By Zenan WU and Yiwei Tian, Group 126
Brand plays an important role in the marketing communication. Many famous brands have their own brand stories, some of the brands’ history can be legend stories. Therefore, because of these interesting and attractive stories, the brands have been widely spread all over the world. Moreover, beautiful stories always could create an air of mystery for brands, and some “nosy” people are so curious about these brands, as if they own these brands’ products, they may experience these legends, and they may feel that they become a part of the legends.
Brand founder’s history:
In 1952, a 52 year old salesman came to a hamburger shop and intended to promote milkshake machine to the shop owners (two brothers). At this moment, he found a fast, efficient, cheap and high-quality method of making hamburgers. The most important point was that it was easy to learn from everyone. He saw only one teen could deal with so many orders in a short time. He realized that it was a great opportunity. This 52-year old man was Ray Kroc who is the founder of “fast food nation” McDonald’s.
Legend story:
Italian brand “FARINO” is popular among movie stars and other successful people. Why they are fond of the brand? Just because its products are fashion, and the workmanship is exquisite? Not really. It also has a lively story. In 11 Century, some Roman soldiers went through Alps, it was snowing, and the weather was so cold. These soldiers felt too cold to go forward. At this time, a soldier called Rarino came up with an idea, asked all soldiers to take off leather from clothes and wrap their foots in leather. Then, all of them went through the Alps. In order to commemorate this soldier who came up with a good idea, an Italian shoe manufacturer named its product of leather shoes as “Farino”. Therefore, the brand with this story spread around the world.
A brand story will be communicated by a number of marketing activities and tools such as press releases, brochures and networks. In the process of brand communication, business would integrate corporate image, product information and other basic elements. A brand story can reflect the core values of brand and culture of the corporate, increases the attractiveness of the brand, and increases the awareness and knowledge of consumers for the brand. Moreover, through integrated marketing communicating based on a brand story, which can make customers to resonate with the brand.
Reference:
Marketing Management Blog 
nice blog.
i agree with you that if brand has a legendary history it is definitely going to do well. in addition to that if the history is on emotional level where consumers can connect to it, it proves to be a lot better. one of the examples is Swiss army knife which was made to serve the war veterans but still today it is one of the favorite brand in niche market.
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Nice blog post – thanks! I think most successful brands have been build on seeing an opportunity, or having a good story, as outlined with your two examples. I suppose the measure of a good brand is also whether they can create a powerful story or narrative about their brand when one doesn’t exist in the first place. Very interesting to think about… To me there is no doubt that the narrative of Steve Jobs leaving and then returning to Apple has given an excellent back story to the reinvigoration of that brand, and its resulting success!
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Its a really interesting topic you have touched upon. I agree every brand has its own story, some have great stories and some don’t. But what i personally feel is that even though some brands don’t have a great story to tell, they are still one of the best brands in the world because they have maintained their standards throughout, without detouring. IMC plays a vital role in such cases,as brands that are evolving to the changing trends always have an upper hand in the game. Brands play a vital role in benefiting the customers at large. A brand serves as a helpful holder for a notoriety and positive attitude. Branding has a major impact on non-clients as well. Psychologists have demonstrated that recognition incites preferring. Branding can lift what you offer out of the domain of an item so that as opposed to managing value customers you have purchasers avid to pay more for your products than for those of the contenders. In spite of the fact that you must contribute huge amounts to make a brand, once it’s made you can keep up it without needing to recount the entire tale about the brand each time you showcase it. For example the Apple icon, was named after the favourite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs and for the time he worked at an apple orchard.
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This was an interesting blog.
This blog was informative,how mcdonalds and farino shoes are established and named after.But somewhere i felt you didn’t stick with the topic.But as a different thought and untold marketing technique,i appreciate you for doing this blog.
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When stories are attached to a brands life it amplifies the chances of touching more audiences at multiple opportunities across consumer’s personal journey. I agree with the write up, where it exemplifies how great stories are powerful tools that can reach audiences of all demographics.
