humor or emotion is invoked, brands can receive backfire and seem insensitive when the wrong humor is used. Knowing your audience and what makes them laugh will help you find the right humor for the storytelling campaign.
Now, let’s look at a brand that got it right, and one that towed the line.
Heineken’s Humorous Success Story
To celebrate Heineken’s 150th anniversary in 2024, the company made a humorous commercial aimed at people not knowing how to spell their brand’s name. The commercial showed the beer being represented in 192 countries and no one knowing how to spell Heineken. In one clip, a man was getting a tattoo of the logo, and the artist asked, “Wait, how do you spell it?” and then showed the tattoo being spelled wrong.
Heineken took a humorous approach to celebrate their 150th anniversary, which worked out greatly for them as they even won an award in the gold category at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. Heineken created a light-hearted, successful, humorous commercial that caught the attention of viewers and created a lasting impact as well as got more people to be able to spell the brand’s name right!
Boot’s UK Christmas Advertising Controversy
Boot’s UK created a Christmas commercial for the 2024 season that sparked controversy. Most are used to the homey, traditional Christmas television advertisements, which is not what Boot’s did. The commercial showed Mrs. Claus tending to her lazy husband, Santa Claus. The ad, meant to be humorous, showed Mrs. Claus making Christmas magic happen instead of Santa Claus.
Many people, specifically women, love the ad. In a TikTok video comment, one woman said, “Obsessed, finally women get the credit for making Christmas amazing !!!” In the same video, a man commented, “Everyone saying what’s wrong, they show the white man as a fat lazy person and everyone doing the work is black and a woman.”
On one end, women love this ad because they believe they are finally getting the recognition they deserve for making Christmas magical. Conversely, men hate the ad because they believe they are seen as not doing anything besides sleeping and being lazy during the holidays.
Creating Lasting Emotional Connections
When done correctly, emotional storytelling can also stand out and create long-lasting connections between brands and their audience. Emotional storytelling in brands is meant to tap into the hearts, experiences and relationships of human beings. Emotional connections are what drive actions and create memorable impacts. Once a consumer associates a brand with a meaningful emotion or connection, their loyalty is more likely to remain in the said brand.
Think about the last time an ad from a brand sparked an emotional response from you – more than likely, you will associate a memorable experience with that brand. When done right, emotional storytelling has endless capabilities. When done wrong, disaster and severe backlash can ensue for that brand.
To successfully execute an emotional storytelling approach, brands must define their story before launching a campaign. Emotional marketing should enhance a brand’s story, not overshadow it.
Now, let’s look at the success and failures of emotional storytelling for brands.
The Success of Dove’s “Turn Your Back”
Dove’s 2024 Turn Your Back campaign harnessed emotional storytelling to challenge society’s beauty standards. The campaign encouraged TikTok users to reject the bold glamour filter, which completely alters a person’s appearance, promoting unhealthy beauty standards.
The ad features people using and speaking on the bold glamour filter while sharing heartfelt reflections, accompanied by evocative music. It then encourages users to turn their back on the filter and to celebrate individuality and authentic beauty.
Launching during peak popularity with the bold glamour filter, the campaign struck a chord with TikTok users. The campaign was such a success and helped redefine beauty standards as Dove empowers people to embrace real beauty in their campaigns.
Other brands have not been as successful in their emotional storytelling approaches. Let’s look at an example of a failed emotional storytelling campaign from a brand.
Coca-Colas AI Failure
Coca-Cola is being slammed for its 2024 Christmas advertising that was generated by AI. Social media users are showing the company disgust for using AI. As AI advances, it is slowly being brought into the advertising world, which many are not happy about. Coca-Cola released three short ads using AI software.
The ads are quick montages showing smiling faces and wanting viewers to feel nostalgic and emotional over the holiday joy captured in the videos. The videos are simple and only focus on smiling faces and trucks passing by in a winter wonderland.
Social media viewers do not believe that Coca-Cola should have used AI to generate the company’s holiday commercials. One user commented, “Billion almost trillion-dollar company cutting costs at ads.” Another user commented on the same video, “Having the strapline “real magic” with an ad made of fake images is not good for brand reputation.”
Viewers are disgusted with Coca-Cola for cutting advertising costs and using fake images and videos to try and display the magic of Christmas. The backlash the company has received has not stopped since putting out the ads.
Finding the Perfect Approach for Your Brand
Storytelling is more than just a campaign strategy; it requires in-depth research and a deep understanding of your brand’s core message and target audience.
When choosing between humorous and emotional storytelling, brands must carefully consider aspects like tone, message focus, and the emotional engagement they want to adopt. Different types of humor—from dark to light-hearted—can provoke varied responses, so choosing one that aligns with the audience’s preferences and expectations is important. Emotional storytelling also comes in many forms, and the brand’s core message should guide selecting the most fitting approach.
Understanding the level of emotional engagement within the audience is crucial in shaping the campaign; some audiences may naturally connect through humor, while others respond better to heartfelt messages. Ultimately, defining your brand’s voice, values, and core messaging is the foundation for building effective storytelling strategies. A clear grasp of what your brand represents and what resonates with your target audience will help ensure your storytelling campaign hits the successful mark.
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