Lessons From the Film Industry on Brand Storytelling

Pettyлавator lapidopatry.com I will not look for you I will not pursue you but if you don't I will look for you I will find you and I will kill you good luck how good are movies? how good are movies, right? movies have this amazing ability to make us laugh to make us smile movies can make us dream about what's possible in the future they can give us this sense of childlike adventure they can scare us sorry for the nightmares they can make us cry the movies have this uncanny ability to be instantly recognisable even when you take it down to its smallest, smallest fragment so I'm going to try and experiment with that now I'm going to play you just a few seconds of a song and in a minute I'm going to ask you to tell me what the movie is that you're thinking about okay okay okay I'm going to play you just four notes two unique notes but four notes in total I will, I promise okay, one, two, three okay, thank you thanks for playing along, I appreciate it that is the extent of the audience participation I promise so movies have this amazing ability to captivate us and play with our emotions they take us on this rollercoaster of emotions and they have this ability to control that and when we leave after having watched a movie we usually talk about it with our friends we debate about it and if it's a great movie it sticks in our mind and we talk about it years and years later and I think as brand storytellers this is everything we want to achieve as well I know as a brand storyteller this is the exact kind of ability that I would love to have and I would argue that some brands are already managing to do this so lesson one from the movie industry that I think all of us as brand storytellers can learn is that the strongest narrative wins so this is a guy called Todorov Todorov was many things he was a philosopher sociologist and multiple other things and he came up with something that he called narrative theory so he argued that oh sorry well I've given the game away I might as well leave now you've got the teaser he argued that every good narrative can be broken down into five stages five narrative stages the first of those stages is the equilibrium the equilibrium is the status quo is how things are arranged right now it's our normality the second stage is the disequilibrium this is a disruption to the status quo this is when something usually goes wrong the third of the stages is recognition so a group of people or a person recognize that there has been a disruption to the status quo and the fourth of the stages is attempt so somebody or a group of people attempt to restore the status quo to get us back to how things were and the fifth and final of the narrative stages is the new equilibrium so this is the new normal the new status quo things are not the same as they were before so to put narrative theory to the test I want to take you through these stages in one of my favorite books in one of my favorite movies which is this I think we can all agree that is one of the classics so let's go through these narrative stages and see if it holds up equilibrium John McClane he lives in New York his wife lives in Los Angeles they don't spend that much time together they don't have the best relationship it's not the perfect status quo but it's their status quo he goes back to visit once in a while in this particular moment he's going back for Christmas the disequilibrium Hans Gruber the head of a terrorist cell takes over the Nakatomi Towers in downtown Los Angeles and there McClane's wife works this is not normal this doesn't happen every Christmas this is a disequilibrium this is a challenge to the status quo and the recognition is when McClane goes to visit and surprise his wife in the Nakatomi Towers and he hears gunshots and he realizes that something is wrong something is not normal and the attempt is made and the police and John McClane they have multiple attempts to try and remove the terrorists from the Nakatomi Towers a lot of failed attempts until at the end when John McClane successfully kills Hans Gruber by dramatically dropping him from the, I don't know, the 100th floor from the Nakatomi Towers and then McClane and his wife kind of walk off into the sunset in fact they go off in a police car to live their new normal so because they've lived through these narrative stages they have a new status quo which is a slightly happier one because they've, you know lots of people have died but they've never really referenced that in a movie but somehow they are a lot happier from having gone through this rather traumatic experience so this event is called On Brand it's not called On Movie so what about brands? does this narrative theory stand up for brands? I would argue that yes, it does. So let's have a look for Spotify. So the equilibrium in Spotify's brand story is a time when we would all go to stores and we would buy physical music. That's how we consumed music. The disequilibrium, so the disruption to that status quo, is music went online, and pirates would download the music illegally. I'm sure there's not a single person in this room who has done that. Nervous laughter. Recognition. This isn't a real photograph taken from a Spotify riot, I'm afraid. I couldn't find one, but it's a representation only, showing this kind of tete-a-tete between the government and the... the record labels and the pirates. Heavy fines were given out, and it was kind of considered to be this huge disruption to the music industry. The attempt was Spotify themselves. They launched Spotify, the app, where they allowed anybody to access thousands and thousands of songs at the touch of a button. And then the new equilibrium is what we all know today, our new normal, the new status quo, where any of us can access this, music, legally rather, not illegally, legally, at the touch of a button for 10 euros, more or less, a month. So what about Typhoon? This is my brand. This is where I'm coming from. So if you don't know Typhoon, hopefully this