The method behind the magic

Image: Nikola Tesla circa 1899

Whenever people say that our ability to design stories with the exact voice for their brand is uncanny, or amazing, we always tell them that it’s nothing magical; but a very rational process of mining the right information from the client and using it in our creative process.

The first step of this process is the questionnaire that we share with our clients; it serves as the cornerstone of our story design process. It’s designed to extract key insights about your brand, values, and other ideas that help us capture the authentic story of your company or personal journey. So, this questionnaire is more than just a series of inquiries—it's essentially the series of dots that we will connect into an articulation framework for your business; a blueprint that enables you to make decisions, brief creatives, and communicate what’s at the heart of your business to your staff. In this blog post, we'll address the frequently asked questions surrounding our questionnaire, offering clarity on how your responses can be formulated to best inform our story design process. 

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* Please note that the explanations given here are for selected questions only; we’ve chosen to give explanations to these questions because more people have needed help with them. If you’re a client who needs more explanations or wants a better understanding of a question not listed here, reach out to us. We’ll get on a call to make sure you get all the answers you need. We highly recommend listening to this video walkthrough while you attempt the questionnaire. It gives a step-by-step explanation of each question and can help you complete the questionnaire with greater accuracy.

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Question 4 

In question 4, we ask about any specific needs, problems, or wants that must be taken into account in our design process; usually, the answer to this question would be a set of words, colours, or ideas that you want to steer clear of for important reasons; or a market context that you want to make special reference to. For example, a consultant who commissioned us wanted to steer clear of the word ‘design’ because it had a strong association with a set of services she did not offer and did not want to get inquiries for.

Question 5 

Question 5 is to get you to consider how the articulation framework will be used. If your primary focus is on driving creative decisions when speaking to consumers, you should emphasize how the framework will inform your marketing and promotional strategies. 

On the other hand, if your priority is to share your work culture, values, and onboard new teams or inform existing teams, focus on how the framework will serve as a foundational tool for internal communication and alignment. Then the framework will be somewhat tailored to help you integrate it into onboarding processes, employee training programs, and internal communications to foster a sense of belonging and unity among team members.

Question 6

When answering question 6, whether your business takes a group-led or individual-led approach in your business story, consider if your business is best represented by the collective efforts of a group or by an individual founder or leader who closely directs others and makes most of the key decisions. Determine which approach resonates most authentically with your way of working.

Question 7 

In question 7, we ask you to associate a fictitious age with your brand persona; and this has nothing to do with how long your business has been in operation. Here’s why. A brand’s age has to do with shaping how it’s perceived by your target market. Although hardly ever explicitly mentioned in stories, a brand’s age can be hinted at in its visual presence or vocabulary.

Consider how these age groups are generally perceived. Envisioning your brand as young can convey a sense of freshness, innovation, and forward-thinking. This youthful persona may appeal to younger demographics seeking products or services that are modern, cutting-edge, and disruptive. On the other hand, positioning your brand as middle-aged suggests a level of maturity, reliability, and experience. This persona may resonate with consumers who value stability, trustworthiness, and a track record of success. Portraying your brand as a senior evokes notions of tradition, heritage, and legacy. This venerable persona can instil confidence and trust in consumers who prioritize longevity, heritage and established credibility. Lastly, embracing an ageless persona transcends temporal boundaries and emphasizes timeless values and universal appeal. This approach resonates with consumers seeking products or services that are enduring, adaptable, and relevant across generations.

When answering the question of how old your brand considers itself to be, it's crucial to align the fictitious age with the desired perception you wish to convey to your target market. Consider the demographics, values, preferences, and aspirations of your audience, and choose an age that best reflects the identity and positioning you want for your brand. 

Question 8 

When considering the gender of your brand persona, it's important to recognize the impact this decision can have on shaping the perception of your brand and its appeal. Associating a gender with your brand persona can serve as a powerful tool for conveying specific traits, values, and characteristics that resonate with your intended audience.

