Podcast
#92: How to Use Story Marketing to Make Movements Happen
#92: How To Use Story Marketing To Make Movements Happen
The world of brand marketing is changing rapidly. Ad campaigns don’t work like they used to. Because brands are no longer the storytellers. They’re the story makers handing their stories to their customers in hopes they’ll share it with their world.
Smart brands are focused on making movements, like REI’s #OptOutside effort. Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign. Or Heineken’s recent “Open Your World” work.
How do you turn an ad campaign into a meaningful movement that matters? It starts by creating a relationship with your audiences through your story marketing.
Brand relationship expert, Kimberly Manno Reott of Context Partners, joins us from her home in Madrid, Spain. She explores the three elements and six critical roles to every successful movement.
Context Partners is a new type of design firm focused on relationships at scale.
We all face a changing world where identity, information, and power are rapidly shifting. Traditional models of communication are failing and once-passive audiences are coalescing into powerful, vocal communities.
Kimberley and her team help organizations like Microsoft, Lilly and the Rockefeller Foundation and the Rainforest Alliance build, navigate and leverage their relationships to shape the future.
Kimberly will teach you how to craft a compelling message and structure the right team with the correct personalities to turn your campaign into a movement.
Practice Papers | Movement Making
As mentioned in this week’s podcast, download your free copy of Kimberly’s Movement Making workbook here.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- How to approach business storytelling through the lens of relationships, particularly through the STORYTELLER.
- The three-story plot points you need to make any movement take off
- The six aspirational roles people play to make your cause successful
- And the almighty power of chocolate to bring clarity to your story.
Charity Water: Story Marketer of Week
Since their 2006 “Birthday Video,” Charity Water has seen the powerful impact that storytelling has.
Their latest campaign, “Someone Like You,” is a brilliant way to use a customer’s story to help get them into action. Someone Like You asks you some simple questions; your age, your favorite activities, your personal values; and finds a match of someone who had similar answers.
Who is it you’re connected with? A person in Ethiopia, someone across the globe who, as you can guess, is like you. The personal connection you can make with these folks helps you self-identify your role in bringing fresh water to those in need. Charity Water, for the creative and effective relationship building initiative, gets to be our Story Marketer of the Week.
Key Quotes
“Think about the community you want to engage, and think about which of these roles would make a difference.” – Kimberly Manno Reott
“All business strategy is a story.” – Park Howell
“At the end of the day, movements or networks or communities are really relationships you have with people.” – Kimberly Manno Reott
“In traditional marketing, consumers get segmented by demographics… that way of segmenting people is kind of old school and actually doesn’t allow you to build the relationships that are lasting.” – Kimberly Manno Reott
“It ultimately comes down to building these relationships by truly understanding your audience.” – Park Howell
Mentioned in this episode
- Kimberly Manno Reott
- Kimberly Manno Reott Twitter
- Context Partners
- Rockefeller Foundation
- Sally Hogshead
- Fascination Advantage Assessment
- Rainforest Alliance
- Aspirationals
- Vincent Stanley
- Patagonia
- New York Times
- Damnation
- Yvonne Chouinard
- Schwinn Stingray
Listen To More Episodes