I get reminded of Disney’s identical story where it flourished across countries for mastering the art of story telling for both Integrated Marketing Communications and Entertainment. It’s a similar success story of perfectly choreographed integrated communication strategy that indulges into paid, earned and owned media presence. It’s apparent that the target audiences evolve and hence should the story and the channels through which it unfolds. Social media plays a role here and it’s integral for the communication strategists to weave multiple media methodologies to reach to a varied set of audiences at their different life stages.
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I agree that Marketing and branding is different. We often get misconceived that branding is marketing and advertising or promotion. Actually many great brands came from a simple story and it has its own culture and its message that rule and spread the business process.
Branding is telling us a story and its culture while Marketing is the set of processes and tools promoting your business.
Many of us got a business idea and the first question comes up is how to brand; start talking about logos,color,website design etc. This might be a wrong way to look at a brand.
In this blog …… why Rarino came up with such an idea? Because he wanted to help his friends from being cold. He discovered that leather could keep them warm. This became a culture and message that communicate with the customers.
Same as Ray Kroc who discovered fast food chain as he wanted to make more hamburgers and served many people within a short time. This permeates everything that they do.
Therefore, many great brands came from a simple story and it is comprised of your personality, your voice, your culture, your value which communicate with your costumers for a long period of time. If you don’t repeat and communicate well with your customers, your brand might fail. It’s the customers who define your brand as well.
Source;
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/where-branding-begins/
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I agree with your blog.
From the blog, it shows that story of a brand is able to have a good intergrated marketing communication.By using the brand story to bring out core values of brand, culture and it is able to increase the attractiveness of the brand.
From my opinion, Company is prefer to present story in the creative ways with the consistent message.
Company is good to use the brand story to increase the reputation of the brand, but it may be suitable for the people that are free or often using social media. However, for company want to target some busy people like businessman, i prefer to use a short and creative advertisment, because they have no time to watch finished whole story. So, it is importance to know the demographic and geophic that company targeted, then only able to choose one or few suitable media to advertise.
My suggestionsIphone can be a good example for your topics, because most of the people know about it. Everyone know about Iphone and Steve Jobs, but what people more care is about the benefit to owned a Iphone (functions, design)rather than Iphone’s story.
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Interesting point.
Todays world looks for personalisation in the things they use. Companies have used this as IMC and connect with wide consumer base and get accepted by them too.
Every product that is used by us seems more appealing to us when we know there is a story behind it and brands want to exploit this.
Most of the companies that are major corporations and brands today love to show and explain to the world about their initial stages and that makes it more appealing to the customer. Consumers today wish to associate themselves with companies that have similar values and beliefs as them. Companies sharing their story helps the company show their morals and beliefs and they can connect with the consumers.
I think this IMC is getting more widely spread and rightfully so.
This can create potential for companies to expand their consumer base and get widely accepted by people.
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I personally think that having a meaningful message (here the story of the brand) is an excellent way of building brand awareness and triggering sales. Customers are more attached to brands that have a story to tell – so that they can take home part of that dream. The more we can add “dream” to a product, the more value we are creating around the product. This can build brand uniqueness, increase brand equity and finally sales. In an integrated marketing campaign, using the brand story can be a very powerful tool to create a link between the different tools and channels used for promoting the brand. This is particularly useful to generate word of mouth through digital media – limiting marketing budgets without compromising sales outcomes.
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Excellent blog.
I think a brand is a story but also a promise. This is how a company can have a good integrated marketing communication.
Japanese video game giant Nintendo have built a brand based on a history that goes back to the 1800s. The legendary story tells of a family business that started off manufacturing playing cards and then through innovation introduced video games to the masses. Their stable of characters and IP in itself are instantly recognisable and the company uses these assets to create an emotional connection with the consumers. Its these assets that keep consumers coming back for more and this is what creates brand equity for Nintendo. Couple this with an ethos of pushing the envelope in innovation and you have a winning formula. Nintendo’s promise to its customers is the promise of fun. Simple and well executed.
