1. Engaging Consumers in !
Your ! Story
Dr. Pamela Rutledge
Director, Media Psychology Research Center
November 12, 2012
@pamelarutledge

2. Overview
1 What’s Happening Out There?
2 What’s in a Story
3 How Do You Find It?
4 What Do You Do With It?

3. 1
What’s Happening
Out There?!

4. The Lecture vs. The Cocktail Party

7. Mobile
On-demand Information
Full-time connectivity

8. The New Normal
Consumers expect to participate, be heard,
collaborate, get information, and connect.
Fast. All the time.

10. How Do You Compete?

11. 2
Tell a story!

12. 1
Storytelling is Timeless
q Draw on ancient
traditions, legends
and myths
q Create an authentic
connection

13. 2
Stories Connect People
q Build trust
q Transcend
generations
q Engage our
emotions
q Inspire us
q Are contagious

14. 3
Stories Are How We Think
q Explain how and why
q Define our values
and purpose
q Put us in “Learning Mode”
q Decrease our resistance to
persuasion

15. 4
It’s How We’re Wired
q Imagined experiences
create real emotion
q Narrative structure
provides comfort
q Trigger neural
networks of multi-
sensory responses:
auditory, kinesthetic,
and visual

16. The shortest distance
between people is
through story!

17. A Shoe Company
• Founded 2006 Total Sales 500,000
Employees 90
• Unique business model Interns 22
• Product distributed via COGS 37%
recognized 501(c)(3) SG&A 24%
non-profits and non- Distribution 300 Stores; 9 Countries
governmental First Year Sales 10,000 units
organizations (NGO’S)
Yr Sales Goal 300,000 units
Annual 10%
Growth (Y/Y)
EBITDA 153,000

19. Stories are flight
simulators for the brain

20. 3
Finding Your Story!

21. Elements of
Story
þ Message
þ Characters
þ Conflict
þ Plot

22. Three Act Structure
Tension
Climax
Crises Falling Action
Rising Action
Exposition Denouement
Time
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3
Beginning Middle End
Set-up Conflict Resolution

23. Where the Action Is: Conflict

24. The Psychology of Story:
Narrative Transportation:
Use C-A-R to take
your audience on
a journey
C – Context
• Where, When?
• Who are the characters
• What does the main character want?
• What’s in the way?
A – Action (Plot)
R – Result (Resolution)
Source: Paul Smith Lead with Story

25. Archetypes: Joseph Campbell
q Hero
q Mentor
q Threshold Guardian
q Herald
q Shapeshifter
q Shadow
q Trickster

26. Fairy Tale Model
Benefactor Goal Beneficiary
Supporter Hero Adversary
Source: Fog, K., Budtz, C., & Yakaboylu, B. (2010). Storytelling: Branding in Practice (2nd ed.). Berlin: Springer.

27. Cultural Metaphors
q Anna Nicole Smith
q Rags to Riches
q Gold Digger/How
to Marry a
Millionaire
q Live Fast/Die
Young

29. 3
Finding The Story!

30. Story Themes
q The Hero’s Quest --> Entrepreneurial Venture
q Creation Stories --> Establishment of
Organization
q Stories of Transformation --> Coming of Age
q Stories of Fall and Redemption --> Crisis Phase
q The Myth of the Crossroads --> Transition Phase

31. Using Shared Metaphors
I’m a lawyer. I
write contracts
and wills.
Where’s the
story in that?

32. The
Family
Lawyer
Watching over your
legal health

33. Questions to ask
q Who am I?
q Why am I here?
q What is my vision?
q What do I want to teach people? And
why?
q What values do I want to demonstrate?
And why?
q What do I want my customers to know I
understand?

34. One-Sheet Exercise
q Story in three sentences
q Work from the experience of the image of
your company or brand
q Characters in three sentences
q Who are the characters?
q Are you a character?
q Does place matter?

35. 4
Telling Your Story!

