How Stories Fuel Phenomenon Marketing

“People were crying and singing along”, “The way she kept thanking her fans as they screamed in return back to her was just… magical.” - these are some of the reactions from people, the self-declared non-Swifties, who went to see Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. This tour that began in March 2023 is already the highest-grossing concert tour in history. The secret to it all - Taylor’s storytelling. The Eras Tour chronicles Taylor’s career through different phases that allows the audience to relive the important moments. Taylor’s songs are deeply personal and relatable as she takes the audience through her own life events such as first love, heartbreaks, relationships, and self-doubt. People walk out feeling as though their closest friend just sang to them for the past three hours.?

New and hip brand stories are the second component of what makes Phenomenon Marketing, where an enduring zeitgeist flywheel is created so that more than 90% of the marketing comes through earned (media and WOM), and less than 10% through paid and owned. The other two components are compelling user benefit and synergy across horizontal categories. A story is a narrative about people or events that usually involves an interesting plot. Storytelling has been around since humans came to being. It has evolved from oral tales to written stories, then to visual media, and now to immersive digital experiences. If stories have been around for so long, why is it an essential part of phenomenon marketing today??

The rediscovery of storytelling

As technology brought storytelling to a whole new dimension, it also caused some confusion. Stories began getting lost among data and visuals. Instead of moving narratives, people were overwhelmed by the visual and sound effects in movies. Instead of relatable stories, people began only remembering catchy phrases in songs. When Excel and PowerPoint became widespread in the mid-1990s, people began focusing mostly on data. With the popularization of the Internet, people experienced message saturation and information overload. The rise of social media in the 2000s ironically left people feeling disconnected from others and increased mental health issues due to comparisons. To help simplify and retain information, and to feel connected again with other humans, people began going back to what is fundamentally human, storytelling.?

The benefits of business storytelling

In business, storytelling has three key benefits.

1. Creates deep emotional connection: Stories encourage authenticity from the storyteller and evokes empathy from the listener. This is why Swifties feel as though they personally know her and want to follow her journey.?
2. Inspires action. Ninety percent of decisions are based on emotion, not logic. Stories make people feel engaged. The stories of moms who lost their 5-9 year olds through Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare and aggressive brainstem glioma, and not the facts about DIPG, keep me engaged and motivated to participate in their cause.
3. Differentiates and enhances memorability: When most ads show product benefit in problem-solution format, Google Search’s 2009 Super Bowl ad, Parisian Love showed a relatable story in just less than 1 minute. The average number of ads during the Super Bowl is 80 to 100. Despite that, this simple ad cut through the noise and is remembered by many as one of the best SuperBowl ads.?

Crafting stories that connect

How can brands create stories so that they create generative responses from the audience? The most important step is knowing the audience. Gen Zs are attracted to purpose driven businesses that are built on transparency, sense of purpose, and values that are relevant to them. Ganni is a Danish clothing brand that was revived by the husband and wife duo Nicolaj and Ditte Reffstrup in 2009. Ganni is not a sustainable brand but they believe in change. They have strict and specific internal sustainability goals and are very transparent about how and whether they achieved them every year on their website. Such stories build trust and deepen the relationships with its core audience. People share such stories because they reflect what they themselves value. This is why Ganni is known for their passionate and loyal fan base.?

Keeping the story alive

To keep the zeitgeist flywheel turning, brands will have to keep providing quality, rich raw content that matters to both the audience and themselves. Taylor Swift draws inspiration from her life events and surroundings. Shake It Off is inspired by her own experience with the scrutiny of the media, All Too Well based on her past heartbreak, and Wildest Dream based on classic Hollywood romances and African films. For her, sources of inspiration for her songs are endless. Her lyrics directly speak to the listeners that they proactively engage with her works. This is the power of storytelling in today’s world. Steve Jobs, who is considered the world's greatest business storyteller already knew this when he said, “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come”. People buy stories. What stories are your brands telling your audience?