Page 171 - The Design Thinking Playbook

When does imagination influence the buying process, and at How can stories of products be put in the right context?
what point is storytelling used?
Stories are an excellent means of describing the various relationships between consumers and products.
A headline in Forbes magazine claimed that good storytelling can For some products, especially when it comes to fashion, a good story is of greater value than the function
heighten customer acquisition by up to 400%. Now we all see the or the quality of the clothes. With the help of stories, consumers can identify with the clothes they bought
$ sign flicker in front of our eyes, which ought to make us sit up and and display their fashion style to the outside world. Storytelling has the potential to speak to the audience
take notice. With all services and products, the ultimate art is to like this: “Hey, it’s really only about you!”
maintain the desire for them, which is based mostly on the relation-
ship between the object and the consumers. Desire is exactly the In general, we distinguish three types of stories, which are important in the perception of products:
condition that the object or product does not have, though. Instead,
it is the presumed relationship with the object that satisfies desire. 1. Commercial stories from manufacturers such as Coca-Cola, who use them with great skill and
With his dream car, an American electric vehicle, Peter is one of these cleverness in their marketing. We all know the famous taglines of Coca-Cola such as “Release the
modern consumers who “cultivate” their desires. Any product with brrr inside you” or the Coca-Cola Christmas stories, which for generations have become an integral
hitherto unknown features has the potential to fill us with enthu- part of the run-up to Christmas. Although Coca-Cola today has become more personal—through
siasm beyond the limits of reality. We can compare this state with promotions such as “Share your family photo,” “Your own name on the bottle,” or the current series
daydreaming or the merging of feelings of happiness from fantasy and of “Drinking a Coke with your friends”—we have stored these images deep in our unconscious.
reality. In general, we are all confronted with a dilemma that becomes
manifest in the desire to own the object and the fact we don’t own it. 2. Lifestyle stories from and about users. These stories are often associated with emotional goods
such as cars, motorcycles, watches, and other luxury items. Consumers buy these goods to pursue
What happens after we have bought the product? Why do a specific lifestyle. The Chevrolet commercials “Maddie” and “Romance” are good examples of this
we want to own the product at all? Haven’t we already because they tell profound and unforgettable stories. The stories build a close relationship with the
experienced a feeling of happiness with the product in our consumer far beyond the actual product. Often, the stories are supported by so-called fan clubs.
imagination?
3. Stories with the character of a specific memory. These individual stories are based on the
It seems we find the perfect experience more with new products than personal memories of things past and vary from individual to individual.
with goods we already own, which have lost the capacity to embody
the perfect experience. With the actual use of a product, we have the
opportunity to experience our fantasies and dreams, which we have
built up beforehand and that revolve around the product. This doesn’t
mean that a product will become interchangeable as soon as we have
bought and used it. Consumers have the power to turn their personal
objects into something special.

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