Staying Relevant: 10 at 25 with Contagious

Foreword | 10 at 25

By Ruth Warder, JCPR

25 years is enough to see dramatic shifts in any industry, but in communications – where the nuances of social change are adapted to with more urgency than most – it is a lifetime.

Reaching this milestone has made us reflect: how many of the things that we believed when we started out are still critically relevant, what new things are driving the biggest evolutions and what the future may hold.

The aim of this report is to look at 10 things – five themes that are as important to us now as they were 25 years ago and five new ones that are shaping how we work today.

JCPR, working with research partner Contagious, has brought together friends, brands and industry luminaries to share their thoughts on our beliefs and the work that best showcases these in action.

This report is not sepia-tinted nor, for an industry that evolves so rapidly, is it exhaustive.

Five new things that matter 01 | Generation Flux

04

02 | PR As Batman, Not Robin

06

03 | Citizen Activism

08

04 | Reimagining Scale

10

05 | Social: Just Another Way To Talk

12

Five old things that still count 06 | Real-time Relevance

14

07 | Media Jacking

16

08 | Listening Is Critical

18

09 | Culture Matters 10 | Consumer Collaboration

20

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We hope you enjoy reading.

Conclusion This Is The New Age Of Storytelling

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02-03

01 | Generation Flux During the recent Leveson inquiry – the single greatest public inquisition into the media environment operating in the UK – ex-Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie commented that the media today operates within the ‘uncertainty business’ – a landscape where nothing is sure, certain or stable.

Nothing could better sum up how the traditional means of operating across communications has changed beyond recognition, and will continue to change daily.

Events have occurred that ordinarily would have been deemed impossible. Presidents have been elected with help from the powerful effect of using 140 characters. The News of the World, once the world’s bestselling and most powerful print newspaper, closed in 2011. Would anybody have been able to predict that social media, with its instantly shareable nature, would have been the pivotal tool used to galvanise millions and spark change during the Arab Spring? And who could have predicted that one female popstar alone could have a direct conversation with 22 million people (albeit that only 29% may actually be real, active people, according to recent research from social media management company Status People)?

The role of a modern communicator has changed beyond recognition. Communications experts must now be adept at navigating this uncertainty by being part storyteller, part planner, part producer. Speed is the new currency and many big brands have to re-wire both the way they talk to people and what they say to have any hope of being current.

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This change is only going to accelerate. As consumers realise the new potential that technology brings to communications, not just with each other but also with brands, and as personal information becomes increasingly monetised and shared, none of the old methods of operating will be sacred. It is within these times of uncertainty and change that Generation Flux – people who are defined by Fast Company as ‘pioneers of the new (and chaotic) frontier of business’ – will excel.

Communications experts must now be adept at navigating this uncertainty by being part storyteller, part planner, part producer.

‘Technology has increased news consumption but newspapers will only enjoy a long, healthy life if they respond now to technology.’

Paul Field, associate editor, Daily Mail

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02 | PR As Batman, Not Robin PR is no longer at the end of the marketing food chain.

Whilst the boundaries of traditional PR have shifted enormously over the past few years, the best communication ideas, regardless of which industry spawns them, incorporate the core principles of PR: making use of consumer insights, telling and contributing to great stories, driving conversations and using the power of real-time platforms.

‘PR is a natural thing that’s part of every great idea.’

David Droga, Droga5

As David Droga, founding partner of Droga5, an independent advertising network headquartered in New York, says: ‘PR is a natural thing that’s part of every great idea. PR is one of the pillars in everything that we try and do with all our campaigns, but we don’t see it as an extra function.’

Across the communications industry all agencies are learning from the principles of PR. In an environment where consumers can openly challenge brands in real time and engage in conversations with (or without) them, agencies, not just those in PR, have had to react to changing consumer expectations of brands.

‘Brands have no choice but to embrace the high road and adhere to those principles that are authentically important to their business,’ says John Bell, global managing director of Social@ JCPR | Staying Relevant | 10 at 25

Ogilvy. ‘PR has the chance to be the steward of that corporate character not just the packager of the story.’ ’Whilst it is relatively recently that PR has had an equal seat at the table, the journey is far from over,’ states JCPR’s Ruth Warder.

