A narrative approach to branding

Looking at the move from branded content to brand-owned media

 

The abuse of the word “storytelling” is common among communicators who want to create strong emotional bonds between brands and audiences. At the same time, branded content strives to grab people's attention, causing brands to embrace new ways of producing contents.

(Image: An appreciative audience at the EACD Anniversary Event in Milan on April 21, organised by Marco Magli)

If a narrative-based communication strategy is still valuable, what are today’s challenges for communicators? That was the starting point for discussion at the first Anniversary Event of the European Association of Communication Directors, organised by Avio Aero's head of media and external relations, Marco Magli. Marco spoke to Communication Director about the power of stories, why he still believes in authenticity and how he plans to help the EACD meet the diverse needs of Italy’s different communication markets.

You arranged the first EACD anniversary event of the year, held in Milan on April 21. Why did you choose the title, Storytelling is dead, long live the storyteller! From branded content to brand-owned media?

The idea is that the use of the word ‘storytelling’ is in increasing in several places, politics, brand communication, and so on. Storytelling is now an abused word, in my opinion. So my question was, “is it still worth talking about storytelling, about the narrative approach for brands?” Long live the storyteller” means that we need to focus our attention on how to tell  stories, to look at the challenges in developing branded contents, to think of  communications campaigning a more effective way but still based on the narrative approach. I wanted to put together speakers who could bring their vision about that, including B2C t and B2B companies. Also, the reactions of the speakers were enthusiastic. Everyone has this topic on their mind. They are highly conscious of the power of the stories. So the idea was to talk about the challenge that we have as communicators and marketers in continuing to use stories in our communication campaigns.

What are Avio Aero’s experiences in branded content?

We do not use branded content yet but we do invest in a narrative-based strategy. If you look around, B2B companies are moving in the direction of B2C communications. When I joined the company I started to apply a more consumer business-oriented communication- including tools that are not common in B2B communication. The technology behind aircraft engines, as well as the R&D efforts our engineers put into developing innovation, require us to look at communications from another perspective. So I introduced infographics and more video stories to explain the “soul” of our technology.

An Avio Aero infographic video explaining the construction of Cold Flow facilites for testing engine turbines

 Another term used a lot in the event was ‘authenticity’. Like “storytelling”, is “authenticity" in dange of being an overused word?

Of course I believe in authenticity. I also believe in more on the human-to-human communication.  We need to be authentic but sometimes it’s not enough. We need to be more human in our communication; we have to take in to consideration the fact that we have to talk to people. And so authentic also means having the right tone of voice, to be authentic in the way we want to tell our story.

Are we seeing a convergence of marketing and PR?

Probably in the future there will be more integration but I don’t believe that only one person can manage marketing and communications. The two functions will be more integrated, but separate. In my experience, the approach of marketers is completely different to communications. The professional background is different. The ideal is cooperation, the best of marketing and the best of communicators should work together. The best way to bring the two functions closer is to have a commitment from the top from CEOs. CEOs should put pressure on the marketing and the communication functions to work together towards common objectives that can be measured. Many CEOs look of course at the bottom line of the balance sheets, which puts pressure on marketing from a business point of view and communication from a reputational point of view. But the two should be more combined, in my opinion.

As the EACD's Regional Coordinator for Italy, can you tell us a little more about what the associaiton is doing in Italy?                             

As I said at the event, I truly believe in sharing experiences with other professionals and benchmarking best practice, because it is a way to inspire a professional approach in all of us. We all have challenges in our everyday work, so we can help each other with inspiring ideas. This is very important to me. In my role as EACD Regional Coordinator for Italy, I especially want to cover different needs from a geographical point of view. For example, Milan is more business-oriented, Rome is more public affairs-oriented, so there are different market places for communication in Italy. I want to build bridges between the cities. Another point is to be open to European best practices, so I want to bring more international best practices to Italy and to have more discussions about global communication trends.

Why should people make the effort to attend the next anniversary event in different cities around Europe?

These events can be really inspiring because they bring together people with a lot of experience, a lot of best practice. It’s a way to inspire professional growth and to have discussion about communication trends- they are the right place to make contacts.

In his role as Italian Regional Coordinator for the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD), Marco organised the first  in a series of Anniversary Events held across Europe this year. on April 21 in Milan. To find out more about these  events - #eacd10 - visit the online EACD calendar here.

Marco Magli

Marco Magli is head of media and external relations at Avio Aero - a General Electric business - which is headquartered in Turin, Italy. He works in corporate communications, media relations, external and internal stakeholder engagement, crisis management, digital strategy and advertising campaigns. Before joining Avio Aero, he was the media relations manager at Barilla Group, responsible for multiple brands PR activities and corporate media relations. Marco began his career at Edelman and between 2005 and 2006 he was in charge of media relations activities for Turin 2006 Olympic Winter Games.