Becoming a great brand storyteller requires mastery of genre. Novelists, screenwriters and poets would be lost without the guard rails it provides. The truth is that there really are no original stories. Every story you can imagine has been told before. Over centuries of yarn spinning, the storytelling patterns have clustered into familiar plot progressions and thematic underpinnings. That’s genre. The conventions of each genre strengthen the connection between audience and storyteller, which is why brand storytellers must learn to identify and utilize the genres that fuel their brand narratives.

Allstate has embraced the disaster genre with its series of advertisements that show bad things happening to ordinary people. The conventions of the genre play out in every execution. We know something bad will happen to the characters. We wait to see what it is, how severe and how the characters will cope. The latest spot shows two recurring characters at a diner. One has purchased a new car. While he’s showing off to his buddy through a plate glass window, we see the car rolling backwards. He’s forgotten to set the parking brake. His buddy attempts to warn him, but the window is a barrier to communication. We watch as the car is nearly hit by an oncoming truck. The miss relieves the tension. But this is the disaster genre and we know something is going to happen. And of course, the car is hit by a huge semi while the purchaser is completely unaware. It creates comedy through a twist on the expected.

If you look deeper, Allstate has embraced the genre in other marketing communications. Print and direct mail pieces capture accidents at the moment of disaster, and finish with the response Allstate provides. Sadly, the website doesn’t continue the genre conventions, but Allstate is otherwise a great example of a brand that uses genre to guide the storytelling process.

What are the benefits of genre in branding?

First, genre sets audience expectations. When you consistently follow the conventions of the genre in your marketing communications, you seed the audience with the backbone of your story. Moviegoers expect certain things to happen based on the genre of the film they’re watching. If they go to watch a horror movie, they expect that somebody is going to die, probably early in the story and often in its plot. In a western, the audience generally expects an epic adventure against a harsh desert landscape with melodramatic examples of good and evil. The romantic comedy genre sets the expectation of two people falling in and out of love.

For the brand marketer, genre elevates your brand and improves recall and awareness. Consistent application of genre makes it easier for your customers to grasp the essence of your brand and sets their expectations about the values that make your brand unique.

Second, genre forces the marketer to make critical trade-offs that strengthen the brand positioning. If your brand uses the genre of “the daring enterprise”, as is often employed by IBM, the audience expects certain storytelling conventions. They expect to see a visionary leader attempting something that is deemed impossible. They expect to see setbacks that would crush lesser heroes. And they expect to see a creative solution to the setbacks. These are just a few of the conventions. Knowing the full set limits your options, and inspires the creativity that keeps the brand fresh. If you’re following the daring enterprise genre, you will probably rule out a marketing execution that dwells on romantic entanglement. It could be a story element, but it is an unlikely choice given that you have only seconds to convey your brand’s message and exude the brand narrative.

Finally, genres are among the best tools to develop your brand voice. The genre you select will affect the tonality of your communications. Film noir is dark, cynical and mysterious. Romantic comedy is light, witty and sometimes syrupy. Sports epics are often nostalgic, heroic and determined. Once you select a genre, and stick to it, your entire organization can rally around its aura. Because we’re all familiar with the many tried and true genres, we can all assess when the story is in or out of the genre’s voice. That is, perhaps, the greatest strength of genre-focused storytelling.

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Tags: genre, storytelling

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