narrative story tells you a little bit more about us. So the equilibrium is when small businesses are small, they can talk to people, they can talk to people face-to-face, they can talk to their employees, they can talk to their customers, they can ask for information, they can ask for feedback. If they've changed their branding, they can say, hey, Bill, what do you think of my new branding? Bill says, I hate it, I think you should change it. Okay, great, let's change it. So this is how small businesses can operate when having conversations. They have real-life face-to-face conversations. But there is a disruption to that. There's a disequilibrium, and that's when businesses inevitably scale, and they're forced to turn to traditional online forms that look a little bit, like this, when asking for that information, asking for feedback. And this is a very cold experience. And how do I know it's a cold experience? Well, it's because of the recognition. And the recognition is in the market, where the industry average for completion rates of these forms and surveys is around 15%. So think about that. 100% from 100% of people that visit the form, only 15% actually get to the end. Imagine if all of your conversations were like that. You would be very insecure. So the attempt is, Typeform comes along. And this should show you a little bit about Typeform. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck getting that little tune out of your head tonight. You're going to be humming that in bed in two weeks' time. You're like, what the hell is that tune? Okay, so type form, next generation forms. It brings a conversational, engaging, and interactive edge to the online form space. So that was our attempt at getting back to this kind of real-life conversations that we have as small businesses. And then the new equilibrium is a time now where people, consumers, employees, customers, can complete online forms to give their information, to give their opinion, and not feel like they're just being given a laundry list of questions and being interrogated. So, ah yes, and I would argue that if you take some of the world's most renowned category-owning brands, you could apply the same narrative theory to these brands. Try it, try it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I really am. No, I'm joking. I always am. Lesson two, and this is my favorite. Every interaction counts. So this is Kuleshov. Kuleshov was a Soviet Russian filmmaker and actually one of the founders of one of the first film schools in the world, back in the early 1900s. Now Kuleshov believed that editing, film editing, held a lot of power. So he believed so strongly in this idea that editing held a lot of power. And you have to think this was a time when film was just getting started. Nobody was talking about this. So he ran an experiment. He ran an experiment with his students. He wanted to prove that editing had this power to play with our emotions. And I'm going to show you now the same experiment that he gave to his students. Basically what he did was he edited together three sequences of film. Each sequence with two scenes. Very, very simple. And then he played each sequence to his students. And then he followed each one with a question. So I'm going to show you that same thing now. Please forgive the video quality. You have to consider this was created at least 420,000 years ago. So I think I'm allowed a little bit of creative license here. Okay, so this is the first sequence that Kuleshov showed to his students. I know, gripping stuff. Gripping, gripping stuff. So a bowl of soup. First scene, a bowl of soup. Second scene, this actor supposedly looking at the bowl of soup. Kuleshov asked his students, what is this actor trying to portray in his face? You know, what is he saying with his acting? And all of the students unanimously said, hunger. He's trying to show hunger. Okay. So Kuleshov went on to show the second sequence. And this was it. So this time, a seemingly dead child in the first scene and in the second scene, the same actor now supposedly looking at the child. And Kuleshov went on to ask his students, what is the actor trying to portray in his facial expressions now? What is he trying to say? And they all unanimously said, sadness, remorse. And Kuleshov played them the third and final sequence, which went like this. I hope that whistle was for me, not for the girl. So in this sequence, a beautiful young lady laying on a chaise longue, and now the actor supposedly looking at the lady. And Kuleshov, predictably, asked his students, what is the actor trying to portray now? And they all said, desire, lust. The interesting thing is, at the time, apparently the students all commended the actor for his amazing ability to express such subtle emotions without moving. So this, you know, they really applauded this guy. Now, of course, what I imagine all of us know, and what Kuleshov knew at the time, is that the only scene that had changed in each of the sequences was the first scene. So the first scene changed, and the second scene was exactly the same. So what was happening? What was happening? Meaning and emotion was being taken... That's a little bit broken, but it doesn't matter. I'll just say it. Meaning and emotion was being taken from one scene and being dragged to the other by the audience. So feeling from the first scene was being implied on the second scene. This became known as the Kuleshov effect. So I want you to think about your ideal customer. And I want you to imagine her as the audience member of a movie. But instead of a movie, it's your brand narrative. It's your brand story. It's the story that you're telling, that you're presenting in front of this ideal customer. As brand storytellers, we have this power. Remember, editing has a power to take people all the way up to pure delight or all the way down to pure disgust. And there's a whole range of emotions in between this. An average brand, a mediocre brand, might achieve something like this when editing together their brand