#142: From Event to Epic Tale: How Storytelling Transforms Marketing and Promotion

Show Notes

Whether you run a marketing company or are a business owner with a new venture, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd and spread the word. Storytelling is one technique that most experts advise. Why? Because our brains are designed for telling and listening to stories. An inspiring story draws us into the narrator's experience. 
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Join co-hosts Nola Boea and Lori Vajda as they explore the magic of brand storytelling with David Fischette. Learn how to connect brand stories with your target audience by using the tricks, techniques, creative applications, and action steps discussed in this episode.

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By the end of this episode, you’ll learn 

• Gain insights into how to create stories that resonate with your target market, reflecting their values and aspirations
• Learn to incorporate storytelling into different platforms, including social media, video content, blogs, and live events, to produce a unified and powerful brand narrative. 
• Practical tips, steps, and strategies to align your brand's values, mission, and personality with your storytelling efforts
• How to use storytelling to captivate your audience, keep them coming back for more, and nurture customer loyalty

Key points Lori and Nola are sharing in this episode:

(04:15:84) What brand marketing and brand advertising have evolved into is so different today than in traditional marketing.
(06:02:33) This is why brand storytelling is the future of marketing and how sales teams can use storytelling to strengthen their brand and messaging.
(08:27:06) The connection between a person’s experience, passion, storytelling, and marketing. This is how you connect customers to your offer.
(10:59:19) A good story doesn't have to be true, it has to tell the truth. Here’s what David thinks makes a story good or bad, and this is what he says many marketers are getting wrong.
(12:21:4) Event organizers, marketing firms, and sales departments can use these four steps to develop a unique brand story.
(16:11:25)  Our brains are wired for stories, here’s an example of how David uses storytelling experientially in the events he produces.

Resources 
Go West Creative Group - 
Instagram - Digiwest
Connect with David Fischette - LinkedIn 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Nola: Our brains are built for storytelling. An inspiring story engages us in the teller's experience. We relate to it. Their setback becomes our setback and their comeback gives us hope for our future. In the business world, entrepreneurs often position their story by starting with their dream, then hitting the stories arc by sharing their upsets, which is often viewed as a stepping stone to their eventual triumph. That is the power of a good story. It grabs our attention and deepens our emotional connection. Whether you're a professional, event planner, marketer, or entrepreneur, sharing a brand story can do so much more than connect with you or your ideal audience. Join us friend, as we welcome David Fischette back for part two of this captivating topic, where we'll be exploring the magic of brand storytelling. In this episode, David will introduce you to some practical, innovative, and creative applications, as well as share action steps that you can use to connect brand stories with your target customer.

[00:00:58] Lori: Welcome to Sticky Brand Lab where we bridge the gap between knowledge and action by providing you with helpful information, tips, and tools from entrepreneurs and other experts so you can quickly and easily jumpstart your side business. We're your hosts. I'm Lori Vajda. And this is my co-host, Nola Boea. Hi, Nola.

[00:01:18] Nola: Hey there, Lori.

[00:01:19] Lori: Just as a recap, listener, in case you're just tuning in and missed part one of our two-part interview, don't worry. Both episodes are standalone. In part one, David told his entrepreneurial origin story, giving us insights into his career pivot, lessons learned, and why brand storytelling is the future of marketing.

In today's episode, we'll look at various strategies that entrepreneurs, marketers, and event planners as well as sales teams, can use to break through the content tsunami rather than get drowned out by it.

[00:01:52] Nola: Lori, speaking of getting drowned out by its tsunami of content, here's some numbers to illustrate that. Every 60 seconds, almost 3.8 million Google searches are performed. 4.4 million blogs are published daily. And 5.3 trillion ads are shown online each year. And the average consumer processes 100,500 digital words daily.

[00:02:19] Lori: Holy cow. By the time you said all that, Nola, those stats have already been outdated.

[00:02:24] Nola: Yeah, right? Totally agreed. I mean, here's the thing. Brand storytelling can be a tremendously effective marketing strategy, but too many professionals limit themselves in the why, when, and how to use it. And that's one reason we are so glad to have our multi-talented guest back today.

Meet David Fischette. Whether it's through the lens of a camera or a live stage production, David Fischette, founder, CEO and Chief Creative at Go West Creative Marketing Agency, has used his experience, passion and eye for detail to help brands from around the globe communicate their message.

David has established himself as a creative storyteller. His goal is to touch the audience in a profound way to motivate them to action or make them stand on their feet in amazement. From major brands to C-level executives, he and his team work to craft the right message and present it in a way that is both impactful and effective.

In addition, he's produced live performances for some of the biggest names in music and television, including Blake Shelton, John Legend, Cheryl Crow, and Bebe Rexha, to name a few. David was executive producer of the Emmy award-winning show, My Generation. Working with host Liza Gibbons on 26 of those episodes. Over the past decade, Go West Creative has won many industry awards and consistently been recognized by Special Events Magazine for being among the Global Top 50 Events Companies. Welcome back, David!