‘We need to focus less on which discipline is leading and more on getting communications baked into the way brands behave. Brands also need to believe this to free themselves up from the old bought model.

‘We have long called ourselves storytellers; ideas that engage and tell stories are what’s important, not which agency they come from.

Without scale, however, stories can’t be spread – we know that PR can deliver innovative thinking; what we need to fully realise is how to deliver the kind of scale that excites brands.’

‘Brands have no choice but to embrace the high road and adhere to those principles that are authentically important to their business. PR has the chance to be the steward of that corporate character not just the packager of the story.’

John Bell, Social@Ogilvy

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03 | Citizen Activism It is not a new idea that the pendulum has swung between the media breaking stories and consumers increasingly taking the centre stage in reporting, and brands have long known the power of citizen journalism. It is the pace of change that has accelerated, however. In this age of immediacy with multiple distribution channels, the relationship between people and the media has almost become indefinable, with ‘the audience’ now acting as the creators, often spreading news faster than traditional news channels.

Modern consumer ‘activism’ means that any company or body, whether corporate, governmental or charitable, must act as a ‘brand’ – having all of its multi-faceted components tied together. Likewise, brands, as defined by consumers, have had in turn to adopt the strategic intelligence practised by large corporate companies – measured, tactical and confident. However, it is the shift in the relationship between people and the media, coupled with the plethora of news outlets at our disposal, that allows audiences to dismiss more traditional outlets in favour of those they feel are current, entertaining, relevant and credible. As a result, journalists no longer present a barrier to brands telling their stories.

The rise of the smartphone bought with it an era of consumer power over the media like never before. As citizen journalism developed from a sporadic appearance on the media landscape into an entrenched way of reporting on and sharing the news, that landscape has evolved to welcome a news agenda in which the consumer now sits as an equal arbiter of news rather than merely confined to consuming it. Witness the Guardian’s investment in ‘Open Journalism’ – the integration of consumer viewpoints into their news stories.

It is not just the media that have felt the upheaval of this increased consumer power.

Now the corporate narrative and policy are influenced by consumers flexing their proverbial muscle as this mix of social and digital prowess teamed with citizen-centricity forces old business models to peel away, recognising that good business doesn’t just need profit, but purpose and engagement too.

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‘One of the mistakes that newspapers make is that they try and make people fit into their way of thinking,’ says Stephen Hull, deputy editor at The

Huffington Post, UK. ‘We change the way we work depending on how people are consuming information.’

What matters most is relevance and resonance.

With the audience now assuming the role of content publishers (consider the 65 million posts uploaded to blogging platform Tumblr each day or the four billion videos that YouTube streams daily), the constant stream of online news content we can access is about as current as it gets.

Take the UK media, caught out in August 2012 by procrastinating over the naked Prince Harry photographs. By the time they came to print the pictures (the day after the story broke on blogs and websites) the world had already eyeballed, shared and commented. In short, it was no longer news.

Guardian, Open Journalism campaign

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04 | Reimagining Scale The growth of digital and the ubiquity of technology in consumers’ lives give brands the ability to think bigger than ever before.

Multiple channels and platforms mean that the truly global campaign is now a compelling reality. Brands are taking advantage to create previously unimagined scale by tapping into the shared interests of consumers across the planet, often creating a unifying idea to galvanise people wherever they are.

The potential in this scale of engagement is compelling. ‘Technology like mobile offers us fantastic opportunities to enlist participation and social tools give us a powerful way to build communities and dialogue around our properties. This open ended, “user-generated” design keeps the level of engagement high,’ says Ogilvy Cape Town’s chief operating officer, Rob Hill.

It’s a common misconception that global brands are in the business of creating global campaigns. Yet increasingly they are uniting people who share their passions, regardless of which country they happen to live in. Pepsi, for instance, has traditionally built locally-executed campaigns around music. But in 2012, it leveraged digital and social tools for the first time with the aim of driving global scale for a new-look music campaign built around its ‘Live for Now’ tagline.

