Brand Narratives in a World of Fragmented Digital Media: An Abstract

Abstract

Narratives are deeply embedded elements of human cognition and social being and widely recognized across psychology, management, and the humanities as such (e.g. Bruner 1986; Gergen and Gergen 1988; McAdams 1993, 2010; Polkinghorne 1988; Wyer 1995). Narratives and storytelling are increasingly recognized in marketing as powerful drivers of consumer behavior (e.g., Ardelet et al. 2015; Bertele et al. 2020; Gilliam and Zablah 2013; Gilliam and Flaherty 2015; Gilliam et al. 2017, 2018; Godin 2012; Kozinets et al. 2010; Van Laer et al. 2018).

Brand narratives can impact buyers’ self-identity and facilitate sense-making during purchase and consumption journeys (Cooper et al. 2010).

Narrative transportation into a story world can affect consumers’ beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors (Escalas 2007; Van Laer et al. 2014). This can occur with just a short story or photo without regard to age or culture (Escalas 2004; Kim et al. 2016).

Research questions

• RQ1—what are brand narratives?

• RQ2—how do brand narratives originate and evolve?

• RQ3—how are brand narratives used in purchasing?

• RQ4—what framework could be used for analyzing brand narratives in a digital world?

Following the 6-step process of Gilliam and Voss (2013) for developing definitions of marketing constructs, the contributions from extant literature were distilled into the following definition of brand narratives: “a consumer’s evolving, co-created narrative formed via a sensemaking amalgamation of brand meanings and consumer self-identity.”

The origin, evolution, and use in purchasing of brand narratives is dynamic and complex. The consumer develops a brand narrative for each brand in a product category by using information from the market. In a purchase, this brand narrative interacts with the deal and the promise sought. The consumer chooses the desired state which then provides feedback to future purchases.