After listening to Moth Radio today and hearing the utterly raw and human stories being shared, I had to rant to a new potential collaborator (for a start up business) who happens to be a writer, photographer and journalist. He reached to me right after a recent offsite and said that I’d said something that struck a chord with him about storytelling. And it was right in line with his thinking.
Although I’m not sure what I said exactly, I sent him a follow up note. It went something like this:
Branding is what I call a sales pitch. When we (and I’m speaking from the agency world) tout that brands are stories, and branding is storytelling, what we are really saying is that it’s story-selling. Not story-telling.
And then I thought about it again. Wait. Story-selling. Maybe there is something to this. Maybe, if branding is all about being authentic, it needs to own it’s authentic raison d’être. The word “brand” came, most notably in American history, from ranchers who brand-burned, or stamped, their ranch name onto cows or other livestock. It’s since evolved into a designed logo mark that represents a promise to customers (and for some, they choose to tattoo it on their bodies).
But the story piece? It’s all a contrived version of the truth. It might be based on reality, but so are movies. And we all know there is an element of b.s. to those (unless it’s called a documentary).
What will happen to brand stories? It will be interesting to watch as more and more people choose to dump older brand religions for newer and hopefully more humane ones.
Agent M
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