Storyscaping

Marketers, technologists, and corporate leaders are looking for ways to more effectively connect consumers with their brand. Storyscapes introduces "storyscaping" as a way to create immersive experiences that solve the challenge of connecting brands and consumers. This book describes a powerful new approach to advertising and marketing for the digital age that involves using stories to design emotional and transactional experiences for customers, both online and offline. Each connection inspires engagement with another, so the brand becomes part of the customer's story. Authors Gaston Legorburu and Darren McColl explain how marketers can identify and define the core target audience segment, define your brand's purpose, understand the emotional desires of your consumers, and more.

• Shows how to map how the consumer engages with the category and product/service
• Explains how to develop an organizing idea and creative plan for an immersive storyscape experience
• Defines the role of marketing channels around the organizing idea
• Establishes how technology can be applied to the experience

Learn how to measure, optimize, and evolve the customer experience through the use of strong narratives that compel consumers to buy into your brand. www.storyscaping.com

Acknowledgments vii

About the Authors viii

PART ONE Great Storytelling Alone Won’t Save Your Business 1

00 INTRODUCTION 3

01 FROM THE CAMPFIRE 17

02 YOUR FIRST KISS 35

03 BRAVE NEW WORLDS 55

PART TWO Storyscaping Immersive Experiences for Powerful Brand and Consumer Connections 77

04 THE STORYSCAPING MODEL 79

05 POWER OF WHY 91

06 WALK THE WALK 107

07 INSIGHT TO DESIRE 125

08 IN THEIR SHOES 143

09 THE ORGANIZING IDEA 165

10 MEET YOUR STORYSCAPE 181

11 WORLDS THAT SELL 199

12 SHOCK YOUR CULTURE 219

References 231

Index 241

GASTON LEGORBURU is Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of SapientNitro, a new breed of agency that is redefining storytelling for an always-on world. Recognized by Adweek 50 as a game-changer who is modeling the agency of the future, Gaston sets much of the strategic and creative vision for the agency and provides clients forward-thinking insights on their most critical marketing challenges. This has earned him the honor of many recognitions in marketing and advertising and a seat on the juries of such prestigious advertising award shows as D&AD, Cannes Festival of Creativity, ADC, the One Show and the Webbys.

DARREN McCOLL is the Global Chief Brand Strategy Officer of SapientNitro, where he collaborates with global teams and clients to help create worlds of immersive stories and experiences. “Daz” as he is known, brings insight and strategic guidance to many of the world’s biggest brands including: Virgin, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Mars, Foster’s, Burger King, Subway, Footlocker, ESPN, Volvo, Chrysler and Coca-Cola. He is a sought after speaker with experience that spans markets worldwide and his work has earned him many awards including: Effies, New York Festivals, The One Show, Clios, D&AD (Black Pencils), and three coveted Cannes Lions Grand Prix.

Marketers, technologists, and corporate leaders are always searching for ways to more effectively connect consumers with their brand. But the way consumers absorb information and make their decisions has changed. Companies need to stop creating ads and marketing campaigns, and think in terms of Organizing Ideas, Systems Thinking, and platform creation, to create “worlds” of consumer experience.

Storyscaping offers a powerful new approach to advertising and marketing in the digital age that uses stories as the foundation for designing emotional and transactional experiences for customers, both online and offline. Each connection inspires customers to engage with others, so the brand becomes part of the customer’s story. This step-by-step, actionable guidance shows how to create immersive experiences that solve the challenge of connecting brands and consumers. Discover how to:

• Identify and define your core desired consumer segment
• Unlock or define your brand or organization’s Purpose
• Understand the emotional desires of your consumer
• Establish a clear product/service positioning and offer
• Understand and map how the consumer engages with the category and the product/service
• Apply technology and build a Story System

Storyscaping outlines the process of developing an Organizing Idea and creative plan for an immersive storyscape experience and explains how to define the role of marketing channels. Measure, optimize, and evolve the customer experience through the use of strong narratives that compel consumers to buy into your brand and influence others to do the same.