By Esther Elkouss, Digital Marketing Program Manager

How does brand experience shape the stories that people share about brands? Last week Jack Morton, an award-winning global brand experience agency focused on creating experiences that connect brands with people, held a sold-out event at its New York office. The keynote speaker, Bruce Henderson, Global Chief Creative Officer for Jack Morton Worldwide, shared key insights on Storymaking and Brand Experience with the New York American Marketing Association.

Experiences turn attendees into storymakers

How can experiences shape the stories that people tell about them? In 1966, Truman Capote hosted the Black and White Masquerade Ball at The New York Plaza Hotel’s Grand Ballroom. It was an experience so memorable that people are still talking and writing about it 50 years later. Why? Because by inviting a mixture of over 500 celebrities and members of New York’s old-money high society (two groups that didn’t mix) he created an intoxicating evening that was particularly memorable.

Great stories are simple, moving and original

“As marketers, we are storytellers,” according to Bruce. “But, we need to make our stories simple enough so people can walk away with a clear idea.” Although we like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, neuroscience has proven that emotions influence almost all human decision-making. And people remember what moves them emotionally.

Experiences built on insights are more valuable

Jack Morton designed a unique branded experience for customers to celebrate M&M’s 75th anniversary. The experience allowed visitors to explore the apartments of each of the six M&M characters. What made this valuable to the attendees and the brand? The experience was built on a simple insight: that while the M&M characters had come into our homes for years on television and packaging, we had never visited theirs.

Good ideas live at the intersection of brand, audience, and cultural insights

Jack Morton partnered with CoverGirl to launch “Rantin’ and Raven,” the first-ever all-female football pregame show, tackling a century-old stereotype at a moment when gender equality was in the national spotlight. Since 46 percent of the NFL’s most passionate fans are female, and CoverGirl believes that “Girls Can,” it was the perfect triangulation of a brand insight, an audience insight and a cultural insight.

Five principles of experience design

Jack Morton follows five brand experience principles when striving to “do something extraordinary,” in accordance with the agency’s tagline. These aim to improve both the quality of the brand experience and the value of the interaction.

• Be useful: People appreciate brands that make their lives easier
• Be human: Treat people as individual people, not “targets”
• Invite participation: Participatory experiences in the physical and digital worlds help build memories, and by extension, brands
• Be shareable: Create things that are worth sharing and easy to share
• Build community: Provide physical and virtual opportunities for people to connect

 Learn more at www.jackmorton.com and be sure to come to our next event, the CMO Leadership Series, on Wednesday, November 8.