Storytelling is currently the topic of almost every digital congress. One could almost believe that the topic was only recently invented. But storytelling is as old as humanity. We communicate through stories - we remember data and facts best through coherent little stories. Just think of the memory world champions, who always come up with a story for the collection of objects and numbers in order to better remember the order.

Yves Coppens and Fabrice Demeter from the [Collège de France]((https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/college/index.htm) in Paris, along with Michael Bisson from **McGill University ** in Montreal, go even further: Only through stories, fairy tales, and artistic expression, they argue, can a culture sustain and survive. In contrast to Homo sapiens, the Neanderthal didn't tell stories. It wasn’t the smaller brain size but rather the lack of awareness about their own past that may have led to their extinction. What a – different – story! Storytelling, then, isn't a modern invention but a vital necessity for survival through our stories.

And yet, the hype around storytelling in advertising is real. Suddenly, it’s not just about recall, attention, brand perception, or conversion and click rates anymore. But from a psychological perspective, it never was. Even if the intention was purely rational and no story was meant, no message affects only the rational level. You cannot not address the emotional or irrational side of a human being. You can only decide whether to shape the message at this impact level—or leave it to chance.

The surface of the story – is not a story!
So how does storytelling really work? Recently, there’s been a lot of surprising things to read and hear on the topic. Surprising, because most of the focus is still only on the surface. From a psychological viewpoint, the main concern is the optimization of the cover story.

Can the ad be remembered? What brand message is being sent? Is the product benefit understood? Is the brand correctly identified? And do enough people find the ad likeable? This often results in so-called stories like: brightly colored condoms fly through the air (to generate attention, sex sells, colors are friendly), a similarly bright package of birth control pills is shown. Cut to the next scenes—punk vs. pop. Each scene more attention-grabbing than the last, and we “eagerly” await the connection. Then the car appears—not very memorable, but the hope is that the strong, likeable scenes will make the car model likeable too. Seriously? That’s not a real story for the heart—and it won’t become better storytelling just because the brand is shown in the first frame. A standard fix, by the way, when trying to improve brand perception.

As long as storytelling mostly revolves around whether the brand appears at the beginning or end, or whether the packshot comes from the right or left, advertising in Germany will likely remain as unsexy as it is. Even when dealing with actual content, there’s a fear of “offending.” Happy families sitting at the table—eating whatever the brand landscape offers. Add a dog for more emotion—or a cat for social media, because everyone likes that and it offends no one. The result: smooth, harmonious, but boring stories. 24 hours of dream cruise without crises.

Advertising doesn’t dare to address anything bad, mean, or unpleasant. Without Dove, we wouldn’t even have “curvier models.” Yet the tabloid press has known for years what drives sales: the more dramatic, the better. People’s lives and interests are more Titanic than Dreamboat.

Touching and moving storytelling works differently. It’s also about, but not limited to, a “cool” creative idea. If you truly want to trigger something in people, you have to consider the different layers of the story: the cover story and the impact story. Because whether you like it or not, the second level exists—you just have to choose whether to actively shape it or leave it to chance.

Magically moved – how advertising really works
From the fairy tales and myths of our culture, we can learn which topics move us at a deep psychological level, which stories linger in our minds, and how we can use them for the impact story. It’s about the principles that define these ever-retold stories—not about inserting wolves, Little Red Riding Hoods, or Snow Whites into our narratives.

Good storytelling, like a fairy tale, touches on the truly relevant and recurring themes of life: growing up, seeking and finding love, having children, aging, dying. Major emotions like love, grief, longing, homesickness, hatred are also part of it. Everyday problems that entangle us—more or less consciously—make advertising truly moving: big vs. small, good vs. evil, fate vs. free will, top vs. bottom, power vs. powerlessness. These are relevant to our daily lives: how often do we feel inferior to our partner, our boss, a rival, a client? How can we stand our ground as someone smaller, younger (or older)? How to deal with injustice? How to control anger, rage, and resentment? How can we be content with ourselves and the world—and not constantly look at others with envy?

You think this has nothing to do with products? It does: With chips, you can snack away aggression; with a glass of wine, let God take care of things; with insurance, cheat fate; with makeup, arm yourself for salary negotiations with your “overpowering” boss or control a performance. Many products—and the brands behind them—help us get through everyday life better. Advertising must show what help the brand provides, what meaning it should be given, or what concrete benefit it offers for our daily drama.

Really good advertising stories address, alongside all-too-human life themes and dramatic everyday motives, the zeitgeist. What matters to us changes with culture. Community is more important today than in the 1990s. Control and security are more relevant now than freedom.

From a deep psychological perspective, the impact story must address life themes, zeitgeist values, and everyday conditions—and sensibly integrate the product into the story.

Stylistic devices for good storytelling
There are six relevant stylistic devices that can be borrowed from fairy tales. Three of them are briefly introduced here.

Modern hero stories
Fairy tales show how hero stories move us: they almost always come from the underdog’s perspective. The small, the fool, the youngest or the ugliest end up as everyday heroes. Advertising, however, often doesn’t care about the “little consumer,” instead placing the brand itself as the gleaming gold and hero of the story. Not a great idea to win people over. The central question should be: how can the customer be made the hero? Or, more in line with today’s values: how can we make our customers famous?

The fascination of evil
Aggression and violence aren’t products of the video game era. People have always had to deal with evil—both out there in the world (e.g., in the USA or Turkey) and inside themselves. We often have such negative thoughts that we’re ashamed of them. For example, while driving—how often do we curse and swear when no one can hear? How often do we fantasize about getting rid of someone? Worse still: we don’t just have these thoughts—we enjoy them. We’re fascinated by dragons, giants, and evil sorcerers. What would Harry Potter be without Lord Voldemort? Or The Lord of the Rings without Sauron?

In everyday life, our job is to keep our “evil” tendencies within socially acceptable limits. Advertising can help here. By showing what these tendencies are, it relieves us of our shame. And by showing how a product or brand can help us channel those tendencies in culturally acceptable ways. In an already harmonious world, you don’t need a product to make it even better. That kind of advertising may be smooth, but it’s irrelevant. Advertisers often lack the courage to play with evil—even “curvier models” are feared to reflect poorly on the brand.

Making it rhyme
Claims and slogans are often underestimated. They’re changed constantly and are as interchangeable as they are meaningless. Slapped together quickly, often not even tested in advertising research, they result in empty phrases like “We shape the future” or “Performance through passion.” Neither identifies the industry nor the product’s benefit—for example, the first isn't from an architecture firm, and the second isn’t tech-related.

Yet claims are the brand’s takeaway message. Ideally, they summarize the main reason to buy in a snappy formula. A good claim wraps up the ad’s story the way fairy tales distill meaning: “Mirror, mirror on the wall...,” “Nibble, nibble, gnaw…”—most people can finish the line. Haribo makes children happy across countries with a rhyming claim. Douglas can’t shake off “Come in and find out” because it hit the mark—better than any slogan after it.

Making sense of a brand through rhyme is not easy. So if you find a good one—stick with it. There are only so many fitting options for any product or brand.

Hungry for more?
Of course, not every ad story can use every technique. These storytelling tools suit different industries to varying degrees. But if you want your customers to keep asking you for more stories, it’s worth exploring other psychologically relevant stylistic devices. We look forward to hearing from you at imdahl@rheingold-salon.de.