In the early 2000s Nintendo’s brand in Japan was floundering (based on the annual Brand Study survey) at position 135 nationally. By 2008 it was number 1! This was achieved through the introduction of various new IP but also extremely popular gaming consoles the Wii and the Nintendo DS. Nintendo’s introduction of lovable characters such as Pikmin and Nintendogs during this time helped them create further emotional connections with consumers that traditionally were not compelled to purchase their brand. This meteoric rise translated in great sales success for the company.
However this sales success has not lasted. Nintendo’s recent sales performance has been lacklustre and the company is now slipping behind the likes of Sony Computer Entertainment. However their brand perception is still held in high regard by Japanese consumers being ranked in 8th position. Its interesting that Nintendo can continue to garner great brand awareness and respect in the home country, I believe due to their legendary story and due to delivering on their promise of providing fun experiences, even though their sales performance hasnt been so great.
Click to access 150210JBGBBook_English.pdf
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Thank you for the interesting blog post.
Aside from the factual histories of companies, some have found success by fabricating their history for entertainment purposes. One that comes to mind is the left vs right Twix ad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0QpPNcT-J4). For those who are unfamiliar with the ad, Twix was founded by two brothers who separated the company due to personal differences. The brothers each created a ‘different’ company – “Left Twix flowed caramel on cookie while Right Twix cascaded caramel on cookie; Left Twix bathed in chocolate while Right Twix cloaked in chocolate, etc.”. Obviously, the story is fabricated, but I believe it was a successful marketing approach as it gave a ‘story’ to the product, rather than just presenting the product to customers.
Whilst it wasn’t a history of the company, I believe the Rhonda and Ketut series of ads for AAMI were also quite successful. The content of the ads themselves did not have much to do with insurance, but they presented a storyline that engaged audiences and before revealing the final ad in the series, the audience was asked to vote for whether Rhonda ended up with Trent or Ketut – again, nothing to do with insurance, but it was a unique way to engage the audience.
In short, I believe presenting stories about organisations in their advertisements is a successful advertising tact as they encourage the audience to interact with the brand, and create an emotional connection with the characters, in much the same way as they do with characters in television shows, movies or books.
Thanks again.
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Nice and informative blog.! IMC can use some epic brand stories as a part of their advertisement campaign in order to grab the attention of the viewers. Mcdonalds and Farino both has epic stories. But how many such brands are there in the market which has some epic past ? IMC is designed differently for every company. A legend story is just an added advantage for that brand but that does not mean that other brand requires such stories to exist in the market.
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This blog really captures a very potential and important part of marketing communication, brand Story.
Steve Jobs’ Apple, which started in his dad’s garage and now the most valuable brand as per 2015 Forbes list.A great, successs full brand story.
A direct comparison with Microsoft and Google, at number 2 and 3 respectively in the list, will tell us the difference.How much we know about Bill Gates or I cant even remember who all are the founders of Google ! These Brand stories will be definitely adding the Intangible values to the brand.
On reverse side,look at the recent Volkswagen crisis.Some economist says it is worse than even ‘Greece’ problem.What make it so big?
When we hear about the Brand Volkswagen, first thing comes to our mind would be the, how safe their cars are.They are realible, high in safety measures, and we can trust their technology, the German technology….oops.hang on…trust?! not any more.That trust of their loyal consumers and constant fan base was destroyed as a result of them rigging the emissions test to make look their car cleaner.Especially when WHO, last year estimated, around 7million premature death could be related to air polution
As a result, atleast 10 billion dollars were wiped straight out or VW’s brand value.On top of this they would have to recall 11million cars fitted with ‘cheating’ software.