This multi-platform and multi-year global campaign leverages celebrity endorsement, owned and user generated content, ATL and experiential. But its roots are in digital technology designed to encourage mass consumer participation and engagement. The Pepsi website has been given an innovative social media makeover so it is now a real-time conversation and news aggregator – prompting a global dialogue around music and pop culture that encourages consumer participation with the brand and among music fans.

Traditional media outlets have also upped the ante in terms of participation. Jamie Scott, executive producer at ITN Productions, comments: ‘The role of the broadcaster has shifted dramatically. Consumer consumption of content across multiple devices has meant that it’s no longer a one-way conversation – all our output is now integrated. From producing a TV show that we know will generate substantial second screen activity, to creating content for our mobile platforms that we know will be shared – there are a new set of rules that have subverted the traditional order.’

Technology is enabling consumers to express themselves, converse, compete and make meaningful connections to each other and brands whilst sharing a unifying passion. The challenge for brands to achieve the scale that technology now affords them is to remain relevant, resonate and ultimately listen to what consumers want.

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05 | Social: Just Another Way To Talk As consumers took to social media, they began to talk about brands. As brands began to ‘listen in’, they heard their names associated with negative sentiment. Suddenly marketing departments panicked. ‘Social media strategies’ were devised; ‘rapid-response’ plans were introduced. And everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they discovered that a process was in place. No one would get fired.

Social media became part of the marketing mix; it was no longer feared.

Perhaps not all brands acted as above in social media’s infancy, but the path to expertise in the social sphere is littered with brands, companies and personalities who got it wrong.

Having one million engaged customers is preferable to having 10 million who aren’t.

In 2012, the pendulum continues to swing. But today, brands have realised that they have the right to a personality too. They have loosened the reins, coming to the conclusion that they can only join the conversation, not control it. Witness phone network O2’s response to its network going down – a huge and potentially devastating PR crisis. Tweets came in at six per second, many filled with crude and unprintable remarks chastising the company.

O2 replied to every tweet, but won particular PR points for answering the expletives with funny and irreverent responses – fighting fire with fire.

What of the future? Brands must first decide if social media is right for them; not every brand needs participatory input or a plethora of digital consumer touch points in order to survive. But for those who do, the future means adopting a more targeted and strategic approach: having one million engaged customers is preferable to having 10 million who aren’t.

2013 will see the rise of more niche groups on social media, followed by more niche social networks based on consumer passion points. Gaga has already created her Little Monsters site, while Connosr.com is a social network that caters solely for whisky lovers. More will follow, and if they don’t, so will begin the next version of ‘cat and mouse’, as consumers seize on the ‘next big thing’.

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06 | Real-time Relevance In 2011, a then-unknown roadside panhandler called Ted Williams with an extraordinary, pitchperfect radio announcer’s voice was filmed by a local Ohio reporter for The Columbus Dispatch and posted on the newspaper’s site and YouTube. Within three days the video had been viewed 11 million times.

Relevance has always been the secret to brand love but the realtime revolution has forced new behaviour, meaning that relevance has never been so important when it comes to how people feel about brands.

The need to understand what makes audiences tick and to be sensitive about when, where and how to get involved in the conversation is fundamental.

‘Our industry used to be about creating attention that generated value,’ says Caroline Jungsand, creative director at Prime, Stockholm and one of the Cannes Lions PR jurors. ‘Going forward, our industry will be about creating value that generates attention.’

The future of PR will focus on reaching out to people and improving their lives in relevant and interesting ways.

Many brands and organisations are learning from the principles of PR and adopting real-time approaches to their campaign planning. This enables them to build relationships that allow them to capitalise on cultural insights at lightning speed. A quick roll call of those who have benefitted from social media command centres to listen to and monitor conversation include sports drink Gatorade, hardware brand Dell, the Super Bowl and Red Cross.

But as brands move fast and tap culturally-resonant ideas, there is a need to be cautious. Authenticity and relevance are crucial: the public is readier than ever to call out opportunistic, exploitative and tokenistic stunts. The web abounds with PR disasters, case studies in cultural tone-deafness and swift, severe public retribution.

