“Let me tell you a story …”
Those six simple words command attention. They create an expectation that an engagement-worthy experience is about to unfold.
Thoughtfully produced podcasts and videos can deliver on the promise of brand storytelling. But success is far from a given.
These efforts typically play in crowded, noisy spaces where it’s hard to get discovered. Without a compelling hook, your target audience might tune out or scroll by. And if you fail to tie the story to a real-world value, your business may not achieve a happy-ever-after outcome.
These six brands recognized at the 2024 Content Marketing Awards or Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity spin a yarn into marketing gold. Here’s what to learn from their victories.
Idea 1: Put a unique spin on a familiar story
Many enterprise organizations struggle to implement advanced marketing tools and technologies. They must manage many moving parts and coach team members to minimize resistance and process friction.
To facilitate the smooth adoption and use of its new digital asset management (DAM) system, Bayer Crop Science set out to tell — and sell — a story of successfully streamlined content operations.
Example: How To Use Bayer’s Digital Asset Management System
The How To Use Bayer’s Digital Asset Management System video starts as a standard explainer on DAM systems and their benefits. But the sales pitch quickly cuts to a charmingly animated story. In it, “marketing warrior” Alex must navigate a maze of disconnected tools and file systems in search of the rights-free image she needs for a campaign.
Fantasy genre fans will recognize some characteristics of quest-based storytelling — heroes, magical incantations (i.e., marketing buzzwords), and an arrogant dragon that mocks Alex’s attempts to retrieve the asset with competitors’ tools.
And the video, a finalist for Best Topic-Specific Video at this year’s Content Marketing Awards, has one more plot twist for viewers: Before the final scene, it cuts to the narrator for a detailed online demo of Bayer’s DAM solution.
By jumping between factual insights and a fictional parable, Bayer skillfully blends message-driven education with engaging entertainment. It’s a great way to get viewers’ attention on the critical details while hooking their viewing interest until the video’s end.
Idea 2: Sustain engagement with serialized content
It takes more than a hit single to turn initial curiosity into enduring audience relationships.
To keep consumers coming back, consider an approach perfected by streaming TV platforms and popular podcasts: Create binge-worthy serialized entertainment.
Example: Murder in HR
Murder in HR isn’t another trendy true-crime podcast. It’s a clever, star-powered send-up of the genre, scripted to organically weave corporate wellness brand Gympass (now Wellhub) into an episodic thriller.
The plot centers on Jemma (voiced by actor Kate Mara) — an HR executive at a tech company who uses her people skills to investigate a death at a corporate retreat. As Jemma interrogates potential suspects, the audience learns about their use of the wellness services offered through Gympass. Customized ads aired during story breaks provided more information about Gympass benefits.
Teased out with a weekly release schedule, the podcast concludes when Jemma solves the crime. With the help of promotional activations across marketing, media, and sales, the show earned more than 1.1 million downloads and reached No. 1 on Apple’s list of top fictional podcasts. It also won the 2024 Content Marketing Award for Best Podcast.
Idea 3: Show the impact of your intentions
Telling a convincing story about results that won’t fully manifest for over 25 years presents challenges.
Marketers in construction and manufacturing have good reason to publicize their climate action initiatives that align with the goals of the Paris Agreement. However, consumers can struggle to grasp how the long-range plans relate to their lives.
Volvo Group used video to turn its communication priorities into a compellingly resonant story for its audience to understand what’s at stake.
Example: Dear Jackie
Volvo, the world’s leading manufacturer of industrial vehicles and construction equipment, promises to become a fossil-free company by 2050 — and help its customers do the same. The urgency of achieving those goals is as clear as the blue stream in its Content Marketing Award-winning video, Dear Jackie.
It starts with a young couple in 2023, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the titular baby girl, Jackie. Viewers get to see the baby’s life unfold as she transforms from a sonogram image into a thriving adult about to welcome her own child into the world.
