MARKETING AFRICA MAL 18/17 mal 18:17 online | Page 68

stories of his time in school, at play,
at swimming, etc. Simple stories
of course, but stories all the same.
Research has shown that personal
stories and gossip make up to 65% of
our conversations.
For a long time we’ve known that
stories are a really effective way of
engaging audiences, and now we have
a scientific understanding of why.
We feel stories
Researchers used functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) to study
the brains of participants when they
were told a story. Sensory words like
‘coffee’ or ‘perfume’ engage not only
the brain’s language centers but also
the areas associated with olfactory
processing. That basically means if
we listen to the story of a lady with
a vanilla scented perfume we almost
literally can smell the vanilla.
In addition to this, sentences like ‘he
threw a ball’ or ‘she shook her head’ lit
up not only the language centers of
the brain but also the centers of the
brain associated with motor control
and body movement. (At least now
I understand why at times I find my
head and body moving when watching
‘Fast and Furious’).
Telling stories results in speaker-
listener coupling
Researchers showed that when a
speaker shares a story, his brain
activity is spatially and temporally
coupled with the listener’s brain
activity. When a storyteller shares his
story, the listener actually feels his
pain, happiness, fright, anger, sadness,
etc. This ability to engage emotions
is what connects humans and causes
them not only to retain facts but to
also act on those facts.
Hormone release
Scientists at the University of
California discovered that when
people listened to stories they
naturally increased their production of
oxytocin. Oxytocin is also referred to
as the ‘love hormone’ and is released
by every human being during love-
making and by mothers during breast-
feeding. That dose of oxytocin creates
bonds and is addictive.
Of course, we release much smaller
doses of oxytocin when we listen to
stories as compared to for example
love-making. This however tells us that
stories are quite useful in social bonding
and it’s no wonder we relate better with
people who are good story tellers.
Let’s not forget also hormones like
cortisol and dopamine. Cortisol is a
stress hormone and is released during
a story’s climax; during the peak of
tension. Dopamine is a reward hormone
and is released when the story’s end is
happy (I suppose this is especially so
‘‘ Researchers showed that when a speaker
shares a story, his brain activity is spatially
and temporally coupled with the listener’s
brain activity. When a storyteller shares his
story, the listener actually feels his pain,
happiness, fright, anger, sadness, etc. This
ability to engage emotions is what connects
humans and causes them not only to retain
facts but to also act on those facts.”
66 MAL 18/17 ISSUE
for romantic stories). So to every parent,
when your son or daughter spends his
or her whole weekend watching a series,
please understand.
Considering the above points
every brand ideally should
embrace storytelling as a means to
communicate with target audiences.
To emphasize this point a little more
we should consider what a brand truly
is. A brand is more than just a product
in that brands hold for us meaning
conveyed through values, emotions,
personality type, gender, etc.
Stories represent a superior way of
communicating these meanings to our
target audiences which then causes
them to empathize and want to be
even more closely related to brands.
Research has shown further that
humans think of brands as human that
is, when we think of brands we use the
same parts of our brain that we use
when we think of friends and loved
ones. Human beings tell stories; let
your brand tell stories.
There are many sources of story for
your brand including: the brand’s
provenance (e.g. in the case of a
corporate brand, what drove the
company’s existence?), your customer’s
experiences, latest innovations, a day at
work in your company, staff victories,
amongst others.
Note also that there is a plethora
of channels that you can use to tell
these stories. The point is to create
synchrony and synergy. Twitter for
example doesn’t work like Facebook or
Instagram. Use each creatively, keeping
in mind the different advantages
brought by each. Let your story
also be like a tea bag; it’s possible
to use one tea bag for up to three
cups so make sure you’ve exhausted
all communication platforms when
sharing a story.
With the advantages of storytelling
mentioned above, a number of brands
will still struggle with sharing stories