Brands that connect have a human story

I was simultaneously listening to this podcast about Obama's marketing strategy while perusing Sid Lee's blog. Both talk about Obama but from different perspectives. Jaffe talks about the communications strategy but Sid Lee hit the nail on the head when, in reference to his half hour "commercial" (below) they call Obama a "storyteller".



Indeed this is really what great communications are about - human stories. Tales that people can relate to.

Things are meaningless without a human context.

Brands are born from people, and draw from human relevance to be successful, politicians are brands and Obama exploited the power of the people on the ground and their stories in his campaign.

What also struck me is how this thought links to the phenomenon of "celeb". Britney Spears is hugely successful brand - and is this because we have such access to her story...and in fact, for her brand relaunch - a warts and all documentary was released and aired recently on MTV



Stars indeed have catapulted to fame after reality TV shows - after they displayed their humanity, their personality, their mistakes & their emotions on screen.

So successful brands have a sense of grounded-ness, of reality, of identity, maybe even making some mistakes along the way.

The main thing is that you have a human story that people can relate to.