Hi there,
The weather is so terrible these days and my feelings towards what is it I want to do in this life are so confused, that it was a real struggle today. (I know I promised to post something yesterday, but I hope you will forgive me). No, I still love you all and want to keep going, it is just one of those moments when you have to keep your dreams in mind and keep going.
There is so much to tell about PR basics, that I almost had no ideas what to share with you this time :-) We've already talked about strategy, target audiences, press release writing and media relations. Seems like it is time to write about...stories.
What is PR anyway? Hundreds of definitions may be given with all the references to Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, but I was taught that real public relations is only possible to build when there is a great story present. In fact, just look at all those examples with Coca-Cola and recipe kept in secret, Susan Boyle and talent TV show, Apple and Steve Jobs, MasterCard and a guy who forgot his cash at home and than invented the first credit card ever and so on. All of these brands were made because of great PR and almost fairy-tale-like type of stories. But what if those stories have never happened, would we still know about and love those brands? Have those stories taken place at all or maybe they simply are the great examples of PR people outstanding skills of storytelling?
To start with, storytelling is something following me around these past few weeks. Firstly, I read about this big annual conference for PR specialists taking place in Ukraine where the main topic is going to be 'the importance of stories in PR' or something. Secondly, I have just started this new brilliant online course in storytelling organised by the University of Applied Science in Potsdam and could not be more interested in sharing what I have learnt so far with you.
1. Why is story important?
Like with all the great books, movies, TV series, myths and legends the magic (meaning the interest to the object of reading/watching/hearing) happens when the process of identification happens. Thus, if the audience realise they have some connections to the protagonists of the story or locations where everything happens, or sounds, smells, names - they start seeing a part of themselves in all of this. Similarly, with brands or other items for PR it is very important for potential customers to be linking themselves with the products/services which proves their loyalty. Brand can be appreciated for its prestigiousness/exclusiveness/britishness/mannishness or for being used by a certain people/group/class, and these distance features can only be established through a great story.
2. How do we create a story?
If you think that storytelling is important in PR only as a part of brand management, I can argue, there is so much more to it. Story is everywhere - in a press release you send to journalists, trying to make them interested; in campaign messages, in people you chose to be the speakers and even in the products you promote. And for every of these little tales there is one rule to keep in mind: the story should hook from the beginning (exposition), keep readers interested (confrontation) never let them go till the end (resolution). There are so many ways to hook your audience: some brand in their communication try to engage the audience with their long history and authority/trustworthiness/class (Guinness, Burberry, Rolls Royce), stories from Pepsi, MTV are supposed to hook young generation because these are the companies teens can identify their selves with.
On the other hand, it is possible to spot some patterns (cliches) in the PR stories borrowed from well-known legends/archetypes etc. For instance, Susan Boyle is a clear example of the Cinderella scenario, when somebody you pity at first becomes extremely successful kind-of-like-a-princes. The story with most of the politicians plays around Prometheus/Heracles characters - very strong, confident personality with the ability to save the people of the given country and the whole world.
Now you probably think stuff like - hm...what about Samsung, Oreo, McDonalds and others - nah, we don't see any Cinderella-Prometheus happening with mobile phones, cookies, and fast food. Yeah, you are right, with products and services as opposed to people and fictional characters, stories may not follow a pattern in terms of plot, but archetypes do take place here as well. One can try to create something super-mega-hyper-wow with the overall PR&communication strategy, but in the end you will be able to see that your masterpiece is quite likely to be similar to something already know. Below I provide a diagram of the most popular cliches/patters/whatever used to create great stories.
There are a number of ways X and Y can be named. For instance, let X in the following example stand for 'Individualism vs Collectivism', while Y varies from 'Stability to Change'. So every brand can be described according to those attributes and place in the relevant corner of the diagram. I can now think of iPhone as very illustrative example of 'Individualism & Change' mix, as innovation, coolness and personality are among the brand values.
Personal dimension is how we feel in relation to ourselves (we can either be very happy with ourselves and let our inner energy drive us - Enjoyment; or be very uncomfortable with what and who we are and behave like a control freak - no laughing, no staying up late, no driving fast - Control); while social dimension shows our relations to others (are we leaders who want to dominate - Power; or shy and discreet people who rather want to Belong to a group than lead it). And here are some examples from that guide on how this works in real life:
Enjoyment (adult toys archetype) = Smart cars that 'put mobility and entertainment at the heart of driving'
Conviviality = Beeline (Russian mobile operator) stand for 'connected people with a happy outlook on life in their communication'.
Belonging = Coca-Cola is the perfect example, as in the perception of the vast variety of people Coca-Cola equals holiday equals Christmas.
Vitality = Nike as 'testing your own limits and boundaries'
so on and so on. It is also really interesting that Beeline uses yellow, Coca-Cola is brown and Nike`s shoe boxes are red...