36. Additive Storytelling
Brand develops from multiple media
sources over time

37. Transmedia Storytelling
• A story that…
• Unfolds across platforms
• Each piece adds something
unique and valuable
• Motivates user to find others
q Users can… Henry Jenkins
• Join at different places USC
• Participate and contribute
content

38. Traditional Story Path

39. Transmedia Content

40. Case Study: The Three Little Pigs
Wolf:
Pig 1: Website
Website
Wolf: Ning
Pig 1: Anime Network for Team
Wolf
Super Pig
Main Story Anchor: Novel Sequels
Pig 2: Twitter Pig 3: Pig 3:
Dialogue Cooking Blog Cookbook
Pig 3: YouTube
Pig 3: Fan Page
Videos

41. Case Study: Jay-Z

42. Case Study: Houweling’s Tomatoes
Point of Purchase:
Hangtags
Videos
Main Story Anchor: Website
Twitter Green Tips
Blog Contest
Dialogue
Social Gardens

43. Case Study: Tanimura and Antle
Facebook
Fan Page
Food Service Chef
QR Codes
Main Story Anchor: Website
Recipes

44. Invite the Customer into Your Story
Increasing Audience Engagement
Discovery Experience Exploration

45. There are things we know
that we know.
There are things we know
that we don’t know.
And then there are
the unknown unknowns—
the things we don’t know
we don’t know.
Donald Rumsfeld, 2002

46. Traditional ROI Calculations

47. Ripple Effect

48. What Do We Know?
q Biggest value = new relationship potential
q Awareness measures
q Brand mentions, reviews and share of voice (your
brand divided by the industry)
q Fan Growth
q Traffic
q Engagement
q Comments, question, retweets
q Market intelligence
q Product feedback
q Customer needs and experiences

49. 4
Where the Rubber
Meets the Road!

50. Social media
strategies start with a
strategy, not with a
Facebook page

51. Social Media Strategy
q Tools are only useful if you know
q what you want to do
q what tools will get the job done.
q Online networks are like offline ones
q People use Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and
LinkedIn to meet people, get information,
share resources and connect with colleagues

52. Social media are are
not a waste of time
unless you allow them
to be

53. Social Media: Total Time Suck?
q Social media networks are not a waste of
time unless you allow them to be
q Networking opportunities
q Great way to build social capital
q Be very clear on WHY you’re doing it and
the outcomes you want to see

54. You need a mission
statement

55. Mission Statement: Questions
q Why am I on social networks and what will I use
them for?
q How do I want to build my personal or
organizational brand using social media?
q What outcomes do I want to see?
q How does social media fit into my
overall strategy?

56. Create a social
media policy

57. Social Media Policy: Be Prepared
q What information is public, what should be kept
private?
q What your rules are for researching customers
and employees?
q How you can be contacted and when?
q What is your policy for employees
social media use?
q How you will handle the inevitable
social media crisis?
q How often will I evaluate the strategy?

58. Choose your tools carefully

59. Tool Audit Example: Privacy
Completely Mostly Mostly
Access Control Potential
Public
public
private
Website
x
Blog
x
Twitter
x
x
LinkedIn
x
x
Facebook
x
x
x
Flickr
x
x
x
Pinterest
x
Industry sites
x
Curation tools (Scoop, paper.li)
x
Google+
x

60. Connect your tools so
they feed each other

61. Build relationships

62. Think before you
speak

63. 4
In Conclusion!

64. Summary
q New communications means new consumer
psychology and big competition for attention
q Story rises above noise by tapping fundamentals
and emotions
q Transmedia storytelling extends the power of
your story and changes ‘selling’ into a valued
relationship

65. Key Take-Aways
q Start with the story
q Identify your core story and passion at a universal
level to engage your audience
q Think multi-dimensionally
q Prepare a strategy based on YOUR goals and
resources
q Connect with your audience’s emotions and needs
q Use the media landscape—ripple out, don’t
broadcast
q Prepare to collaborate where you don’t expect it
q Have a plan for misadventures

66. My Hopes for You
q That you will embrace storytelling
q And approach communication in a cross-
platform, integrated way
q So that you take your customers on a journey to
create the valuable relationships that
q builds long-term commitment and loyalty
q And increased profitability

67. Thank You!
Dr. Pamela Rutledge
Director, Media Psychology Research Center
November 12, 2012
@pamelarutledge