“Similarly, how important is a well-thought out story and concept to
the ad campaigns and marketing initiatives agencies are crafting today?
How are consumers responding and how have brand stories changed because
of new marketing strategies?

My company just got back
from the first ever Produced By Conference where most of Hollywood’s
top talent discussed the importance of storytelling and material to
their craft. Similarly, I feel their is a parallel between marketing
strategy and movie strategy and am curious if others agree.”

Dale’s Answer to this Question:
This was selected as Best Answer

Jeff,

I also agree that story telling is very important. Although, like
Gianluigi said it is much easier said then done. Just like movie magic
that happens with a solid foundation and well thought out story, so too
can a company deliver marketing magic with the right story/marketing
strategy and planning.

I think consumers respond strongly to a strong marketing strategy.
As a matter of fact, when done well, the competitors may start counter
marketing their company in response to the original success of the
campaign. Using of Apple as a perfect example – first of they have
created a strong brand based on being the “cool”, “hip”, “designer”
computer company. So then on top of this positioning partly due to the
design community, Apple decided it wanted to tap into more of the
market so they offer ipods and digital music which feeds into their
current customers wants and now starts a viral marketing program that
gets non-Apple consumers to start buying Apple products. This obviously
was a huge hit so Apple starts adding digital movies, tv shows etc.
which just excellerates this craze. Then the big kick was the iPhone,
now there is no reason for any consumer not to buy Apple products. This
is genius! Now these other areas start feeding the computer market
since they are so comfortable with there daily used iPhone, iPods and
iTunes.

And, the point I was getting to was Apple then started the “I’m a
mac and I’m a PC” campaign. This added fuel to the fire and Microsoft
knew they needed to counter attack… so they started their whole “We’re
all a PC” campaign.

Although the Microsoft ads are good, sadly, this is a me too ad
campaign. I think the story/reality Apple is living is that of the
“creative & innovative computer company”. Innovators set trends and
break through the everyday clutter of me too marketing. So in my mind
this is what a good marketing strategy or strong company story can
create – interest on an emotional level that starts the viral marketing
(telling everyone you know about how great this product/service is).

I do think also that it is important to be consistent with you
marketing message across all mediums and you need to be making contact
with customers and prospects on a regular basis to build &
re-enforce the story/message.

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Dale Berkebile cited as Expert in Business Development.