Storytelling and the evaluation of concepts
A film production starts with an idea.
But which idea is the best and most effective?
This article is not about a guide to developing an idea, but about storytelling and evaluating concepts.
Content creation and storytelling are the buzzwords par excellence in marketing.
They are regarded as the magic formula for a successful communication strategy and therefore also for film concepts.
Producing content that is relevant to the viewer is recommended from all sides.
No more simple market-screaming advertising messages, no more glossy image films.
Authenticity is in demand.
Storytelling
Storytelling is not really something new and is no guarantee of success for successful films!
Let’s think back to a time when there was no mass communication in the modern sense: you sat in a group around the campfire or at the table over a meal and listened to the person who had an interesting story to tell. That’s exactly what storytelling is: telling a story.
It can be an authentic story that is thought-provoking, moving or simply informative. Or the story can be fictional, entertaining, humorous or inspiring.
Both approaches, the informative and the entertaining, are still valid today and are not mutually exclusive. Well-made stories can be told in a humorous and informative way.
The guiding principle “People are interested in people” has always been a good starting point for a story and still is today. This is also the reason why testimonials have worked successfully in advertising for many years and are not a short-term trend.
The mere fact of telling a story in a movie is a good approach in marketing, but it is no guarantee of success.
The biggest danger with storytelling is its interchangeability. A good story can totally captivate the viewer and generate full attention. But this benefit is also the biggest problem. In the end, the question remains: What was that for again? Who made the video? What product was it actually about? Here is an example:
This TV commercial won the Golden Lion at the 2004 Cannes Advertising Film Festival and is a very emotionally narrated story that manages completely without words. But the connection to the brand is not very strong. It could have been about condoms, a supermarket, or socks or or or…
An example of a successful implementation of a story with a product promise is a Telekom TV commercial:
The story is not new, but rather a “quote” and was told almost exactly the same way by Mercedes in the 1990s. In both cases, however, the anchoring with the brand name and the product promise is very strong and the story is timeless:
When assessing the concept for films in marketing communication, I would like to refer to a guideline that Albert Heiser presented in his book “Stay tuned” in 2001, the main features of which are still valid today.
Assessment criteria for concepts
1. communicative accuracy
“The first criterion is: to what extent does the script get to the heart of the briefing’s communication content? This refers to the communicative accuracy of the concept and the question of whether the communication content is given the right weighting in the film. The basis of the discussion is whether the target data of the creative briefing has been implemented within the framework of the film idea.”
2. comprehensibility of the idea
“The second criterion is the comprehensibility of the idea. Without wanting to give examples (if you look carefully, you will find them yourself), many commercials on German advertising television seem puzzling to me. Their deep meaning is not clear. Their structure is not right, they are not very descriptive or require leaps of thought that only the author understands. Unfortunately, you hear all too often that this is intentional, because you want the recipient to think about it beyond the commercial, but who does that apart from the advertisers themselves, because they are interested in it? (…)”
An example where the idea and the type of humor is not clear to me:
3. attention
“The third criterion is attention. Is the idea unique, does it deviate from the norm, is it relevant to the target group and does it make a statement in a way that no one else has done before? If the answer to this question is yes, it speaks for the film. It’s all too easy for decision-makers to say that an idea already exists just because they recognize a detail from a commercial. But just because there’s been a movie with monkeys before doesn’t mean the current “monkey idea” is the same.
(…)”
A very attention-grabbing beginning, but a strange twist at the end:
4. acceptance
“Another criterion is the acceptance of the idea by the target group. Is the idea credible? If the target group cannot understand the argumentation and dramaturgy of the commercial, it will fail. (…) A detergent does not solve marital problems, a chocolate does not make young people happier, a coffee does not taste better because it is drunk on a luxury yacht, and a car is not comparable to a space station. In contrast to the dramaturgical pattern of lies, these are assertions that cannot be substantiated. It is the seriousness of these comparisons and content that makes them unbelievable. The cause of these fatal errors is that companies overestimate their own importance. A product can only take itself as seriously as the consumer takes it seriously. Where dramaturgical patterns are confused with content-related statements, mistakes are inevitable when deciding on ideas.”
A testimonial with a lack of authenticity and acceptance:
5. learning effect
“The fifth criterion is the learning effect. Based on the idea that communication is learning, you have to ask yourself what will stick at the end of the commercial and what the recipient should have learned. Are the key messages presented in a way that can be learned and are they effective?”
I’m missing a strong link to the brand here. You have to look for it in the credits!
6. Creative potential
“And last but not least, the question of the creative potential of the film must be asked. This refers to the independence of the idea itself. Does the film follow a path that is contemporary and trend-setting in its style and approach?”
From a creative point of view, this is a very unusual and independent approach, and also very eye-catching, although the visual realization of the “illusion” idea is very far removed from the actual product statement “incredibly low fuel consumption”:
All quotes from ≫Staytuned!≪by Albert Heiser
Success factors
When analyzing successful creative TV campaigns, the following parameters can be identified as success factors:
– Triggering emotions
– originality and surprise
– unconventional synthesis of ideas
– visual artistic elaboration
With regard to films for social media platforms, it can be added:
– In the first 5 seconds, a connection must be established with the viewer so that they continue watching
– if possible, encourage users to share the film with others
Summary
The overriding criterion is that successful marketing communication has intelligently managed to trigger a very individual feeling of happiness in the recipient. The needs that have to be satisfied are very individual, situational and temporally different. Everyone wants to belong to other people, to be taken seriously and respected.
The guiding principle “People are interested in people” is a good starting point for a story. The story must be relevant to the viewer and the style must inspire confidence. Viewers consider anything that comes across as a dull advertising promise to be annoying. But surprise and humor are also in demand and do not have to contradict serious product claims. The conception of advertising films is also subject to this tension between individual needs. Ultimately, there is no single recipe for success.