Right now, VW’s PR department will be busy weaving a brand new brand story to control the damage.
http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list/ http://fortune.com/2015/09/21/volkswagen-recall-goodwill/
https://hbr.org/2015/09/what-vw-didnt-understand-about-trust
http://news.thaivisa.com/world/switzerland-bans-sale-of-many-vw-diesel-models-amid-emissions-scandal/115498/
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Hi Great blog!Likewise with every promoting activity, the objective of IMC is to fabricate brand value and support brand personality. To contribute brand value, customers need to know the brand’s recognizable proof markers, for example, logo, name and smell, and after that associate those markers with a memory of a message about the brand. I concur that brand personality will help to effect purchaser decision. When I shopping, I generally purchase things that I have recollected that it personality a top priority or it is an understood brand.The actuality that I recall the brand name and have constructive relationship with that brand makes my item choice less demanding.A brand methodology joined with an IMC methodology gives the purchaser a brand and reliable informing that is effectively unmistakable and relatable in any setting. An IMC procedure is more viable and intense with every promoting correspondence thing having a reliable message that separates an organization from the opposition.
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Interesting viewpoints throughout your blog. I agree that a story behind a brand is often part of their success. Historically, in order to differentiate products, craftsmen imprinted trademarks on their goods and creations to identify the maker and origin. I instantly think of alcohol products and wine which place a huge emphasis on the history and process of their products, and how this is reflected in their brand.
On the other spectrum of brands telling the story of their origins, there have been cases where a brand has made up a completely fictitious story to support their brand identity and strategy. An example of this is the Abercrombie and Fitch brand ‘Hollister’ which claimed was founded in 1922 in California, when in actual fact the brand was founded in the year 2000 in Ohio, when Abercrombie and Fitch were struggling to engage with younger consumers. Hollister’s tagline is ‘the fantasy of SoCal’ with their clothing items marketed toward relaxed, casual teenagers who enjoy the beach culture and lifestyle
The brand perception that Hollister wanted to portray was that the brand was created by a man named ‘John Hollister’, with John’s son then taking over the business, which is often portrayed in their signature vintage-style advertising campaigns.
The story has been quite popular in the media as being incredibly deceitful, this story has contributed to Hollister creating a lifestyle brand and product image, a kind of cultural myth that consumers in their target market can really engage and resonate with. Hollister has taken a huge risk by trying to portray its authenticity to customers. As consumers, do we ever wonder if any other retail groups or brands close to our heart have invented their history? Before this story emerged, I never thought to question a brands origins, but how can we be sure?
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Good blog.
There are and will be many stories behind every successful company. These company will be struggling at there initial time and will be well face many problem from others. These companies come up with good ideas and also use the good quality goods for their product that has made them successful.
Infosys is a huge multi national company that was started by three guys in a small room but now it is a giant IT company and has branches in many developed and developing countries. Apple is also one such company that was started in car garage and the rest is history.
Imc also plays an important role in building an image around the product.
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Interesting blog to bring out the stories behind every successful brand. It is an art to tell your brand story and few have successfully done this. Farino, Apple, Puma, Coca- cola have successfully done and are still doing. It personifies your personality, purpose and quest to promote yourself. By telling a story, your brand will be remembered for long time.Stories connect people irrespective of being simple and small. Tell your brand story through marketing to be successful in long run.
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I personally think the history and the story of inception of a particular brand are not very significant. Although it might get noticed by few consumers who know the history of the brand, it hardly matters. McDonald’s and Farino’s success is defined by constant improvement in its product in context with the consumers demand and ability to adopt new marketing trends.
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Interesting blog
I agree with all the comments above. Some brands do really well by telling their story. It seems true, it seems legit, then no doubt people will definitely believe it. Brands with a story can relate to people with somewhat similar stories. This is the best way for companies to market their product. Nonetheless, people don’t usually question if the story is true.
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Good job guys. A refreshing piece which reinstates the importance of emotional connect to enhance the Brand Value with the help of Communication tools. However, I don’t belive that the ” story” has a significant impact on the sales. The measuremet itself would be impossible. The blog is a little unclear on the narrative aspect. Was it supposed to show the importance of integrated marketing communication?. I still enjoyed it though.
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Thank you for the blog…
IMC is the idea of all forms of communication within the brand are in sync. This requires that all promotion tools supplying information to the consumer are working together. The theory is that the brand, with its historical history communicates it’s culture and values in harmony, rather than disjointed.