‘Unless you have an authentic connection, people turn you off.

If you have a tangible connection to a trend, people connect to it. If they feel advertised to, they’ll avoid it.’

Scott Goodson, Strawberry Frog

Kraft cleverly saw the film as an opportunity to tap the broader context of recessionary times for client Kraft’s all-American comfort food, Mac & Cheese. In an impressive example of a giant corporation acting nimbly, Kraft contacted Williams, had him do a voiceover for a forthcoming commercial within 48 hours, and aired it on national TV three days later.

JCPR’s Warder comments: ‘The role that cultural sentiment plays in exploding a meme should not be played down, understanding the apex of what is going on in the world and what’s needed to get an impactful response.’

Brand movements are at the extreme end of tapping the cultural mood, but they’re arguably the ultimate embodiment of a commitment to listening to the zeitgeist. Whether it’s newsjacking or creating a social movement however, brands are fighting fragmented consumer attention by creating contextuallyrelevant content that’s authentic and resonant.

‘Our industry used to be about creating attention that generated value. Going forward, our industry will be about creating value that generates attention.’

Caroline Jungsand, Prime

‘Unless you have an authentic connection, people turn you off,’ says Scott Goodson, founder of ‘cultural movements’ agency Strawberry Frog, New York, and author of Uprising, a new book on how brands can capitalise on social movements. ‘If you have a tangible connection to a trend, people connect to it. If they feel advertised to, they’ll avoid it.’

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07 | Media Jacking Hijacking the news agenda to generate media coverage has always been a significant part of PR and it still has a critical role to play.

baited FIFA with ads that flouted its advertising rules, and then publicised responses in newspapers and TV ads over several weeks.

As newsjacking goes online, agencies and brands are adapting its form. Mass media broadcast campaigns are being replaced by platforms and tools that are fluid, participatory, collaborative and personalised.

It maximised exposure and generated irreverent controversy with an ongoing Facebook campaign, saying it would fly anyone called Sepp Blatter around the country for free, then documented just that when a pug called Sepp Blatter was ‘discovered’. Sustained engagement on and off air resulted in a 33% increase in ticket sales on a total campaign investment of only $175,000, and a new and iconic personality for the brand.

David Meerman Smith, author of Newsjacking, published in 2011, outlines the key requirements for successful newsjacking.

These include having the structures in place to monitor news for opportunities, checking that a particular brand fits a specific news item, ensuring that the media will care, and lastly, acting quickly.

That means taking action just after news breaks, providing journalists with the extra information needed to put brands into that figurative second paragraph.

These fundamental principles haven’t changed, argues JCPR’s Warder, because PR has always been fleet of foot. But now a more finely-tuned approach is required, one that is not just quick to act but to spot different pockets of interest before they become mainstream news, and can understand the mechanisms driving their spread. ‘The intelligence and approach needs to be bespoke, relevant and search optimised,’ she says.

Newsjacking doesn’t always have to be serendipitous. Smart and fearless brands can plan for big news events, using paid and earned media to get attention and capitalise on significant moments in time amplifying reach and engagement through social channels when off-air.

‘Every brand has the opportunity to align with an idea on the rise in culture,’ argues Strawberry Frog’s Scott Goodson. Those that make themselves part of news and culture will have a headstart. From the original ‘Hello Boys’ Wonderbra campaign which was perceived as, quite literally, ‘traffic-stopping’, to the more recent examples of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones being sported by athletes, or the miniature MINIs that charmed stadium crowds in between races at the Olympic Games, clever brands are able to simply find a creative way to be at the centre of the action and in front of the world.

South African low-cost airline Kulula used this incendiary mix of paid, owned and earned to great effect at the 2010 football World Cup. Research uncovered that governing body FIFA’s sponsorship regulations were perceived as excessive, and Kulula judged that journalists would relish an editorial poke at them as much as the public. The airline, which wasn’t an official sponsor, JCPR | Staying Relevant | 10 at 25

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08 | Listening Is Critical Now that everything a brand does is more easily discovered, exposed and shared, brand love has to be earned through a genuine commitment by companies to act openly and honestly throughout every part of their business. People wield more influence than ever before, and expect extreme levels of transparency from the brands they engage with.