[00:03:51] David: Hello.

[00:03:51] Lori: Hello.

[00:03:52] Nola: It's good to have you back.

[00:03:54] David: Good to be here.

[00:03:55] Lori: We are going to be focusing on brand storytelling, storytelling, broadly speaking. So Go West Creative uses a variety of elements to create impactful experiences and drive brand success. But before we get into the specifics, I kind of want to go back to your beginning to that aha spark. How did you make the connection between your experience in the music industry, your passion for storytelling and marketing, and the need for a different kind of agency?

[00:04:25] David: I think I kind of fell into it. It's kind of been the story of my life. We've been the YES company. It's like, Hey, do you guys...? Sure, yes, we do that. And we go figure out how to do it, and we would do it. But honestly, I think we started working with brands and trying to help them tell their story in an authentic way before we knew we were working with brands and helping them tell the story in an authentic way. We just thought we were doing cool things for them.

And then, you know, about 14 years ago, we started working with an organization called the CMO Club. And this was a, a private organization of Chief Marketing Officers of mostly Fortune 1000 companies. And we would produce two summits in the US for them each year, and one summit in Europe for them each year, and an award show for them here in New York each year. They have strict no selling policy, but we got a lot of work out of that organization just because for the production work that we did, we would get a seat at the table and I would get to be among the most brilliant minds in marketing in an intimate behind-closed-doors setting where they shared their highs, their lows, their secret sauce, their challenges. So we are working along with those CMOs and just really understanding it's the power of story. It's the power of authenticity, especially today, right? Because what brand marketing and brand advertising has evolved into, is so different than what I grew up with. And so that's really been like the real thing that focused us as a company to want to partner alongside some of these brands and go, this is what we have been doing all along. And, and we've had really tremendous success in doing that.

[00:06:00] Nola: You have been known to say that brand storytelling is the future of marketing and that sales teams can use storytelling to strengthen their brand. Now for our listener's sake, what do you mean by that?

[00:06:12] David: My oldest brother, he sells life insurance. And it's one of those things where you work with people that sell life insurance and they typically talk to you about the policy and the benefits, and here's how much money it pays out and here's how you can you take money before you die and all these things. And we got engaged by Transamerica about seven or eight years ago to do a piece for them. And Transamerica is a very large life insurance company. And we worked together with Steve Connell, the spoken word artist that we partner with on our Spoken Cinema product line. And we created a video piece for them that told the story of what happens after you die. The moment when your family, your loved ones are grieving, and a check shows up within two days or three days and takes that pressure of, oh my gosh, how am I going to pay this bill? What about the mortgage? What about the final cost? All those things that relieve, and there's a line in there that says, life insurance is the last loving act. Right? You're in tears watching this piece and you're like, all right. That's the piece that Transamerica had for every one of their sales teams to go, let me play this video before we talk about your policy. And that power of story, it didn't really matter so much about what the specific benefits were, and their lovely benefits, but I have to do this. For me not to buy the life insurance would be for me to be derelict in my duty as a loving husband, a loving father, loving brother, loving son, whatever it is. And to me that is like one of the greatest examples of really using story to help sell a product.

And it is got to be authentic. And what was so powerful about that Transamerica piece is that every word of it was true. It's authentic, it's real. This is what actually happens. And so everybody can relate to that because we've all lost someone. We've all felt the pain of grieving and know what that's like in that dark hour. But to have a moment of hope come out of all of that darkness is beautiful and it's like, how do you find that red thread? How do you find that in any service, in any product, in anything that you're selling?

[00:08:27] Lori: I think you hit a mark. You kind of talked about both Pepsi and Coke are known way back in the day as kind of putting these unique commercials together. When we think of Budweiser and we think of the horses, we think of that emotional connection.

So, I would love if you could help clarify this. I personally don't think everyone's good at telling stories in general. So, I feel there's a lot of pressure to deliver on stories. And the challenge is, at least I think in what I'm hearing you say, is that there's a difference between taking a situation that people might actually experience versus bringing the world together through a shared common beverage.

[00:09:11] David: So, I think what's interesting about Coke and Pepsi, and this isn't a slam on a Coke and Pepsi, and they, they do really nice emotional things, but the emotional things that they're celebrating typically have nothing to do with the Coke or the Pepsi or the Budweiser, right? They're like, the dad surprising the little kid coming home from Afghanistan and blah, blah, blah, and having this moment. He didn't fly all that way to get a Coke, you know what I mean? But it's like boom, you know? And the first thing they do once they're done hugging is, you know, drink something.
So that's different than saying what we cause, what we sell, what this product does is there for you in this moment and figure out what that is.