Within the brand, IMC should be on all different levels e.g business functions (production, finance) on all data information (so all functions have the same marketing data), vertically (from top management to lower level), externally (advertising and PR agencies), to mention a few. One advantage for the brand, through successful IMC is to develop stronger relationships with customers, as retaining customers is as important as finding new customers.
Yet, within the brand what disadvantages or difficulties are there?
If we imagine that the brand should all communicate the same message, then one question would be whose creative message should be used? Would potentially a conflict break out if one department or personality would feel that they have not had enough say in the matter?
A further thought leading from that is can IMC restrict creativity? If we take a traditional leather shoe making company wanting to include luminous stripes, given this in what the fashion world dictates, does that go against the creative, consistent message?
From that though it might also depend on the time for a creative ad or feature might not be in line with each and every department. The finance department might want a quick sales promotion to increase sales, yet marketing department outlining the IMC might consider this devaluing the long term brand value.
And lastly, given communication within a small household is even confusion and complex, over a global company staff may lack commitment or the knowhow itself.
Yet, these are some challenges which face businesses, often we do not even notice the interval delicacies of IMC as a consumer, but we for sure do notice successful campaigns and communication which stick in our head.
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Interesting topic. However more examples and arguments could have been discussed in order to state the relevance.Still an impressive one. Kept it short and simple.
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Thanks for your fascinating blog, guys!
I concur with you in reflection on the major values of brand and the corporate culture of brand story. A brand with a marvelous beginning can get advantage over its rivals. However, it seems to me that, the way which a company has persisted and availed itself of its legend stories is more significant than its history. And in some situation, despite of having shameful history, some brands can manage to turn its image around successfully. For instance, since the 1970s, Nike has been forced to response charges alleging hazardous working conditions and having products manufactured in sweatshops. After that, it promised to increase the minimum wage and adapt U.S. OSHA clean air standards in all factories. Recent years, it has been pushing the technological boundaries of innovation to offer its customers new products combined with hi-tech solutions to give unconventional capabilities to a customer of sportswear. It also gives endless chances for customer segmentation and product differentiation, the pillars of any marketing strategy.
Brand story is not a decisive element for the existence of a brand, especially, these days, customers will consider what benefits a brand can provide for them.
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A well thought out topic to address how IMC can be used to promote a brand. Thanks for sharing.
The story behind a brand is the base to creating the brand. It help’s consumer understand why a product was created. Quite often associating with the original need that drove the idea in the first place, it creates a legacy which consumers can associate with, a problem they have faced before and an solution that works. As ultimately to consumer need to have a reason to purchase to product, a problem or a want that they need to solve.
Using IMC to promote that brand image of the story that got a company where it is today, really brings back the brand to everyday reality. If you look at the example of Farino above, they were just everyday people who needed to keep warm in the snow. The quality is now what drives the brand, but the long history of how that quality was developed is what consumer’s like to see and have believe in. Generally for a higher price. Through a well placed IMC strategy, this image can be portrayed to sell additional products as consumer associate with the legacy of the product, the history and experience that the company has to generated over the years.
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Interesting blog! We forget the major marketing brands in the food industry such as Mc donalds, burger king, starbucks, etc, which are like inventors of fresh marketing strategies whenever their new products are launched. Connection is very important for the audience to feel the want or need to buy the product and utilise and also recommend it to others. Therefore, our major strategy should be not just limited to exposing and making brands famous but also make that connection that would last for long. IMC suffices that need to create awareness and easiness of marketing. People are shifting to using non-traditional source of marketing such as digital media and it can be very powerful. Viral marketing can be induced into the ads easily over internet as it has the ability to reach to a wider audience.Thanks.
