Understanding brand story conceptualisations: brand practitioner perspectives

Abstract

People have used stories to communicate with each other throughout the history of our species. Stories are hardwired in the human brain; they allow us to store and retrieve information, organise experiences and comprehend our world. They are a powerful form of communication; they can grab attention, persuade, empower, inspire, engage and change the behaviour of the people exposed to them. Businesses create stories, called brand stories, to inform consumers about their brands. A brand story consists of a plot, characters, causality, key messages and a progression of events in temporal order. Marketing practitioners are increasingly using brand stories to influence consumers¿ attitude toward their brands, and improve brand equity and the performance of their brands in the market. In the past two decades, marketing researchers have focused on investigating brand stories from an advertising perspective. Scholars have acknowledged the scarcity of brand story studies from a brand management perspective and called for more empirical research. A review of the literature indicates a lack of a unified conceptual model that shows what brand story means to the people making and influencing brand-related decisions (e.g., brand managers and CEOs) and encapsulates the processes of how they build, evaluate and manage their brand stories. This thesis responds to the need for empirical research on the brand story concept, presenting an exploration of the brand story concept from the viewpoint of global contemporary brand practitioners (GCBPs). The major outcome of the study is a practitioner-led brand story (PLBS) conceptual model that explains the possible meanings surrounding the brand story concept, and components of contemporary strategies to develop and evaluate brand stories. The model was based on data collected using qualitative methods and analysed using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Interviews were conducted with 13 senior GCBPs from 3 countries, and the results triangulated with data from internal and public organisational documents. The PLBS conceptual model adds to the brand management literature by expanding and unifying meanings surrounding the brand story concept and explaining how the concept is being developed by modern brand decision-makers. It contributes to practice by offering an empirical tool which brand managers worldwide can use to integrate brand story into their brand strategy.

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