story. A deplorable brand, Trump administration, excuse me, excuse me, I've had a cold. A deplorable brand might achieve something a little bit like this. So as they edit together their brand interactions and think brand interactions are everything you put out there publicly. Absolutely everything, your support tickets, your campaigns, tweets that other people make about your brand, all of this is part of your brand story. A great brand and one I imagine we all assume is the best brand, and I imagine we all aspire to be, would probably achieve something like this. But it's important to say, that brands can do something a little bit like this. And I'm going to show you an example of that now. Miracle Mattress. You may or may not have heard about this, but I would imagine that if they didn't do what I'm just about to show you that they did, you almost definitely wouldn't have heard about them unless you lived in wherever this tiny little place is in Texas. Anyone from Texas? No, okay, so I think that holds true. Miracle Mattress, a small family run company that sells mattresses in a local town in Texas. Everything's going well for them. I want you to imagine that this is the first or the 40th or the 4,000th brand interaction that you have had with this brand. So this is pretty good. It's a headline, online article saying Miracle Mattress delivers miracles. It says something about how they delivered 100 mattresses to children in need. Pretty good, a good, solid brand interaction. You look at that, and you're going to take all of that emotion and meaning and take it to your next brand interaction with them, thinking, this is a great brand. So the second interaction might look a little bit, something a little bit like this. Pretty good review, great customer service, better than Billy Bob's, I think the name is, and great names for businesses in Texas. So a pretty good brand interaction. And if you've taken all of that emotion and meaning from the brand interaction before, and then you're hit with this brand interaction, you're just building up. You're getting more positive emotion and meaning. But what if the next brand interaction that you come across is this? What better way to remember 9-11 than with a Twin Tower sale? Right now you can get any size mattress for Twin Price. Full mattress for Price. Twin mattress, Twin Price. Key mattress, Twin Price. So my double table. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Oh my God! Woo! We'll never forget. Exactly. So all of that great feeling and emotion that they've successfully built up with these great brand interactions, that reaction, crashing down to earth. So someone's gonna take that to their next brand interaction. They might take to a, to a review site for example. So they say, honestly I can't respect a place who uses terrorism as a sales pitch. Pretty fair review, I can't argue with that. Not a great brand interaction. So if you've seen that video and then you've seen this, your positive emotion and feeling as a potential consumer for this brand is getting sapped away. So they wanna take control of their brand interactions. Right? They wanna try and edit something back into their brand story that says something good about them. And that's a good thing. If we don't all get it right, as brands, we all make mistakes. But what's important is that we take back control of our brand story. So this is them trying to do that. It was a stupid idea that we sent out. And we apologize for our stupidity and we really hope you forgive us. So an apology. So they go onto TV, they make an apology, seems pretty sincere. So okay, great. They've taken control of their brand story. They've edited something back into their story. But they've got control of having made a mistake. Is it enough to save their narrative, to get us to the end of their movie? The answer is no. That one bad piece of editing, that bad scene that they edited into their brand story, closed their business. So of course, there are lots of examples of this, of bad editing. United. Very, very good. Very, very good at bad brand story editing. This was a story when they famously dragged off a passenger from their plane and pretty much beat him up. So that wasn't great editing in terms of putting their brand story together. Dove created this questionable advert that was accused of being racist and later had to apologize for it. Not great brand editing. Of United, again. Ran out of toilet roll on one of their long-haul flights. And you all thought Ryanair and EasyJet were bad. I'm very glad I wasn't on that plane. Ford. Ford created this really questionable campaign where they depicted women tied up in the back of one of their cars, right in the middle of the Me Too movement. When editing your brands, look a little bit outside of your own world and see what's going on. And make decisions accordingly. More examples. Oh, United again. They kill another pet. Don't take your pets from United. So plenty and plenty of examples. What about Typhoon? Well, Typhoon, we are passionate about brand. We strongly believe that if we create an amazing, beautiful, and useful product and surround it with a good brand narrative and constantly edit, our narrative so we're putting our best foot forward, we believe that will resonate with people. So do we always get it right? No, we don't always get it right. So I went onto one of the review websites, one of the popular ones, and I pretty quickly found this negative review. Somebody basically saying that Typhoon isn't very powerful, it doesn't really do everything they want it to do. This is our failure. So as brand storytellers, this is our failure because actually Typhoon is quite powerful, but we've just not explained it very well. and therefore this scene has been edited into our brand story and to remain there forever. That's now part of our brand story. People will come across this. A lot more seriously than this, earlier this year we had a data breach. So somebody hacked into a part of our servers and accessed some of our