Storytelling transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. Like a river flowing, it lets you go with joy and brings you a wonderful trip that, later, leaves unforgettable impressions somewhere in you. Similarly, in event marketing, storytelling is significantly needed to create impacts on the audience and remain beautifully in their memories. In this article, it will guide you to the art of event storytelling and how to write a basic narrative for your event, which can also be adjusted to any kind of storytelling in your life. Let’s waste no more time and jump to the core.
What is storytelling?
It’s how to tell a story and a narrative that connects people to a story by creating an imagination that grows into an experience. It isn’t limited to just novels, poems, songs, or movies, but news, ads, contents, articles, and whatever else has a story to tell, including events.
Benefits of Storytelling in Event Marketing
As a tool to communicate your brand or event message to your audience, storytelling can simplify boring text into a fun weaving story. It will help your brand to be remembered and your event to be known, allowing people to know what the event is for and to come if they’re interested in it.
Please note that it will be more effective if you promote the story of the event through content or PR, too.
The audience will receive your message, and they will engage in the event with more emotional connections as you’ve created an imagination for them.
Good storytelling will set your business apart from others. It will generate unique experiences that your audience can’t find anywhere else.
Basic Elements of Event Storytelling:
Use your brand as a character through personification or mascot creation. This character is very important, as it will lead your audience from the start to the end of the story. It’s a person that’s closest to your audience, which means that your brand will be close to them too. (Plus, if it’s well designed, it will be effective mascot marketing that can gather lots of interest at your event or even in the online trend.)
A Character named Jim is a new graduate who wants to become a professional event organiser. Creative and passionate, he has a strong will to change the world of event creation.
To determine a plot for an event's storytelling, it’s a good choice to begin with your brand or product story for the coherence between the brand and the event. Then, you may use it originally or adjust it to a fresh story by changing the narration while still keeping the core of the story. Anyway, a plot should have three stages: the beginning, middle, and conclusion, for a total of five parts.
In the beginning stage, there’s an exposition that provides background information on the character(s) and setting, which are the place, time, and environment where the story occurs.
A character named Jim is a new graduate with a dream to become a professional event organiser. He lives in Bangkok, where there are lots of events, and he knows that his career path isn’t easy.
In the middle stage, there's a rising action, a climax, and a falling action. The rising action is where the events that happen in the story are collected and pushed forward to explode with tension as a climax. The climax is the turning point in the story, which creates a dramatic impact for the whole story, where the character(s) has to find a way to resolve the main conflict. Then comes the falling action, which is the aftereffect(s) of the climax and where the tension is loosened, leading to the last stage of the plot.
Jim starts improving himself by studying business, marketing, and any other beneficial knowledge. Then, he opens his own company and names it "PS." Sadly, he doesn’t have any clients. So, he visits lots of events to see how other organisers work and seeks connections. It’s the most difficult situation in his life, as he’s running out of money. During his tough time, like the last straw before he gives up on his dream, he meets a businessman who trusts in him and becomes his first client.
Jim puts lots of effort into his first project, and the businessman is very satisfied as the project’s perfectly finished.
The businessman buzzes word of mouth about the excellent work from Jim to his friends. Jim has many projects after that. His skills and experiences grow so fast.
In the conclusion stage, there’s a resolution where the conflict is resolved, and it concludes the whole story.
Jim, with his company, PS, becomes a professional event organiser that everyone wants to work with. He’s famous worldwide.
If Jim uses this story in his event, like the annual company celebration, the story can emphasise the success of the PS company, and every employee can have a mutual understanding of the brand story. With a tactic like a thank-you and an inspirational speech, it could add intense feelings of mutual success between the company and the employees as well.
Or this story can be adapted and adjusted for a B2B matching event or trade show, as it can ignite the point that “if you come to the event, you’ll find your opportunity and client like Jim.”.
Anyway, in advanced plotting, these stages don’t need to be put in order or chronologically. You may create dimensions by leading your audience back and forth in time, flashing back or forecasting, setting traps for plot twisting, or even having major and minor plots.
Yet, it’s different for the plot of event storytelling since it’s suggested that you need to keep it as simple as possible while keeping it creative as well to differentiate your brand from others and to make people understand your story directly.
The style of storytelling is how the story is told, and it has to meet the voice, mood, and tone of your brand to maintain seamless branding.
Another word standing for the story message is theme. It’s what your audience gets from your story. The theme of event storytelling can be very simple and positive, like self-love, true beauty, and so on.
How to Start an Event Storytelling?