The smartest companies are beginning to use this increased visibility as a chance to get closer to people, opening up their operations to build more meaningful relationships through which their customers’ opinions and needs can inform how they do business. By letting people see the inner workings of their operations, some brands are showing how embracing transparency is not just about marketing or a PR exercise, but a fundamental approach to doing – and growing – business.

But while almost all companies engage in some form of social media analysis, very few are actually truly listening. Listening goes further than simply logging mentions of your products; it involves responding to consumers’ concerns in a timely and relevant manner. One brand exceptionally adept at this is KLM. The Dutch airline has developed a robust social engagement strategy built on a pledge to answer every message on Facebook or Twitter within the hour, day or night.

More vital still is responding with real actions, which KLM did with flying colours in its Fly 2 Miami campaign. This saw one disgruntled tweet about a lack of direct flights between Amsterdam and Miami for the Ultra Music Festival spark an irresistible challenge. If 351 music professionals could fill a flight, the airline would provide the plane. In just five hours 499 fares were sold, filling a jumbo – a winwin for party-goers and airline alike.

‘The action to listen is empty without the clear intention to act.

The power of listening is in the insight and ability to be responsive in a way that makes people feel important to your brand and somehow considered in your decisions.’

Ruth Warder, JCPR

‘Listening is not something that can be turned on and off,’ says Ruth Warder. ‘The action to listen is empty without the clear intention to act. The power of listening is in the insight and ability to be responsive in a way that makes people feel important to your brand and somehow considered in your decisions.’

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09 | Culture Matters In a world obsessed with culture – whether it be high-culture, pop-culture, quasi-culture or sub-cultures – brands are increasingly looking to create meaningful cultural collaborations and partnerships as a way to reach out and speak to their consumers in a language they understand.

The value of brands aligning themselves with influential and culturally relevant partners, who can help amplify their brand story, define their own culture and add something they don’t have, should not be underestimated.

For collaborations to truly work and add value however, all partners need to bring something to the table, and to be aligned in their goals. David Messinger, co-head of CAA Marketing, a division of entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency, sums it up: ‘Great collaborations have a common purpose.’

Damian Kulash, lead singer of OK Go, the band that has teamed up with numerous brands from Google to Jose Cuervo tequila, agrees: ‘We can align our goals with lots of different corporate sponsors’ goals because they’re the same: we want people to pay attention.’ OK Go certainly has people paying attention. Their music video with Chevrolet for the single ‘Needing/Getting’ racked up more than 20 million YouTube views.

That the car was fundamental to the musical output turned what could have been just a

branded music video into something genuinely creative and unique, only achieved through these partners coming together.

The strongest collaborations involve genuine input from both sides, with partners contributing their best assets to build something new together.

Droga5 achieved this when it brought together Microsoft search engine Bing and Jay-Z at the time of the publication of the rapper’s memoir, Decoded, by Random House. The campaign won Integrated and Outdoor Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival in 2011. Creating a narrative that not only engaged the collaborators and partners but also inspired people to play, share and discuss was central to the campaign.

Collaboration with cultural icons, associations and institutions can add edge and depth to brands in unexpected ways. Take beer brand Beck’s collaboration with the ICA to support emerging new talent for its Beck’s Futures campaign over 10 years ago to more modern day examples of ‘destination making’ — Covent Garden. The area’s transition from tourist trap

to hottest district in London was achieved using cultural partners to set the tone of the ambition and evolution for the area. A programme of content saw a roll call of artists from Zaha Hadid to Ros Lovegrove, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst lend their name and credibility to elevate the perception of the neighbourhood. Via the vehicle of widespread traditional, social and digital media coverage, a discerning London and international audience was made to look at the area in a new light.

Claire Eva, head of marketing & audiences for Tate, comments: ‘Brand collaboration is not only about creating new content, it is also about understanding the passion points of your demographic, inviting new discovery and ultimately driving footfall and new audience streams to your brand.’