In the accompanying voiceover, a narrator reads Volvo’s letter to Jackie’s future self, setting its climate-change ambitions against the milestones in Jackie’s life. The company pledges to make one-third of its fleet electric by the time she starts school and be fossil-free when she completes her education.
By illustrating how they’ll work together to shape “the world we want to live in,” Dear Jackie embodies Volvo Group’s commitment to doing the work today so tomorrow’s generation can reap the benefits.
Idea 4: Support personal and professional success
Great storytelling doesn’t just promote the value of your brand’s products and services. It inspires — and empowers — customers to achieve their goals. B2B storytelling typically supports professional success, but don’t overlook personal aspirations and interests, too.
Example: The Path To Owning It
Doctors and other health care providers receive medical training, but that doesn’t prepare them to run a practice. Sharpening the business acumen of current and aspiring medical practice owners is the goal of Provide — a health-care-focused division of Fifth Third Bank, N.A., and the purpose of its The Path to Owning It podcast.
Each episode offers guidance on financial and operational decision-making, such as choosing whether to build or buy a practice or hiring the right care team. While the goal is to ease the transition from caregiver to practice leader, the discussions aren’t all business. They also delve into more personally resonant concerns.
In one episode, veterinarian Sarah Baker, owner of Lane Veterinary, touches on the mental health struggles of veterinary practitioners and the need for more female representation in leadership. Inspiring health professionals to advocate for their own well-being as they care for their patients makes The Path To Owning It a B2B storytelling standout. It earned recognition from the Content Marketing Awards as a finalist for Best Podcast.
Idea 5: Express your unique voice and views
Marketers may be tempted to jump on the latest TikTok challenge or meme-friendly trend to capture audience attention. But playing follow the leader with your video budget is unlikely to help your brand stand out from the pack.
Instead, take your video conversations in distinctly different directions. Contradicting conventional wisdom or expressing opposing points of view may feel risky. But by bucking the status quo, you stand a better chance of making a lasting impact on like-minded consumers.
Example: Play It Safe
You may not be familiar with musician, actor, composer, and comedian Tim Minchin. But you should recognize the Sydney Opera House — the architectural landmark visually synonymous with his home country of Australia.
To celebrate the performing arts center’s 50th birthday, Australian agency The Monkeys (a subsidiary of Accenture Song Sydney) enlisted Tim to star in a four-minute musical ode.
Tim sarcastically sings the virtues of playing it safe and sticking with formulas to attract an audience. Yet, the accompanying sights and sounds of renowned artists, architects, and performers show that the opposite rings truer.
More than a birthday celebration of a building, the spot serves as an uplifting homage to the artists taking creative risks inside the structure. More importantly, the video proves that unique storytelling can amass a stronger following than calculated mediocrity.
The judges at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity certainly got the message. The mini film split Grand Prix honors with another inspiring effort that you’ll see in Idea 6.
Idea 6: Shift perspectives to change minds
While Play It Safe honors artists and their critically acclaimed achievements, its Cannes Lions Grand Prix co-honoree tells the story of a group whose talents have been overshadowed.
Example: La compil’ des Bleues
This video campaign, produced by Orange (a French telecommunications company), highlights the stunning athleticism exhibited by France’s men’s national soccer team.
Or does it?
The real story is cleverly revealed halfway through: The footage was digitally altered. All the remarkable plays shown were made by members of the women’s national soccer team.
While many deepfake videos are designed to deceive to damage someone’s reputation, Orange’s use of visual effects tools does the opposite: It challenges the common (mis)perception that women’s soccer is less exciting and view-worthy than games in the men’s league.
Did the ruse achieve its purpose? In a follow-up case study video released by Orange, the impressions left by the video (in the media and on viewers) are made clear: The most viral French video ever sparked a global conversation about the entertainment value of women’s professional sports and led to broader discussions about gender inequality.
Show, tell, and sing your brand’s value
Whether it’s a child-friendly fable, a crime-solving series, or a true-life tale of overcoming obstacles, audio and video storytelling captures attention and sustains engagement in a way few other content formats can achieve.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute