12 Top storytelling marketing examples: how brands tell stories

Humans have been telling stories forever and our brains have evolved to love them. Studies have shown that telling a story makes information way more memorable.

Psychologist Jerome Bruner found we are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when it has been wrapped in a story. Stanford’s Graduate School of Business found that when people listened to pitches, either containing facts and figures or a story, only 5% recalled a statistic, but a whopping 63% remembered the stories. And the list goes on.

But how can you harness the awesome power of storytelling for marketing? A great market research tool and well-crafted market research questions can be used to simply look at what’s worked for others in the past—and that’s true whether you’re running market research for a startup or a household name.

First, let’s take a look at what the practice of ‘storytelling marketing’ means and then delve into some real-life examples of storytelling marketing in action.

What is storytelling marketing?

Storytelling marketing is all about using a narrative to get your message across. That doesn’t mean writing a novel—it means shaping your content so it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Something people can follow, relate to, and remember. The goal? Make your audience feel something. Enough to care, to take action, and to stick around.

Good storytelling grabs attention early. It hooks people in, then rewards them for staying. It’s often interactive, too—whether that means sparking conversation, encouraging clicks, or getting people to imagine themselves in your story.

And it works across the board: photos, videos, words, or even a clever billboard. Now for brands, storytelling should be linked to a clear call to action, to spark interactivity and engagement. After all, you don’t want people to just think or talk about your latest campaign. You want them to support your brand, with a relevant action. 

If you want to learn more about messaging, view our brand message templates. And take some inspo from these beverage branding ideas that were big successes.

Types of stories in marketing

Stories can help marketers achieve cut-through in a marketplace that’s (by design) distracting, creating advertising that resonates with people… and sticks.

But you don’t always need an Oscar-worthy plotline to tell a compelling story. Some of the most effective marketing stories fall into familiar categories:

• Origin stories: Where did your brand come from and why? Think Patagonia or Ben & Jerry’s.
• Overcoming the odds: A classic underdog tale—popular with challenger brands.
• Customer hero journeys: Showcasing your audience as the protagonist who wins with your help.
• Social mission stories: Shining a light on causes and values your brand supports.
• Product journeys: Following the creation, discovery or unique experience of your product.

Each of these story types serves a different purpose—from building trust to sparking action—and knowing which one to use, and when you should use it, can supercharge your messaging.

12 Examples of storytelling marketing

The world’s biggest brands understand the power of storytelling in marketing – here’s a round up of some of the best storytelling marketing examples over the last 18 months, from the likes of Coca-Cola, Guinness and Apple.

Nike

Nike’s ‘Winning Isn’t Comfortable’ campaign doesn’t show podiums, gold medals or cheering crowds. Instead, it zooms in on the struggle—the sore muscles, the slow climbs up stairs, the lonely early mornings. It’s not about elite athletes crossing finish lines. It’s about the universal experience of pushing yourself.

Guinness

To continue its long-running “Made of more” campaign, which promotes inclusivity within rugby, Guinness highlights the incredible true story of Japanese women’s rugby team Liberty Fields RFC. 

The film begins in 1989 Tokyo showing the gender expectations for women at the time – and then how the female players defied those social conventions to represent their country at the Women’s World Cup.

The TV ad was launched alongside a five-minute documentary featuring first-hand insights from the Liberty Fields rugby team.

Niall Mckee, Head of Guinness Stout Europe at Diageo, told Campaign: “We found the story of Liberty Fields and felt it captured the ‘Made of more’ campaign brilliantly. It was really relevant for what’s going on in the world at the moment, especially in light of this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. It felt like a really natural, authentic story for Guinness to be able to tell in that context.”

Eva Stories

‘Eva Stories’ began with giant billboards that read: “What if a girl in the Holocaust had Instagram?” The illustration depicted a hand holding a smartphone behind barbed wire.

The campaign, which chronicles the last days of a real 13-year-old Hungarian Jew in 1944 through Instagram Stories, was the brainchild of 56-year-old tech and media billionaire Mati Kochavi and his daughter Maya, founder of popular tween platform StelloGirls. 

It aims to educate a new generation about the Holocaust, following a 2018 US survey which found 66% of Millennials could not identify what Auschwitz was. 

With the help of researchers, Mati and Mya sifted through diaries from the Holocaust period until they found one belonging to Eva Heyman, who chronicled her daily life before and after the 1944 German invasion of Hungary. Beginning with her 13th birthday, the diary covers events such as her parents’ divorce, an unrequited crush, her aspirations to become a photojournalist, and how her life changes during the occupation. Eva’s diary ends on 30 May 1944, just days before her deportation, and she died at Auschwitz on 17 October 1944.

Eva Stories generated a lot of controversy prior to its launch on Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day, with critics claiming it was in bad taste. But this controversy helped the @Eva.Stories Instagram account amass more than 180,000 followers before the series debuted, and when it did, it became an international phenomenon overnight. Across 70 Instagram Stories chapters, the film received more than 300 million views in less than 48 hours – coming from across the globe, despite the campaign being focused on an Israeli audience.  