[00:09:44] Lori: You've hit on that subtle difference, which is a major difference. One is an invention, kind of like what we think of the old marketing strategy, the way that marketers, promoters got together and created a story and then assigned it to the brand. What you are saying is, it's almost like an audience first approach in figuring out where's the connection between the brand and the customer. Do I have that way of thinking about it?

[00:10:13] David: Yeah, exactly. Because I think every product has it. So Coke, if, a spitball off the top of my head, if it's trying to find what is that moment for Coke or for Pepsi, is it a couple that met it Alcoholics Anonymous and the guy's proposing to his wife and instead of cheersing with champagne, they have Pepsi in their glass. Now, here is a moment with a drink. There's a reason for the drink to be there. Now here's an emotional moment and then there's a reason that this is what we drink as opposed to drinking alcohol. So finding what is authentic and true to each one of those brands, I think is with what we're trying to focus on.

[00:10:47] Nola: Very cool. Seth Godin said, marketing's no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell. It sounds like that's kind of what you were talking about. On that note, can you tell us what you think makes a story good or bad for a brand? And basically, what are marketers getting wrong?

[00:11:08] David: It's going to come back to authenticity. It's going to come back to connecting to people's hearts. And again, my dear buddy, Steve O'Connell, there's a piece that we wrote actually for CMOs, one of my favorite lines in it is, a good story doesn't have to be true, it has to tell truth. And I think that's a very fine line because a lot of times marketers will make up a story. Sometimes they tell truth of reality and authenticity and sometimes they do not. And that's what the two passive version in the woods.

[00:11:39] Lori: That was very helpful actually. Because when we are thinking of storytelling, I think either people think they have to create something, like write in the way that you would write in your English class, or in your branding or marketing or content creation class, and they seem to be separate. I've worked for agencies in the past. I've created really heartfelt stories that connected the brand but maybe didn't have a beautiful or origin story. So the work was in how do I take that information and turn it around? And of course, when your boss gets emotional about it, or if the client gets emotional about it, you know you've hit the mark. But that's a hard thing to do. And it's hard to do because we all experience stories differently. Each person uses their senses to connect with it differently. Brand events have different formats, have different platforms. So can you walk us through maybe a good framework. That individuals, marketing companies, or sales departments can use, how should they consider developing a creative story? What are some good steps?

[00:12:51] David: I mean, step one is understanding what are you trying to accomplish? Because I think a lot of times people miss that first step. They just go straight to task. And ultimately, what does the client want? Well, they want an ad about blah blah, okay, yeah, they want an ad. Sure. But what do they want? What are they trying to motivate people to do? Are they trying to sell this one single product on this one day? And if you sell 5 million of them, then it's a win? Or are they trying to build brand loyalty? Are they trying to build a base? And so, understanding what the real goal is initially is so important. And I think where a lot of people fall down is they're like, okay, let's just do a really cool ad. How do we do a viral ad? Let's do an that goes viral and it's like, what the hell does that mean? Right? You know, things that go viral go viral organically because they're authentic and there's some really cool things out there. And I don't think people are like, oh, we're going to do this to make it go viral. They're like, how can we really communicate and touch people in a way that feels authentic to who they are. So for me, that's the process. It's like understanding what do we want to cause and then talking to the team about, well, what would cause that in you? And what would not cause that in you? Right? You look at both sides of that. That's where the spitballing comes in.

[00:14:03] Lori: We often say that you can't be all things to all people. So how important is understanding the specific audience that you're trying to target, and how important do you think it is to consider the way the story is going to be comprehended? So, in that way, visual, audio, experiential, even? Do you take those things into consideration in that beginning stage or is that later?

[00:14:27] David: I think we have some of that high level right at the top. We understand this is going to be experiential, is this going to be print, is this going to be visual, right? And then that shapes what we refer to as context and criteria of what the project is. And example about how brands try to build a base and how does that work today? And, I spent 45 years in Los Angeles. In and Out Burger's kind of a big deal in Los Angeles, right? And I now live in Nashville, Tennessee. And In and Out has just announced that they're moving their headquarters to Nashville and they'll be opening their first store in Nashville, I believe, in late 24 or early 25. But what I didn't realize as a Californian living there is that Tennessee becomes the eighth state that has In and Out Burger, so they're not well penetrated at all. And so they've done an incredible job having this Southern California vibe and building a presence in Southern California and then slowly moving out around the country.

I think a lot of brands now will come to market and they're like, all right, I have this product and how do I market to the entire country or to these countries or to the globe? And it's much easier if you are in a niche and you build up your fan base here and then you expand out as opposed to trying to be all things to all people because you're going to fail. You're going to fail it better than 50% of the people aren't going to want you. Right? So it's like how do you figure out how to cast that big net in an authentic way? And so I'm a big fan of experiential activations and groundswell, just doing things where you're one-on-one with people and really building up fan base that way as a really deep way to build long term relationships.

