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It has become popular to talk about brand in relation to a story. Let’s be as clear as possible, a brand is not a story. If so, it will be created using William Burroughs’ Cut Up Method.

What do I have against stories?

Nothing, it’s just that they don’t fit how we need to look at the brand. A story is linear and unique. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end that every reader will experience in the same order. But is that really how we remember stories?

Think of your favorite story. Do you remember it word for word? Or do you actually remember the key moments in the story?

A story is memorable not in its entirety, but rather in a series of moments that form the key points of the narrative. So a great story has a number of memorable moments that, when experienced in series, create a narrative.

Great – why shouldn’t we see brands as history?

A brand is created by accumulating unforgettable moments over time.

A story is a bad example of how, as brand leaders, we have little control over the order in which people experience those memorable moments. There is no singular or linear thread how people experience the unforgettable moments that shape the brand. People will experience these moments in different orders and at different times.

A brand can be continuously shaped by a clear strategy that is experienced through the accumulation of unforgettable moments over time.

What do we mean by unforgettable moments?

A memorable moment could be seeing a logo, looking at a website, dealing with an employee, seeing an advertisement, listening to a piece of audio, talking to a friend, seeing a tweet, being in a store and seeing the price of a product, etc etc etc. These are all moments that we can experience and that relate to the brand. We’ll remember some of them if they’re well designed to appeal to us as a target group.

The two most important points are:

• There is no linear and singular order in which people will experience these unforgettable moments
• There needs to be an overarching strategy that can be used to shape every memorable moment for people to create a coherent brand regardless of the order in which they are experienced.

It is this accumulation of the experience of unforgettable moments that continuously shapes a brand.

But what about William Burroughs?

If you insist on creating your brand as a story, be aware that people are likely not reading them in the order you wrote them. William Burrough’s “ Cut Up Method ” consisted of writing a page and then cutting it into pieces, rearranging the pieces, and that new order was the new story. While this is a fantastic technique for encouraging creative thinking and new points of view, it probably isn’t the best way to build a brand if you want people to make sense of it.

Forget about stories unless you want your brand to be a cut up brand.

Contribution to Branding Strategy Insider by: Paul Bailey, Strategy Director at Halo

At The Blake Project we support clients from all over the world at all stages of development. Redefine and articulate what makes them competitive in critical moments of change through online strategy workshops and extended engagements. Please email us for more information on our storytelling workshops.

Brand Strategy Insider is a service from The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in brand research, brand strategy, brand growth and branding

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