Eva used Instagram Stories’ questions feature, to ask questions such as how to cheer up her grandfather or get the boy she likes to notice her. “We got such a crazy amount of engagement from that and realised how connected people were to the story,” Maya told Campaign.

The audience’s feedback dictated the order in which the story played out, while social media monitoring tools were used to analyse viewers’ emotions. Realising “people wanted some hope”, the last episode was changed from Eva boarding a train to Auschwitz, to a scene where Eva asks her best friend Annie if people will remember them.

 “Yes Eva, your journal – everyone will remember us,” Annie answers. Then, a challenge is posed to viewers: “Write a message in memory of Eva.” Within a few minutes, hundreds of thousands of messages flooded in. “We will always love you and remember you,” one user wrote.

Manchester United

Manchester United wanted to be the first football club to create a culturally relevant marketing campaign for China.

It teamed up with Qumin to produce a mobile-first storytelling experience that brought to life the Red Devil spirit. The ‘Wake Up The Devil Inside You’ story is a series of films merging football, Manga and gaming to inspire Chinese football fans. 

The animation is in the popular Chinese style of Manga and features Man U stars, while the story sees fans using their football skills to battle evil extraterrestrial forces and save the world. Interactive elements and personalisation cleverly captures the users’ data at different sections of the story.

To learn what kinds of stories your audience is craving, why not send a survey with our Market Analysis template?

Mailchimp

Mailchimp may be best known for helping businesses send emails, but the Bloom Season docuseries proves it understands people just as well as platforms.

Season one shined a light on Black entrepreneurs, many of which lost their jobs or businesses in the pandemic—sharing their highs, lows and everything in between. Season two returns with the same documentary-style storytelling, this time spotlighting entrepreneurs from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Mailchimp has built a full hub around Bloom Season, offering funding opportunities, toolkits, mentorship and more. It’s more than a brand campaign—it’s a support system in story form.

Barclaycard

Barclaycard created two films, each told from a different perspective, to show how a couple put up with each other’s passions. The first takes place at a wrestling match. The woman is clearly a big fan but her partner wishes he could be at his “happy place” – a music festival. 

In the second ad, the opposite situation plays out. The man is having a fantastic time at a music festival, while the woman’s attention drifts off to her fantasy of starring in a wrestling match. 

Both videos communicate the message that Barclaycard offers savings on thousands of events, so neither the man or his partner have to miss out when it comes to entertainment.  

Alex Naylor, Managing Director, Marketing Communications, at Barclays UK, told Campaign: “When it comes to our love for entertainment, our passions and preferences are all unique – whether that be attending a wrestling match or dancing in the crowd at a music festival. We are excited to be able to bring this to life in an innovative way using mirrored storytelling.”

Adidas

Adidas’ latest brand campaign flips the usual sports story. Instead of glorifying winning, it turns the spotlight on self-doubt—and the people who help us push through it.

‘You Got This’ is a series of global films featuring stars like Aitana Bonmatí, Anthony Edwards and Trinity Rodman, each one focused on the quiet moments of encouragement from coaches, teammates, family and friends. The campaign is rooted in new research revealing that 4 in 5 athletes experience unhelpful behaviour from the sidelines.

To help shift that culture, Adidas introduced five ‘Sideline Essentials’—positive behaviors that could encourage up to 20 million more people to play sport more regularly. 

Square

Credit card processing company Square has produced a series of 12 short films chronicling how people and communities in the US have lifted themselves up despite truly tough circumstances.

Winner of the 2018 Tribeca X Award, which celebrates content at the intersection of advertising and entertainment, “For Every Kind of Dream” features real Square customers telling their stories.

“All the films in the series feature Square sellers of all types of backgrounds that are bonded by their common dream of entrepreneurship and the risks each of them have taken to become a small business owner,” said Square.

Stories include ‘Sister Hearts,’ which is about a former prisoner who starts a secondhand goods business on a street corner, which grows into a bricks and mortar shop that employs previously incarcerated women. And ‘Yassin Falafel’, which documents the story of a former Syrian refugee.

According to the Tribeca X jury: “The Square films showed an extremely deft sense of craft in telling a compelling and richly human story while maintaining a strong brand message throughout. 

“We specifically responded to the Sister Hearts film, which elegantly told a poignant story about a marginalised community that was lifting itself up. We specifically responded to the level of intimacy captured with these women who opened up about their intensely harrowing and heartbreaking past, and whose presence and unfiltered character on camera makes us smile and shows a resilience that inspires. 

“The role that Square plays fits seamlessly into the narrative, not lifting its head to show off, but instead lending a hand to the impressive journey these inspirational women have commanded.”

Norwich City FC

Set in the stands of Carrow Road, Norwich’s campaign follows two mates watching their team across a season. One’s loud, the other quieter. You start to recognise them—the kind of fans who are there rain or shine, week in, week out.

Then, the screen fades to black. A message appears: “At times, it can be obvious when someone is struggling to cope, but sometimes the signs are harder to spot.” When we return to the stands, only one fan remains. And it’s not the one you were expecting. He gently lays a scarf on the empty seat beside him.

If you’ve seen this ad, and chances are you did, you will have felt something. It’s one of the strongest uses of storytelling, and for a good cause. Norwich City FC’s suicide prevention campaign, in collaboration with the Samaritans, is as emotionally raw as storytelling gets.

Fairmont

Some places have their own special stories to tell; the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montreal is one of them.

It’s where John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their iconic “bed-in for peace” protest in 1969. The pair engaged in this peaceful protest against the Vietnam War during a seven day period where they invited journalists and friends into their bedroom suite. During the week, Lennon also recorded the famous ‘Give Peace a Chance’ anthem while in Suite 1742.

Fairmont decided to celebrate this historic event – and the newly redesigned Suite 1742 – by inviting people to relive the bed-in with a virtual reality/augmented reality experience created by UNLTD.

Those who stay in the suite can don virtual reality headsets, placed on the nightstands on either side of the bed, for an exclusive immersive experience. As the participant relaxes on the bed, a chambermaid starts to clean the room and, before they know it, they are transported back to the 1960s as journalists rush the room and bombard them with questions.

“The ‘Suite 1742’ project is an immersive voyage that takes you on a journey from the present to the past, it’s part fiction and part documentary and offers insight into John and Yoko’s ideas and values at the time, which are still highly relevant today,” said director Carl Ruscica. 

“We worked hard to translate the experience and story of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in a way that allowed the viewer to step into the shoes of these icons, take a trip back in time and be a part of one of the most historic pop-culture events ever,” added John Hamilton, CEO of UNLTD.

Visit Oslo

Instead of the usual cliché travel montages, Visit Oslo leaned into brutal honesty. Their tongue-in-cheek campaign ‘Is it even a city?’ tells potential tourists that Oslo is cold, expensive and full of locals who hate small talk.

They gave Oslo surprisingly endearing pitch that flips traditional tourism storytelling on its head. By being refreshingly candid, Oslo becomes more memorable—and more intriguing. It’s proof that leaning into your brand’s quirks instead of trying to dance around them can create a standout narrative.

Vodafone

For the launch of its new 5G and unlimited data plans, Vodafone decided to split from actor Martin Freeman, who has fronted its advertising since 2017, and try something entirely different.

The telecoms brand partnered with Ogilvy UK to create a choreographed dance performed by a woman and more than 25 of her lookalikes. All the women are dressed in the brand’s signature shade of red but in different outfits, and the story tells of the “unlimited” sides to the multifaceted protagonist. 

The film is set to ‘Truth’, a song featuring Alicia Keys and produced by Mark Ronson, and the campaign included a sponsorship of Spotify’s Discover Now feature. It also included cinema ads and out-of-home takeovers at sites like London’s Piccadilly Circus, something market research agencies in London must have analyzed to measure the ad’s impact.

Jon Tapper, Head of Advertising at Ogilvy UK, told Campaign that Vodafone wanted to put a bigger focus on craft and creativity, and plans to release more ads like this one: “They will be of the same world but bringing a different twist to the storytelling each time,” Tapper explained.

How to tell your brand’s story in marketing

Storytelling gets a lot of love, but here’s the truth: not all stories work. The ones that stick have structure, purpose and a clear voice. If you want to tell your brand’s story in a way that actually resonates, start here:

1. Start with your audience: Who are they, and what do they need to hear? Your story should reflect their values as much as your own.
2. Know your core message: What’s the takeaway you want people to remember? A strong brand story doesn’t just meander—it drives home a point. One idea, clearly expressed, beats a dozen mixed signals.
3. Choose your format wisely: A ten-minute film, a six-second TikTok, a carousel on LinkedIn—your story should flex to the channel, not fight against it.
4. Use authentic voices: Don’t just write for the brand; speak like a human. Bring in real people, real customers, real language. A little imperfection goes a long way.
5. Measure how it lands: Great storytelling still needs data. Use feedback loops, testing tools and engagement metrics to see what hits and where you missed the mark.

A final word

Even though we’ve got more tech at our disposal than ever before, the power of a simple story holds firm. However you choose to tell stories, as long as you spin a good yarn – with compelling characters, an intriguing plot and plenty of emotion – you’ll keep your audience captivated.

Storytelling marketing not only opens up a world of creativity for marketers, it enables brands to communicate key messaging in a way that needs no explaining. An authentic story is easy to understand, regardless of how old you are.

Stories make for some ace creative – but there’s a whole lot more that goes into planning campaigns to make them successful. Here’s a secret: it’s all about balancing actionable insight with killer creative. And that’s where Attest comes in—from creative to copy testing, consumer profiling, market analysis and everything in between, we’re here to give you fast, reliable insights for your campaign planning.

Grab your copy of the Marketing Leader’s Guide to Campaign Planning today to find out how marketing experts create campaigns that resonate.