Consumers’ media habits are changing. Mobile media time – the time spent using a tablet or smartphone for things other than talking to people – is on the rise, and traditional TV viewing is in decline. However, the shift from one device to another doesn’t mean that people want something different from their content. In this piece, Jon Mowat (pictured below), managing director, Hurricane Media, explains that, while you should be considering data, you need to tell a good story first. By connecting on a deeper level with consumers, campaigns can achieve better results.

Marketing campaigns that drive emotional engagement deliver 4x the uplift in purchase intent than those that don’t. Consumers reject celebrity endorsements and direct sales messages; they prefer marketing content that is informative and to-the-point, makes them feel nostalgic, and tells a story.

Learning and feeling

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Humans are hardwired for stories. We use them to learn about our world, to connect causes and effects, and communicate our values and beliefs. That’s why the first stories we hear as children have morals; and it’s why 88% of us trust consumer reviews – stories told about a product by people who’ve used it.

Jon Mowat, MD, Hurricane Media

The consumer review is especially powerful because it feels real. It’s a story told by someone like us – not someone rich and famous who doesn’t have the same limits and needs as us, and who’s just reading words fed to them by marketers. The best narrative-marketing doesn’t feel like narrative-marketing.

Airbnb’s video series captures this philosophy superbly. The host shows an interviewer around their neighbourhood, taking them to their favourite places – ordinary and down-to-earth places – and sharing their hobbies. The interview style is unpolished and natural as it teases out the origin story about how the host joined Airbnb – and this one is especially powerful as a story of recovery and positive impact.

Burt’s Bees take a similarly human approach, building co-founder Burt Shavitz’s character – and the brand’s values – through a three-minute mockumentary, an irreverent yet touching tribute to keep his legacy alive with the hashtag #Burtliveson.

Whilst it’s to-the-point (any more than three minutes and the joke would start to wear thin), there is the potential here to split the film into two parts. The first half focuses on Burt’s cheeky personality riffing on the question “Who is Burt?”, whilst the second section tells the brand’s story of the living the ‘good life’ with nature, ending with a quote from Burt: “Walk in the woods, fall in love with a sunset, and see how the land is everything.”

By ‘discovering’ small details about Burt’s past, intercut with his behaviour in the present, the viewer builds up a sense of his life story – which means they also make a connection with the brand’s natural, whimsical values.

It’s not all about data

The Burt’s Bees video works because it feels genuine – it’s focused on the quality of its story and emotional messaging, rather than on the more pragmatic priorities of the marketers who signed off on it.

Obviously, a marketing campaign will have targets to meet. There’ll be a demographic to address and a desired outcome in terms of purchase intent, brand awareness, or consumer engagement. The important thing is that none of this can be obvious.

Narrative content needs to tell a good story first and foremost. It needs to sound plausible, feel natural, and be subtle in conveying the marketing message and call to action. A story won’t be heard if it contains clumsy product placement and is scripted like a corporate presentation. Offer something that’s meaningful and affirmative – don’t twist and turn to check a box, appeal to an analyst’s idea of what imaginary buyers want, or boldly state what you want people to think.

Besides, data isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We’ve put a few claims about the power of video to the test, and we’ve discovered that they’re often based on old sayings or isolated anecdotes. These dubious claims gain traction because they sound like things we’ve heard before: they tell us a story we already believe.

Even in a video that’s about uncovering the facts, we’ve constructed a narrative – albeit a very simple one. We heard this, so we investigated it, and we found something out. That’s all it takes for us to get our point across, but this trace of cause and effect is a lot more engaging than a straight sales message that doesn’t make people think.

Of course, you should be considering data, but you need to tell a good story first. It's obvious when you're pandering to demographics and farming for clicks, and you'll achieve much better results by creating something that connects on a deeper level.

Jon Mowat is a former BBC documentary filmmaker, now heading up UK video marketing agency Hurricane. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.