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Very interesting topic! everyone loves a good story!
brand story is a great topic with relation to integrated marketing communication. A struggle story or heroic story that gives people hope further portrays the brand as a reminder to people ultimately adding value to the brand reputation. The brand story in itself tells a lot about what the brand is, what it stands for and why you should possess it, especially if its a story that is highly relative.
here is an interesting example of a brand, GoPro that communicates its story through its product by using Integrated Marketing Communication!
http://gopro.com/about-us/
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Good article. Method of Renault’s pursuit of the perfect combination of fashion and exquisite craft, fashion, taste and comfortable as keywords, for 18 to 40 years old urban men with high cost performance shoes.Style leisure, dress, shoes, outdoor, etc.
FARINO brand, has started since the 15th century, over the centuries popular in European and American markets.Renault doing business in China in early 2000, method, aspects of belle group brand management, and to fine with exquisite workmanship to harvest and good reputation.
In 2010, the French Renault began flagship online network platform directly, bring cool urban savour man pure Italian technology of fresh fashion shoes.
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Thanks for sharing this nice information content on your blog post. I’m so well glad to see this post because it contained a lot of useful information which can be used for business. I think that Stories matter in life and in marketing. The reason is simple. Great stories make people feel something, and those emotions create powerful connections between the audience, the characters within the stories and the storyteller.Stories are the perfect catalyst to building brand loyalty and brand value. When you can develop an emotional connection between consumers and your brand, the brand’s power will grow exponentially.Brand storytelling requires creativity and an understanding of fiction writing fundamentals. It’s different from standard copywriting, because brand stories shouldn’t be self-promotional. Instead, can indirectly selling your brand when telling brand stories. Also, I read a article:50 Brands With Amazing Brand Stories. Hope so can help you.
http://turndog.co/2013/03/04/50-brands-with-amazing-brand-stories-20-11/
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Thank for you blog.
I think brand, is a kind of commodity differs from a sign of another commodity, is a representative of the commodity unique personality.As a commodity popular among consumers, the brand is also more and more get the welcome of people.A good brand reputation is the intangible asset of an enterprise is the most important.With the progress of the society and the development of economy, people’s living standards continue to improve, the consumption structure changed a lot.When maintaining physiological needs such as food and clothing live line material consumption has been basically meet later, people in spiritual consumption demand is more and more prominent;Consumers in the choose and buy goods, more than ever pay attention to the psychological and emotional satisfaction, in these aspects, the role of the brand more and more important.The brand is not only represents a product symbol, but embodies the intrinsic value of the product.
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Totally agree that great stories make people feel something, and those emotions create powerful connections between the audience, the characters within the stories and the storyteller.
Stories are the perfect catalyst to building brand loyalty and brand value. When you can develop an emotional connection between consumers and your brand, your brand’s power will grow exponentially.
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Nice blog.
A brand story is important for one brand. For example, Innocent is fast becoming one of the UK’s strongest brands, and it’s their story that’s helped them go from small-town hero to national assassin. The tale of Richard Reed is like many entrepreneurial stories – rife with ups and downs galore.
http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/our-story
A brand story can attract more people to interested of their company.
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I agree with the importance of brand mentioned in your blog has grown and the roles could be replaced during the marketing commutations. According to the two examples provided in this blog both emphasizing the importance of narrative of the brand theme, not only attracting many customers, also build the unique brand image among the existing customers and encouraging some new potential customers as well. As one of the tools in the marketing communications, the brand can take advantage of the positive brand story which both utilize the cultural values and customers’ sympathy to the stories embedded in the brand. On the contrary, there is an existing a risk that lack of the guarantee that all brand story suitably for the brand theme, thus if a company want utilize some stories rich in the brand themes and influence among the customers.
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Nice Blog!
Focusing on a nice market gives a advantage to the company and that somehow, helps in making profits if right marketing strategies are applied and the product is well communicated to the customers and potential customers.
Thanks,
Aditya Choudhary
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Hi Thanks for the blog… I agree with Sahal the blog is missing some details. The topic is very interesting and catchy. As we read the blog it talks about McDonalds and Farino but doesn’t provide much details, yes it gives the history but lacks other information on how its promoted and marketed. I hope the details have been incorporated in the reflective essay. All the best !!
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