Brands that pursue the right cultural collaborations, who look at partnerships as ways to define culture and their own brand DNA, will be the ones who secure and solidify their relevance in a messagesaturated consumer landscape.

OK Go | Chevrolet

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‘We can align our goals with lots of different corporate sponsors’ goals because they’re the same: we want people to pay attention.’

Damian Kulash, OK Go

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10 | Consumer Collaboration Real people, as much as celebrities or other brands, can become valuable and culturally relevant partners. One of a brand’s greatest resources is its customers’ thoughts, opinions and feedback, voiced so clearly through the multitude of two-way social outlets at their disposal.

As Contagious consultant Will Sansom said in marketing agency Amplify’s 2012 documentary FanCulture, which sought to pick apart the intricacies of fandom, making customers and fans feel rewarded just encourages them to contribute more to the brand. ‘Any brand that is lucky enough to have fans would be idiotic not to stimulate and engage those fans,’ Sansom said. ‘We talk about moving from a monologue to a dialogue. You’ve got to have conservation with them.’

CUUSOO. This online platform lets consumers submit ideas for LEGO products. The entrants whose ideas accrue 10,000 votes see them potentially go into production, with the originator earning 1% of the total net sales.

The platform provides a space for fans of the brand to congregate, and feel like they are being listened to. As Paal Smith-Meyer, senior director, LEGO New Business Group, says: ‘Each experiment evolves the way we work as a company to become a more open organisation… We are gaining a new level of excitement in that we are now listening to our consumers’ wishes in a new way.’

LEGO CUUSOO, just like the lifestyle drinks brand Snapple who pioneered UGC almost 20 years ago, is crowdsourcing at its best: the brand brings its fans closer, it collaborates with them to create culturally relevant products that are in tune with modern interests, and it adds a sales incentive to deliver a proper value exchange.

By creating platforms that solicit consumer feedback, brands can actively encourage conversations rather than simply broadcast messages, and open themselves up to a world of collaborative possibilities that by their very crowdsourced nature will be more trusted, more in-tune with what customers want and more easily shared with a wider, mass audience.

‘Each experiment evolves the way we work as a company to become a more open organisation… We are gaining a new level of excitement in that we are now listening to our consumers’ wishes in a new way.’

Paal Smith-Meyer, LEGO New Business Group

Aside from generating insights, ideas and even revenue, the real power of partnering with ordinary people is in the potential scale of the partnership. Done well, a partnership with the general public can trigger the spread of tribal ‘behaviour’ – a powerful and seemingly organic spread of participation that is aided by the connectivity communities enjoy through social media. This can enable large-scale meaningful engagement with a brand’s target customers.

The original co-created company – quite literally built by its fans – is LEGO. LEGO’s long history of collaborating with its audience includes projects such as LEGO Factory, where consumers could download product design software to create and then buy their own LEGO toys. Its latest community is LEGO JCPR | Staying Relevant | 10 at 25

LEGO Minecraft, the first product to come out of the international LEGO CUUSOO site, reaching 10,000 votes in 48 hours

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Conclusion: This Is The New Age Of Storytelling Never has a story been told so well, nor absorbed with such rapture by a global audience, than the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Danny Boyle’s portrayal and projection of the UK certainly put the ‘Great’ into Great Britain. As a modern-day showcase for storytelling to a mass audience it was a masterpiece – assured, impactful, loaded with deeper meaning.

Brands, official sponsors or not, capitalised on this momentous broadcast occasion by changing the emphasis of their advertising.

Gone were the pushy product slogans, the route to purchase and the consumer call to action.

Instead, consumers were met with a wave of ‘storyfication’: adverts that sold emotion rather than commerce. Nike launched its inspiring ‘Find Your Greatness’ campaign, adidas encouraged the good people of the UK to ‘Take the Stage’, Procter & Gamble pulled on the heart strings with its Olympic slogan ‘Thank You, Mom’, while British Airways went with the ‘idea to get you fired’ option from a brainstorm and told us ‘Don’t Fly. Support Team GB’.