3. What do we do next?
Come back for more PR Basics tips next Tuesday and discover the answer.
Thanks again for making me come back to this blog and learn more and share it with you! =*
Your M.
The weather is so terrible these days and my feelings towards what is it I want to do in this life are so confused, that it was a real struggle today. (I know I promised to post something yesterday, but I hope you will forgive me). No, I still love you all and want to keep going, it is just one of those moments when you have to keep your dreams in mind and keep going.
There is so much to tell about PR basics, that I almost had no ideas what to share with you this time :-) We've already talked about strategy, target audiences, press release writing and media relations. Seems like it is time to write about...stories.
To start with, storytelling is something following me around these past few weeks. Firstly, I read about this big annual conference for PR specialists taking place in Ukraine where the main topic is going to be 'the importance of stories in PR' or something. Secondly, I have just started this new brilliant online course in storytelling organised by the University of Applied Science in Potsdam and could not be more interested in sharing what I have learnt so far with you.
1. Why is story important?
Like with all the great books, movies, TV series, myths and legends the magic (meaning the interest to the object of reading/watching/hearing) happens when the process of identification happens. Thus, if the audience realise they have some connections to the protagonists of the story or locations where everything happens, or sounds, smells, names - they start seeing a part of themselves in all of this. Similarly, with brands or other items for PR it is very important for potential customers to be linking themselves with the products/services which proves their loyalty. Brand can be appreciated for its prestigiousness/exclusiveness/britishness/mannishness or for being used by a certain people/group/class, and these distance features can only be established through a great story.
2. How do we create a story?If you think that storytelling is important in PR only as a part of brand management, I can argue, there is so much more to it. Story is everywhere - in a press release you send to journalists, trying to make them interested; in campaign messages, in people you chose to be the speakers and even in the products you promote. And for every of these little tales there is one rule to keep in mind: the story should hook from the beginning (exposition), keep readers interested (confrontation) never let them go till the end (resolution). There are so many ways to hook your audience: some brand in their communication try to engage the audience with their long history and authority/trustworthiness/class (Guinness, Burberry, Rolls Royce), stories from Pepsi, MTV are supposed to hook young generation because these are the companies teens can identify their selves with.
On the other hand, it is possible to spot some patterns (cliches) in the PR stories borrowed from well-known legends/archetypes etc. For instance, Susan Boyle is a clear example of the Cinderella scenario, when somebody you pity at first becomes extremely successful kind-of-like-a-princes. The story with most of the politicians plays around Prometheus/Heracles characters - very strong, confident personality with the ability to save the people of the given country and the whole world.
Now you probably think stuff like - hm...what about Samsung, Oreo, McDonalds and others - nah, we don't see any Cinderella-Prometheus happening with mobile phones, cookies, and fast food. Yeah, you are right, with products and services as opposed to people and fictional characters, stories may not follow a pattern in terms of plot, but archetypes do take place here as well. One can try to create something super-mega-hyper-wow with the overall PR&communication strategy, but in the end you will be able to see that your masterpiece is quite likely to be similar to something already know. Below I provide a diagram of the most popular cliches/patters/whatever used to create great stories.
There are a number of ways X and Y can be named. For instance, let X in the following example stand for 'Individualism vs Collectivism', while Y varies from 'Stability to Change'. So every brand can be described according to those attributes and place in the relevant corner of the diagram. I can now think of iPhone as very illustrative example of 'Individualism & Change' mix, as innovation, coolness and personality are among the brand values.
Change
(Dynamic, fast change, speed, risk, adrenalin, innovation)
Individualism 
Collectivism
(Personality, uniqueness, exclusiveness) (Friendship, family/country/community values)
Stability
(Power, authority, trust, strength)
Another brilliant classification of archetypes that help telling PR stories can be found in this guide by Synovate and their Synovate Censydiam methodology. The core of the system here is motivation, something that will make people buy/want to buy/identify themselves with a brand. I would recommend you look through the whole guide as it is full of great explanations and pictures, but the summery is below.
So the most common (archetypical) motives people have for doing things are represented by 8 colours. (I wonder if one can claim being super powerful because violet is their favourite colour :-)
Enjoyment (adult toys archetype) = Smart cars that 'put mobility and entertainment at the heart of driving'
Conviviality = Beeline (Russian mobile operator) stand for 'connected people with a happy outlook on life in their communication'.
Belonging = Coca-Cola is the perfect example, as in the perception of the vast variety of people Coca-Cola equals holiday equals Christmas.
Vitality = Nike as 'testing your own limits and boundaries'
so on and so on. It is also really interesting that Beeline uses yellow, Coca-Cola is brown and Nike`s shoe boxes are red...
3. What do we do next?
Come back for more PR Basics tips next Tuesday and discover the answer.
Thanks again for making me come back to this blog and learn more and share it with you! =*
Your M.
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