For instance, envisioning your brand persona as feminine can evoke qualities such as nurturing, empathy, and creativity. This persona may appeal to consumers who prioritize emotional connections, authenticity, and inclusivity in their interactions with brands. Positioning your brand persona as masculine suggests attributes such as strength, leadership, and assertiveness. This persona may resonate with consumers who value qualities like reliability, confidence, and ambition in the brands they choose to engage with. Alternatively, embracing a non-binary persona challenges traditional gender norms and fosters a sense of fluidity, diversity, and acceptance. This persona can appeal to consumers who prioritize equality, openness, and representation in their brand interactions.

It's important to note that when considering whether a brand persona is feminine, masculine, or non-binary, we're not necessarily referring to traditional notions of male, female, or LGBTQ identities. Instead, we're associating these terms with energies, traits, and tendencies that can transcend gender boundaries and apply to individuals of all genders.

By understanding these distinctions, brands can leverage the concepts of feminine, masculine, and non-binary energies to communicate specific values, characteristics, and emotions that resonate with their target audience, regardless of their gender identity. This approach fosters a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of brand personas, allowing for greater flexibility and authenticity in brand representation.

Question 13

When answering the question about what your brand sounds like when speaking, reflect on the preferences and characteristics of your ideal target audience. Determine whether they are more responsive to communications that sound local and familiar or if they prefer a more global and cosmopolitan tone. Understanding your audience's cultural context and linguistic preferences is crucial in shaping your brand's voice. Consider your business’ origins and how important that is to your story. Evaluate whether your brand's voice should reflect the speech and language of a particular region or culture. Consider whether aligning with regional dialects, colloquialisms, and cultural nuances will enhance your brand's authenticity. Is your business rooted in a specific community or culture? 

Or does it have a more cosmopolitan and globally-minded perspective? Assess the potential impact of adopting a more universal and culturally neutral tone on your brand's global appeal.

This tone of voice must be managed consistently whether it’s in advertising campaigns, social media posts, customer service interactions, or written content. Maintaining a cohesive and unified voice across channels is a must.

Question 28

This question prompts you to think about the type of consumer with their purchasing decision-making methods. When creating stories and visual language, a brand must pay close attention to the type of consumer they are targeting because different types have unique behaviours, preferences, and motivations that shape their purchasing decisions.

For instance, the Bargain Shopper is primarily driven by discounts and deals, seeking value for their money. In brand stories and visual language, emphasizing cost savings, special offers, and price competitiveness can effectively resonate with this audience segment.

The Researcher, on the other hand, values information and seeks thorough research before making a purchase. Providing detailed product information, customer reviews, and comparisons in brand stories and visual content can help build trust and credibility with this audience.

For the Impulse Buyer, who makes spontaneous purchasing decisions, leveraging eye-catching visuals, limited-time offers, and persuasive storytelling can create a sense of urgency and drive immediate action.

The Negotiator appreciates flexibility and seeks opportunities for customization or personalized offers. Tailoring brand stories and visual language to highlight customizable options, flexible payment terms, and personalized recommendations can appeal to this audience segment.

The Loyalist values brand trust, consistency, and reliability. Reinforcing brand identity, values, and past experiences through consistent brand stories and visual elements can foster loyalty and strengthen the emotional connection with this audience.

Lastly, the consumer on a mission seeks efficiency and convenience, with a singular objective of completing the purchase quickly. Streamlining the buying process, providing clear navigation paths, and minimizing distractions in brand stories and visual language can cater to this audience's need for speed and simplicity.

Understanding the nuances of each consumer type allows us to tailor their brand stories and visual language effectively, resonating with their target audience's preferences, behaviours, and motivations. Consider this when you’re answering this question.

Question 34

This is one of the questions often elaborated by our clients; however, the point here is to be as succinct as possible, narrowing down on what exactly it is that you do. This question is to identify how to refer to your work or business. For example, ‘a clothing store’, or a ‘financial intelligence consultant’. Of course, there is room to bring in a specialized aspect of your business here; for example, an ‘abstract painting artist’. When a business identifies what it does, it helps customers understand its purpose, offer, and what to expect. This is important for brand stories and visual language; this clear identification should be reflected in messaging, visuals, and branding elements to ensure consistency and coherence.

