Researches have proved that stories are able to attract human being and really impact their brain. However, it is not necessary to wait until this is announced by the scientists, through our experience we could observe clearly that stories can make people moved to tears, change their behaviors or even give them strong inspiration and motivation. That is not just an anecdote. Indeed, telling stories is a very effective manner to transmit information and can help one understand the values that other wants to convey in a memorable way.
In the marketing world, storytelling appears to be an important tool for brands building their image and capturing customers by communicating meaningful and emotional messages. Apple, Facebook or the other successful brands do this by telling a great story with reasonable amount of information, which simplifies complex ideas of vision, mission, values or so in a way that is easier to understand and deeply digs in customers mind. Furthermore, those stories are merely interesting, surprising or inspiring that motivate audiences continue thinking or feeling, then start to follow the brand and eventually become a part of loyal customers community.
The marketing’s dependency on storytelling has never been more obvious and creative than it is nowadays, and skincare brands, among others, are those who master that technique. From 1920s with the very first story brought by Nivea, skincare marketers have intensely striven to create an insightful narrative and transmit it to their targeted public. The first reason for this early comprehension might be that skincare is a sensitive field which relates directly to user’s health and well-being. Secondly, this market has been growing fast and becoming more and more saturated, with several big players come from every parts of the world like L’Oreal, Unilever, Estee Lauder, P&G, Amore Pacific, etc.
An impressive story behinds the brand’s creation and development process is considered as one of the most essential factors in the successful formula for whatsoever skincare brand. It is not difficult, not to say it is very common to find the module “our story” presented carefully in the official website of any personal product, or to meet up with narratives repeated very frequently in beauty pages or forums where fans talk about their favorite skincare products. Same as in other fields, many skincare brands find its story from their founder’s vision, such as the amazing entrepreneurship spirit of Anita Roddick in the late 70s when she began making a small skin and hair care store into The Body Shop, the pioneer in the niche market of natural and organic personal care products. Yet skincare marketers have developed their stories from many other sources that diversify contents such as history of some special ingredients, solutions for existing problems or sometimes even inspiration from a land.
In the story thesaurus of skincare world, one of the most pervasive stories that persuades millions of women in the world about a marvelous product which conserves the youth of skin is “the myth of pitera” told by SK-II – the high-end brand comes from P&G house. It started in 1970s when scientists were seeking for a solution that make beautiful skin reality, they found out by chance that Japanese aged Sake brewers still have soft and youthful hands. By highlighting the eager of experts after paying much effort across many lands and oceans eventually revealed the secret of Sake makers, the story about Pitera seemingly comes from a miraculous world and impresses audiences, urges them to continue exploring the mystery. Pitera is not just the name of one yeast, but a part of the inspiring mythology secret that only can be discovered in a SK-II bottle of cream.
Not only in SK-II narrative, some could realize that Japan is the inspiration for many skincare brands, included Tatcha. The brand narrates a story about the journey of the founder – Victoria Tsai – was travelling East in search of “a more evolved, holistic approach to beauty”, and once in Kyoto, the nipponese charming ancient capital, she found the skin care philosophy “the less is more” and “time-tested ingredients” in the oldest beauty book of Japan, which is considered the inception of Tatcha. Mentioning inspiring lands, it will be a mistake if we overlook Aix-en-Provence, the beautiful southern French province which is famous by huge fields of lavender. The land is described by the famous natural cosmetics company – L’Occitane – as not only the origin of premium natural ingredients inside their products, but also the motherland of the brand. It can be observed that when smartly sticking their image with a land, beauty brands inherit precious quintessence and heritage which could not be easily found elsewhere.
When brands do not find their motivation in a land, maybe they could find it in the sea, as the way La Mer did. In a very consistent way, the brand is always eager to convey the message that water, seaweed and other wonderful ingredients from the ocean are the priceless gift by which their scientists learn and create advanced products, among them the prestigious Crème de la Mer. The consistency in bringing the image of powerful ocean into the main concept, brand story, product packaging design and last but not least, the brand’s name, makes La Mer’s image deeply adhered in customers mind, supporting effectively its positioning to be a luxury skincare line which is outstanding in a high mature market.
From another approach, La Roche-Posay – a French dermatologist expert owned by L’Oreal, is willing to tell a realistic story about solutions for dermatologic problems. By providing useful and reliable advices about skincare, the brand not only promotes its own products, but really takes a step further by also emphasizing customers education about skin impairment, proper cleansing method and appropriate products to address specific problems. La Roche-Posay tells stories that deal with solutions to glitches which is less about highlighting the product but more about benefiting the end user. The website is where customers can easily find expert tips, question-answer segments and how-to’ by dermatologists. La Roche-Posay truly makes the difference by taking advantage of the relation between content marketing and healthy skin stories, thereby fosters its expertise position in the skincare market.
The notion is clear that storytelling is a crucial skill that all skincare brands should master in order to build a lasting brand. Not only big names but also new born and small beauty brands choose to transmit an insightful brand story to expand clientele and enhance customers loyalty. As Harrison Monarth, New York Times bestselling author of The Confident Speaker, stated: “A story can go where quantitative analysis is denied admission: our hearts. Data can persuade people, but it doesn’t inspire them to act; to do that, you need to wrap your vision in a story that fires the imagination and stirs the soul.” This is even more relevant to the beauty industry, where data or facts could not differentiate the products, but a meaningful and inspiring story has the power to promptly convert a stranger into a brand’s follower.
Reference:
Paul J. Zak (Dec 17, 2013): “How Stories Change the Brain”-https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_stories_change_brain
Celinne Da Costa (Jan 31, 2018): “How To Create A Brand Story That Connects With Audiences And Drives Sales” –https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2017/12/19/why-every-business-needs-powerful-storytelling-to-grow/#6ce54f8343b0
Aiste Juozaponyte (Mar 24, 2015): “Storytelling and Cosmetic Brands: 5+ Best Practises”-http://01storytelling.com/storytelling-and-cosmetic-brands-5-best-practises/
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