This was an extreme period of storytelling, a moment in time when consumers dropped their guard, opened their hearts to the narrative and suspended their scepticism – this personifies the New Age of Storytelling.

Storytelling is not a new idea – from prehistoricman communicating with each other via cave-drawings to the modern-day immediacy of social media, human beings have always been compelled to transmit, share and propagate information; people talking about the power of stories and brands has been around from a brand perspective for decades.

The principles remain the same: know your audience; deliver in a way that is interesting and relevant to them; in a place where they will see it and read it; with a reason to want to share or tell someone else. What is new though, and truly represents the new age of storytelling, are two harbingers of change that have evolved the meaning and impact of storytelling: how and who. Technology is bringing the how and people are bringing the who.

For brands, technology has provided the opportunity to tell their story more effectively.

Advancements in multimedia – video, images, graphics – have enticed the viewer deeper into the storytelling process, while social media has taken away the barriers of distribution.

P&G | Thank you, Mom

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For consumers, participation has become the new currency – either by being directly involved in the creation of a story, via sharing it, or by creating the story themselves. As explains

Jonathan Mildenhall, VP, Global Advertising Strategy and Content Excellence at Coca-Cola: ‘The Coca-Cola Company has been telling compelling stories about our brands for 125 years. We know story. However, it’s the “telling” of stories that is becoming ever more complex and ever more exciting. This is because we have seen two massive shifts. One is the distribution of technology — the other is the distribution of creativity. Everyone is a storyteller, and with technology more and more people have access to tell theirs to other people all over the world.’

The critical factor for brands as they try to become more effective storytellers is authenticity. Storytelling in the modern media environment is not about badging or tokenistic gestures. Brand loyalty and route to purchase are driven by emotional engagement via stories and brands must make sure they are committed to the fibre of their stories rather than spinning a yarn, a point made by Jonah Sachs, editor of new book Winning the Story Wars: ‘Don’t just tell it, live it. Over time, your audiences will see that your story is not just canned in a 30 second commercial or a banner ad, but they see that your story is actually in every direction they have with you as a brand, they see that you treat your employees that way, they see you are treating them with those values and when those values are consistent and you are defending the core moral of the story, you’ve got a story-based brand, whether or not you are creating great viral videos or amazing documentary footage.’

And so in the future, where consumer participation in storytelling is on the rise and where technological innovation is the vehicle, expect people and places to tell their story as effectively as brands. With the advent of 4G technology and the suite of editing apps that can turn mobile footage and imagery into polished content, people will continue to evolve into more powerful storytellers, either as brand ambassadors or as new, independent entities.

Likewise, as the migration to smartphones, tablet devices and internet-enabled TVs picks up apace, brands will be able to tell their stories in more participatory and integrated ways.

Households already contain numerous devices that talk to each other, but the future household may well see the ‘digital awakening’ of those that are not currently internet-enabled, such as bicycles, cars and utilities. This will only help the fabric of storytelling become even more encompassing and targeted.

Just like all the good elements of a story, this environment will contain its fair share of risk and adventure for brands, but also huge reward.

Once upon a time...

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Produced in collaboration with Contagious Communications.

JCPR is the consumer marketing arm of Edelman in the UK and has been part of the Edelman global network – which has 4,400 employees in 65 offices across the world – since 2004.

We are as passionate about our clients’ work today as we were 25 years ago, and believe that the need for delivering ideas that influence behaviour, drive to purchase and deliver impactful brand re-appraisal have never been more important.

We believe that PR must stand up and be counted if it is to be taken seriously as a core strategic discipline. PR people must not be scared of accountability or of helping deliver

bottom line profit. We feel that PR is as much a business function as a marketing necessity.

JCPR is led by a powerful combination of strategic insight and creative edge – always at the heart of our work.

We are a team of over 80 dedicated thinkers & doers who never rest on our laurels and can be found at www.jcpr.com.

Contagious Communications is a leading global news and intelligence authority at the intersection of marketing and communications, consumer culture and technology. www.contagiousmagazine.com Illustrations: Scriberia www.scriberia.co.uk Design: Smita Mistry

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Published October 2012