For example, if the brand is a digital marketing agency, it should clearly convey its services, such as "digital marketing solutions," "online advertising," or "social media management”. 

This is a question that requires a somewhat short answer, which is why we encourage clients to try and explain their work as succinctly as possible, in approximately 3 words. 

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* Got a question that we didn’t cover here? Don't hesitate to reach out to us. We're more than happy to schedule a call and help you complete this questionnaire. We highly recommend listening to this video walkthrough, while you attempt the questionnaire. It will save you time and help you record accurate answers that best reflect your business.

Designing stories with difficult messages

Sometimes, businesses find themselves in dangerous waters when trying to engage their audience through emotionally charged popular narratives. Often enough, we see businesses initiating or tagging onto sensitive conversations involving race, politics, skin colour and gender; some nail it, others damage their brand catastrophically, and most end up making their conversations seem unauthentic. Remember how the race to position themselves with the Black Lives Matter movement came out for most brands? Those who didn’t filter the narrative through their own brand personality, or present it through their true views and ideas, had their audiences disengaged, and sometimes even enraged. That awkward Pepsi ad, which only became famous as a tone-deaf disaster of a story, is probably the best example. 

Engaging with popular narratives is a good thing to do; It shows that the brand is alive, current, listening and responding to the world that its consumers live in. But, not every brand can tag onto every narrative. It must be authentic; there must be history, connection or reason; And most importantly, it must be delivered right through the business’ persona, values, and tone of voice.

When we were helping the in-house team at Rithihi—one of Sri Lanka's most beloved saree boutiques—to identify its brand voice and story styles, it became important to demonstrate how to engage with certain topics that were sensitive. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in India, as the death tolls were sky-rocketing, it was insensitive to talk about the beauty of sarees handmade in areas like Banaras, Kanchipuram and Ludhiana, which were devastated by disease. It was important to address this, and convey the brand's authentic emotions towards the catastrophe; However, it was a highly emotionally-charged topic and there was already growing criticism on how some brands were delivering their messages. We created a newsletter with stories that celebrated the skill and beauty of artisanal communities affected by the pandemic. The message was approached through Rithihi's values, while the response to the situation was framed through the brand's personality framework. The stories, as always, were delivered strictly through the brand voice that we carefully identified for Rithihi. As a result, the message was authentic in reflecting Rithihi's true views and sentiments, and it was well received. This story led to creating many meaningful conversations between the business and its audience.

During Sri Lanka's economic crisis in 2022, many hospitality businesses struggled to articulate why it’s still worthwhile to visit the island along with the reasons for the peaceful protests that were sweeping across the nation. It was a challenging message to coin. However, it couldn't be ignored or overlooked by any business inviting people to visit Sri Lanka; especially with the spread of misinformation and sensational news making Sri Lanka appear unsafe. Here's how we helped one of our longstanding clients in hospitality to articulate this message with the earnestness and sense of humour true to their brand voice.

These kinds of emotionally charged narratives are where a brand's true strength in communications is tested. In both these instances, the brand articulation framework that outlined the business values and the voice were the key tools in getting these stories right. 

A well-articulated brand persona and voice are the most important tools you have when navigating through complex or sensitive narratives. They are your frameworks to be truthful and authentic.

If you want to find out more on how we consult and create stories to help businesses navigate through challenging messages, and complex narratives, send us a message.

Reading list, December 2023

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Miranda July's celebration of everyday heroism with quirky characters; Robert Downey Sr.'s satirical critique in "Putney Swope." Quentin Dupieux, aka Mr Oizo’s deadpan humour and surreal narratives. Published works by Joseph Campbell, Maureen Murdock, and Zeno Franco explore universal hero journeys, feminist perspectives, and the psychology of heroism. Iconic characters like Liz Lemon and Deadpool add humour to their heroic narratives. While businesses, including Old Spice, Snickers, and Poo-Pourri, define themselves as hero brands through humorous campaigns.

