Tips for Better Storytelling in Commercials

What makes reunions, campfires, Snapchat, and bedtimes not suck? Stories! Stories can be exciting, emotional, sometimes funny, but most importantly they can be memorable… and advertisers are catching onto this not-so-secret, secret weapon. Today, brands are using the power of stories to deliver their messages in a more impactful way.

You might be saying to yourself, “Ok, this sounds great, but why should I care if my commercial has a good story or not?” Well, simply put - stories stick. Stories affirm who we are. We are constantly trying to make sense of the world around us. Stories have the power to create a sense of unity with those around us. People deep down just want to be loved, and if we can see that we aren’t alone in our feelings, it will make us feel more connected to others. Stories also have the power to inspire change. Whether you want your audience to stop eating meat (food docs) or to feel guilty but inspired to make a difference (ASPCA commercials), stories can kickstart a change in how people think about a certain topic, and even in their behavior.

Alright, enough about how important stories are - let’s talk about how this can help your brand. While commercials often vary in tone, theme, style, or even duration, all truly great stories share the following components:

Make it snappy

It’s no surprise that people today have relatively short attention spans - especially when it comes to video content they are forced to watch. Do yourself and your audience a favor by getting right to the story. Open your video with a hook they can’t resist, and they’ll likely stick around to hear how the rest of it plays out. People secretly want to be distracted, so if you advertise right, your audience will be excited and you will be happy - wins all around.

Kmart does a great job hooking the audience in with this funny and clever concept.

Dollar Shave Club’s viral commercial is funny and snappy, keeping viewers engaged throughout the video.

Make it entertaining

Commercials are not easy to make... so if you’re going to make one, make it f*cking awesome. A key ingredient to making an epic video is having a strong character (or characters). Your audience wants to root for and relate to other humans... so make them care. A story without a compelling character is like a s’more without graham crackers… it just doesn’t work. Characters are the backbones of good stories, so focus your effort on making this part awesome. Bonus points if your character is already well-known and likable. Tide does a great job of this by creating a series of Superbowl commercials centered around the wonderful David Harbour (from Stranger Things). Characters make stories come to life - so if you want to make your commercial entertaining, you’ll want to have a good character/ some characters lined up.

Tide’s Super Bowl commercial stands apart from the crowd by making fun of the norm.

Walmart’s famous cars commercial is combining everyone’s favorite movies and making it work for their brand. This is true advertising genius.

Make it relatable

All good stories are universally understood. Even if you’re targeting a specific audience, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be understandable or relatable to everyone. Regardless of the language being spoken, a great digital story should be able to be told through visuals, and any audial additions should just enhance what you have. A lot of content on mobile devices and commercials shown in bars and billboards are shown without audio anyway, so if you can watch your ad without sound and it still makes sense, you have hit the jackpot.

Monoprix isn’t obvious as to what it’s advertising at first, but is certainly relatable once you understand what they’re referring to.

If you ride the subway everyday like most New Yorkers, chances are you’ve experienced something similar to what they are portraying in this ad campaign. These ads are short, funny, and very relatable.

Make it memorable  

The most important thing for an advertiser is that people remember their advertisement (and hopefully the brand, too). If you’ve considered the above points, there’s a good chance your story will be at least somewhat memorable. If you still aren’t sure where to start, remember that playing on emotions is a great way to captivate your audience. Content that evokes emotion (wonder, nostalgia, joy, anger, laughter, and empathy to name a few good ones) will likely resonate with them more, thus making your brand and your message more memorable! So the next time you need to create a commercial, incorporate these elements into your story and it will surely be a hit with your audience!

We had to put this here because this is just the cutest commercial we’ve every seen. It also demonstrates Casper’s point perfectly, so well done creative team.

This commercial is really inspiring and just beautifully made. If this doesn’t motivate you to go out and make something great than I don’t know what will.