In spite of the fact the fact that storytelling can be adapted for many purposes, and you can start it by answering the question keywords of who, what, where, when, and why, for event storytelling, it's beneficial to have a clear understanding of specific details to maximise the effectiveness and outcome of the event. Answering the following questions can help in determining the direction and crafting a compelling story:
This defines the main objective or goal of the event. Understanding the purpose helps in creating a narrative that aligns with the event's aims, whether it's to promote a product, celebrate a milestone, raise awareness, etc.
Identifying the core message ensures that the storytelling stays focused and delivers a consistent and impactful narrative to the audience.
Clarifying the identity of your brand and products helps in shaping the story in a way that accurately represents your brand’s values, mission, and offerings.
Knowing your audience allows you to tailor the story to their interests, preferences, and expectations, making the narrative more engaging and relevant.
In event storytelling, these questions help provide a clear structure and ensure that the story resonates with the audience while effectively communicating the desired message and achieving the event's objectives. This approach is widely recommended by event marketing professionals and storytelling experts.
Event Storytelling Case Study from K-BERRY by PICSO COMPANY LIMITED
In March 2024, our company had an event project for K-BERRY to design, produce, and operate a pop-up store named 'The Temptation of Strawberry, K-BERRY Pop-Up Store in Bangkok 2024'. We know well that to keep the store alive and to keep people engaged, storytelling is necessarily indispensable. So, we start by answering the questions and analysing them.
By these answers, it can be seen that the story to be told must be accessible to every age, it has to be optimistic to keep the positive positioning, it should be about the freshness and the good taste of strawberries, and the visual has to be high quality for the premium products and the worthy value of medium to high price, using red and green colours.
According to the analysis, we were able to write a story about Little Red Riding Hood for the store. Here is it:
[1] One day in summer, when the sky’s clear and the weather’s warm, Little Red Riding Hood leaves her home to meet her beloved Grandma. [2] Along the way, she comes across a garden with many strawberries. So she stops to taste those strawberries. Secretly, a bad wolf watches her from a distance. She doesn’t know it’s there. Little Red Riding Hood is excited about the garden. Then she finds that the strawberries in the garden are very fresh and delicious. So she wants to share this strawberry garden that she loves with others. While enjoying herself in there, Little Red Riding Hood senses that there is some magic hidden in the garden. She feels a sense of happiness and contentment that are hard to find anywhere else. She wants Grandma to be happy like her. So she picks strawberries and puts them in a basket to take to her grandma. [3] Before Little Red Riding Hood walks out of the garden, she meets someone waiting for her at the exit. She shares a few strawberries with him. [4] He smiles at her and offers to protect her until she reaches Grandma's house in return. [5] The bad wolf that has been secretly following her has no chance of harming her any more.
Apparently, [1] is the exposition, [2] is the rising action, [3] is the climax, [4] is the falling action, and [5] is the resolution. This short story contains all the elements of plot writing. At the same time, it gets along well with the analysis above.
The Success of Event Storytelling in K-BERRY
We use proper storytelling for K-BERRY, and it’s one of the factors that made this pop-up store successful by welcoming around 15,000 people and giving more than 6,000 Korean strawberry samples. Most of the traffic at the venue was family, and their kids were really interested in the story we hung as a canvas and dressed up our staff. Plus, we increased the participation of customers by allowing them to put on the costumes of Red Riding Hood and Bad Wolf. In this event, K-BERRY did not only create an experience of eating various varieties of strawberries that were delicious and unique, but K-BERRY also drew a pattern of happiness into the hearts of people.
“This Is the Art of Event Storytelling.”
“It’s Not Just a Story to Tell;
It’s How You Tell It, How You Visualise It,
and How You Bring It to Life for Perception and Participation.”
In this pop-up store, people can perceive all five of their senses. They can see the canvas of Red Riding Hood and many fresh strawberries. They can smell the aromatic fragrance of berry freshness. They can try the samples of flavorful strawberries. They can touch the props and dress as characters. They can ask all of our staff to tell them the story, or they can watch the videos that many influencers make for us.
Tell your story wisely and try to create as many senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch) for your audience as possible. The storytelling in an event can be very simple, yet it has to be harmonised to your brand for an effective result.
In conclusion,
The art of event storytelling is about creating a narrative that captivates, engages, and inspires your audience. By understanding your core message, knowing your audience, and crafting a narrative story, you can transform your event into a memorable experience. Incorporating visual and sensory elements and interactive opportunities, like some activities, will enhance the storytelling experience. Remember that you not only create memorable experiences but also forge deeper connections with your audience, making your events truly extraordinary.
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