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Archetype → Hero

Rasa → Hāsyam

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December 2023

Artistic expressions channelling archetype in rasa

• Everyday heroism: Miranda July, an American filmmaker, artist, and writer whose work often explores quirky and unconventional characters. Her work often celebrates the quirks of everyday life. July's characters often engage in acts of everyday heroism, such as breaking out of social norms, expressing vulnerability, or challenging the status quo in small but meaningful ways. The way her characters navigate challenges and interact with the world often involves a whimsical and comedic sensibility, providing a unique lens through which to explore heroism.

• Humour as social commentary: "Putney Swope" is a 1969 American satirical comedy film written and directed by Robert Downey Sr. The film is known for its irreverent and provocative commentary on race, advertising, and corporate culture. The film serves as a vehicle for social commentary and satire, with Putney's character embodying a critique of racial stereotypes, consumerism, and corporate greed. As a token African American executive who unexpectedly becomes the leader of an advertising agency. Despite the absurd circumstances of his appointment, he seizes the opportunity to make significant changes within the agency, reflecting a sense of personal agency and empowerment.

• Deadpan humour: Quentin Dupieux, under his alias Mr. Oizo, is known for his surreal and unconventional music videos that often align with the unique and absurd narratives found in his films. Many Mr. Oizo music videos feature protagonists who are unconventional or defy traditional expectations. The use of deadpan humour and satire, present in both Dupieux's films and music videos, creates a distinctive tone.

Published ideas of archetype in rasa

• Hero's journey: Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." This work, published in 1949, explores the concept of the hero's journey as a universal mythological motif found in various cultures throughout history. Joseph Campbell, a comparative mythologist, identified common stages and archetypes that appear in the stories of heroes across diverse cultures and religions. Campbell outlines the monomyth of hero's journey, a narrative pattern that involves a hero leaving their ordinary world, facing trials and challenges, undergoing transformation, and returning with newfound wisdom or a boon for their community.

• The Heroine’s Journey: Maureen Murdock's work provides a feminist perspective on the Hero's Journey. In "The Heroine’s Journey," she explores the unique challenges and narratives of female protagonists and critiques traditional hero narratives from a gender perspective.

• The Banality of Heroism: Co-authored by Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo, This article explores the psychology of heroism in everyday life. It discusses the factors that lead individuals to engage in heroic acts and challenges simplistic notions of heroism by examining the complexities involved.

Characters channelling archetype in rasa

• Liz Lemon in "30 Rock" (TV series, 2006-2013): Liz Lemon, portrayed by Tina Fey, is the head writer of a comedy sketch show. Her character's quirks and comedic situations add humour to her attempts at managing work and relationships, making her a relatable and comedic hero.

• Juno MacGuff in "Juno" (film, 2007): Juno, played by Elliot Page, is a teenage girl dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. Her wit and humour, combined with a sense of responsibility, make her a modern comedic heroine navigating complex life decisions.

• Deadpool in the "Deadpool" film series (2016-present): Deadpool, portrayed by Ryan Reynolds, is an unconventional and irreverent superhero known for breaking the fourth wall. His humour, anti-hero antics, and self-awareness add a comedic twist to the superhero genre.

Channelling the archetype in rasa for business

• Old Spice: "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" (2010): Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign features Isaiah Mustafa in a humorous and over-the-top portrayal of a confident and suave character. The campaign became a viral sensation, using humour to redefine the brand's image.

• Snickers: "You're Not You When You're Hungry" (2010-present): Snickers' ongoing campaign revolves around the idea that people become different personalities when hungry. It often features celebrities in humorous situations, and the central message is that eating a Snickers can return you to your normal self.

• Poo-Pourri: "Girls Don't Poop" (2013): Poo-Pourri's humorous campaign challenges taboos around bathroom-related topics. The "Girls Don't Poop" commercial features a confident and unapologetic character, presenting the product as a hero in awkward situations.

Tell us how these stories made you feel, and where they lead your thinking. We’d love to know.