customers' respondents' information. Luckily no credit card details or anything like that, but still very, very serious. This is permanently edited into our brand story. This is not good editing. I would not have chosen to do this. It was a very intense week of my life. But this happened. Luckily we have very loyal and understanding customers. So this person said, so Typhoon has had a breach. The breach disclosure is best I've ever seen. You can read, right? I don't need to read this. You can read. Study of reading slides. Kind of makes me pointless. So they tweeted this, and we got a lot of tweets like this after having sent the communication explaining what had happened. So yes, something had happened and negatively impacted our brand story and took our narrative in the way we didn't want it to go, but it was important for us to edit something back in that we did have control of and that was transparent and honest communication about the issue. So what about things like this? So last year we raised our Series B funding, which was great. TechCrunch kindly wanted to write about the announcement. Five minutes before publishing the article, they sent us this. And they said, hey, guys, just an FYI, we're going to publish this in a few minutes. But this causes a survey platform. And Typeform, we've been working really hard not to be considered as just a survey platform because actually surveys is a very small part of what you can do with Typeform. So we've been trying to take control of our brand story, our brand narrative. So we had to beg and plead with this writer to change this headline so that we could take control of our brand narrative. It's remarkably hard to get a TechCrunch writer to change a headline, by the way. But we did manage to do it. And this helped us take control of that brand narrative of our story. It was a small win for us. We all know that. We also do things like this. The printing press changed everything and gave birth to a renaissance. Art and science flourished. Technology evolved and stories began to spread far and wide. The world moved. But then something unexpected happened. Authors and playwrights became influencers. People imitated their favorite characters. Pop culture. Pop culture was born. And more and more, fiction became fact. Oscar Wilde said life imitates art. But what happens when technology imitates art? Where will that lead us? Will you be content to observe and imitate? Or will you dream of society's next great fiction? Let's have that conversation. So this is part of our thought leadership program. We invest a lot in content. And this content is all about telling our story. And part of our story is that we are an innovative, forward-thinking brand. So if you just thought we were a form builder, we would like to tell you otherwise through our brand narrative. And this is just one scene that we purposefully edit into our story. This video led into an article which we believe to be the world's first conversational article. So it's a kind of chatbot experience embedded into an article as if the author is looking over your shoulder. As you read it, you can check it out on our blog. And what happens is as you respond or don't respond to the chats in the article, it kind of changes your experience. And this was just an experiment. We were just playing around. But it's part of our story to tell people that we're thinking about the future of interactive asking and answering online. This was a big success for us. It got huge reach. We shared tens of thousands of times. And Rand Fishkin, the founder of the brand, said, The great Rand Fishkin, a big marketing influencer with 350,000 followers or something like that on Twitter, said this about the piece of content. That is a great piece of brand editing. We created something and somebody else put a scene together and put that into our brand story. Much better than the review that I showed you at the beginning of these slides. And this led to a product MVP. So it got such a good reaction that we actually built an MVP product to see if people actually wanted to build this with our technology. So now a few beta users are playing around with this and seeing how they can put interactive content inside their help center articles and all of this kind of stuff. And then we do this. Everybody goes through some kind of crisis in their life. Brands are exactly the same. They accumulate things. They accumulate the good and the bad. When you understand yourself better and what makes you tick, then you can understand better what you want to be. We needed a rebrand of the company because the brand we had before was the result of a lot of different decisions taken in different moments of tech history. Our job today is to try to take on board a bunch of the thinking that you guys have actually already done and stress test whether or not that thinking is set up and fit the purpose for everything that this business is going to do for the next few years and hopefully many more years. The whole point is, hey guys, can you help us figure out who we are? So this is part of our brand story to show people the behind the scenes of trying to scale a company, which is a very difficult thing to do. So we try and show people the challenges that we go through. And then finally, we try and inject a little bit of personality around all of this. These are our founders, David and Robin. Okay. Type some. Don't put too much. Okay. Type some. Okay. Okay. Yeah, it's like all those blueprints. Yeah. So these are our founders really messing up an interview. And we try and do this a lot. We just show all of our mistakes. We make mistakes every single day and we try and show those. And that's part of our brand story. So this thing is flashing at me. I'm over time, which is lucky because I'm almost done. I just want to leave you with one final thought. Anybody can copy your product. Anybody. If they have enough money, enough technical resources or whatever, anybody can copy your product. But there's nobody that can copy your brand.