[00:16:11] Nola: I'd like to follow up on that experiential part. I mean, we talked about how brains are wired for stories, but in what ways do you use storytelling experientially in the events you produce?

[00:16:22] David: We say whenever we're producing an event, if there's a opening moment that we do, there's elements that are woven throughout. What does the room look and feel like when people walk in? What is registration like? So we're saying that everything that the audience experiences from the moment they walk on site should be a manifestation of the message. How does everything touch that? And I think a lot of people miss that because they have this company doing registration and this company doing this over here.

And so, if you sit on the top of a hill, and just kind of go, this is how we're going to communicate our brand, our message at all touch points. That's really the secret sauce. And so, we've been really fortunate with a lot of our biggest clients that we may be just handling the general session and maybe some headline entertainment for them. And there's another company doing registration, another company that's doing trade show for them. That we've been really, really fortunate that they'll allow us to build a brand event style guide and brand bible that everybody has to play off of for all of their elements. So we're not just in a silo inside of the room and where the room looks like then outside the room looks like this, and over the treasure looks like that. There's cohesiveness among everything that all lives in support of the overall message and the storytelling.

[00:17:35] Lori: That's great actually. That's smart from your agency's standpoint, but that's even more brilliant, I think, from the audience standpoint. When I walk in, I'm having a 360 experience the entire time instead of going to that one event that's going to kickoff the session and one event that's going to close it, and I'm supposed to make those things come together in my mind and solidify,

[00:18:01] David: Right. I think a lot of people fall down on the place where they'll want to create a really cool opening moment to a conference that has nothing to do with the message or the theme of the brand or anything, right? And it's just like, wow, this is really fun. You had dancing monkeys and fireworks and people shooting over my head, but what did it do to support the overall message of what we're trying to communicate?

[00:18:22] Lori: That's awesome. Before we say goodbye, David, tell us, what does living a vibrant life mean to you?

[00:18:29] David: I think a vibrant life would be a life that is congruent on all fronts. Contentment and happiness at work, at home, personal life, family, friends, and having balance. And I have wonderful moments of vibrancy in my life, but I wouldn't say that it's necessarily even and congruent all the time. So I think that's a wonderful question and a wonderful thing to strive for. And I think I continue to strive for that every day. It's like, how do I find more balance, more congruency to have that vibrancy?

[00:19:00] Nola: Awesome.

[00:19:01] Lori: So your shirt has been, we've seen Make but I haven't seen anything below Make.

[00:19:06] Nola: Make time count.

[00:19:08] Lori: Oh,

[00:19:09] Nola: Very cool.

[00:19:10] Lori: I think that's where you should have gone.

[00:19:12] Nola: Yeah.

[00:19:13] David: Yeah. So let me just shout this out. My dear friend, Manny Panero, he retired from the Air Force about two and a half years ago as a second-highest enlisted man in the Air Force. He was the Chief Master Sergeant in charge of all the Chief Master Sergeants for all the entire Air Force out of the Pentagon. And this is his motto: Make time count. Don't count time, make time count. And I wore this today in honor of him.

[00:19:37] Nola: Love that.

[00:19:38] Lori: Wow. Well, that's a great message and a great note to end on.

[00:19:43] Nola: Thank you, David, for being our guest. Before you go, how can listeners get in touch with you and find out what else you're up to.

[00:19:49] David: You can find me at gwcg.com. It stands for Go West Creative Group, You can find me on uh, Instagram at digiwest, d i g i w e s t on Instagram or on LinkedIn at David Fischette, and you'll be able to find the True West Podcast on Spotify in July.

[00:20:05] Lori: That's awesome. We'll be sure to put those links in our show notes as well as on our website.

Well, listener, we hope the ideas and thoughts shared here today have sparked your interest and curiosity about sharing brand stories. As well as inspired you to become a first time entrepreneur in the second half of your vibrant life. Be sure to stick around to the very end of this podcast for a fun little surprise.

[00:20:30] Nola: If you found the information we've shared helpful and want more tools, tips, and inspiration delivered to your inbox, sign up for News You Can Use, over on our website, stickybrandlab.com or click the link on our show notes. And remember, baby steps, big effects.

[OUT-TAKE]

Including Blake Shelton, John Lennon, Sheryl Crow, and Bebe Rexha, to name a few.

[00:20:52] David: Yeah. Well that John Lennon's been dead for a long time.

[00:20:54] Lori: Yeah.

[00:20:54] Nola: Did I say Jonn Lennon?

[00:20:55] Lori: Yeah. You did. You did. From the grave, his superpower is communication.

[00:21:02] Nola: Well, you did say you get your start at 14.  Yeah. Thanks for that. Okay. Lemme... Take two.