Brand Storytelling in 2022

June 13, 2016, when Barack Obama was US President, the UK was part of the EU, and marriage for same-sex couples was not possible in Germany, my book “Storytelling for Business” was published. It has since become one of the best-selling books on the subject in Germany. For our agency, this was a major milestone that was to permanently change both our way of working and our strategic orientation.

But 2022 is no longer 2016, and the world seems to have turned upside down several times. This is also reflected in how and about what brands tell stories. That’s why this standard work in brand storytelling needed an update.

This meant, above all, finding current studies and figures and exchanging some of the sample campaigns with newer best practices. From a bird’s eye view, I noticed the following three meta-trends in particular:

1. More Diversity in Brand Storytelling

When it comes to the topic of inclusion and diversity, the series “Underdogs” from “Apple at Work” provides a fitting outlook on what brands should and want to put more and more in the spotlight. I am deliberately using this example here because the spot is not primarily about diversity, but only about the selection of the protagonists, which is usually much more important than making a topic out of it.

2. Brand Storytelling means Knowing Your Purpose

There is no separate chapter on values and purpose in my book. But it cannot be overlooked that more and more brands are committing themselves to a social purpose, especially with storytelling campaigns.

It’s not the first time, and shouldn’t be the last, that sporting goods manufacturer Nike has taken a clear position on a socially relevant issue. This video struck such a nerve that even main competitor adidas shared it via its own channels.

3. Shortage of Skilled Workers Inspires Storytelling in Employer Branding

The biggest challenge for employer branding has to do with how best to communicate the company’s values in order to attract just the right talent and retain the best employees.

In addition to presenting the company’s values, HR also faces the challenge of illustrating the many roles one can take on within the organization. What is actually behind the advertised positions? Career starters in particular often have only a vague or sometimes even wrong idea of which paths they can choose at all, which talents are needed for them, and what role they play for the customer:inside.

Based on our analyses of the career pages of the DAX 40, we can already derive important best practices: Henkel appeals to candidates in a visual, gripping and emotional way. The sensitively designed career site impresses with elaborately produced video material, extraordinary employee benefits and authentic communication.

With the “Henkel Spirit,” the company effortlessly manages the balancing act between tradition and modernity. At Delivery Hero, the employees are the heroes and are always the focus of attention on the entire career site. The highlight here is a 360° tour of the Berlin office. The job search as a multimedia experience – a trend that is crucial in “New Talent Recruiting.

For me, it was very exciting to give our book Storytelling for Business this comprehensive update. In any case, it has been proven that more and more brands and organizations – whether large or small – know how to use the power of stories to appeal to their customers and future talents and to convince them with their values instead of just their benefits. Whether it’s the climate, Ukraine, or China – as a society and as a company, we are still facing a number of crises in the future. These will increasingly push the pure entertainment factor into the background and force us to follow up stories with actions – in other words, storydoing.