The latest news in Web3 includes a lot of storytelling projects, especially from big name companies. One thing unique to this growth is the collaborative content that is being shared.

Storytelling is no longer a one-way authoritarian process. It has become a community sharing activity allowing anyone in the community to be a part of the story.

Hollywood celebrities are launching start-ups for communities of creatives to create and own their own content. Brands are using storytelling to connect with their consumers and to stand out from the competition.

Storytelling existed in Web2, but it is even more important in Web3. Stories are creating bonds between brands and followers, sharing brand values, and improving community connections.

What is Brand Storytelling?

“Marketing is no longer just about the stuff that brands make. It is also about the stories they tell.”  Seth Godin

Brand storytelling is simply a strategy of combining creativity, vision,  products, and data to make a connection and build a relationship with the audience.

Think back to when you were younger. What brand stories do you still remember today? Maybe the Coca-Cola Santa Claus story, the Budweiser Clydesdale horse and dog stories, or the Burger King Whopper jingle.

These are examples of how a well-done story can stay in our memories for years. We can even use these same stories with a little modification to create new stories, without losing the essential connection with the consumer.

Why is Brand Storytelling Important?

First, it creates an emotional bond between the brand and the consumer.

Stories create a bond between the brand and its customers by making them feel like they belong together, even though they may be from different parts of the world or even different generations.

Research by Aesop, a brand storytelling agency, has found a good story behind a product or brand not only transmits more trust to its consumers, but customers also identify more easily with the brand’s values and mission, increasing the likelihood they will become valued customers. 

Second, it gives the brand a human face.

All brands are made up of people – and most people like to hear stories and connect with other people. The story can become our story.

We become invested in the brand in question and are more likely to become loyal customers and advocates for the brand.

Storytelling connects. By understanding your audience better than anyone else does (you do know your audience, don’t you?), you can build trust with them easier than any competitor out there.

But a word of caution: consumers do not like to be deceived. If at any point your consumer feels the story is only to convey “to sell above anything else,” you will lose those customers as ambassadors of your brand. They may even become negative ambassadors. Word of mouth advertising is powerful – negative or positive!

Third, people understand what the brand represents.

Brands are essentially people with their own values, beliefs, and goals. A story can help communicate exactly who your company is.

Creating content that connects emotionally with your customer builds a level of trust in what the brand stands for and why it does what it does.

Fourth, storytelling allows brands to easily communicate with their audience.

Connecting through storytelling is simple and easy to do with a little thought. Keeping in mind feelings, what is it you want your audience to remember, to resonate with them? This is the focus of your story.

Stories are easier to remember than a bunch of data and facts. People love to share stories they remember. Stories allow brands the opportunity to easily communicate with their audiences in ways that are memorable.

The story connection builds brand loyalty over time because it is something worth believing. Stories are easy to remember, easy to share, and easy to understand.

Finally, storytelling allows brands to stand out against the competition.

Using stories, brands can differentiate themselves from competitors by listening to and identifying with the fears, emotions, and situations their audiences are experiencing.

By targeting these feelings, brands are building stories are able to build loyal audiences that closely identify with the brand values and therefore become brand advocates.

The story you tell helps customers understand what makes you different from all the other businesses online.

The following graphic from MarketingWeek.com shows some of the brands and categories using storytelling to connect with their audiences.

It is almost impossible to memorize all the information we are bombarded with every day. Stories help bridge this gap by making this information memorable.

It’s clear that storytelling is an incredibly powerful tool for brands to use in their marketing campaigns to relate to their audiences. Storytelling allows them to emotionally connect with consumers, gives them a human face, and makes it easy for people to understand what they stand for. Storytelling also helps brands stand out from their competitors.

Brands Using Storytelling

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola joined the metaverse with its first NFT collectibles in July 2022.

“Coca-Cola is one of the most collectible brands in the world, and it has shared its rich heritage with consumers through simple moments of joy for decades,” said Selman Careaga, president, Global Coca-Cola Trademark. “We are excited to share our first NFTs with the metaverse, where new friendships are being forged in new ways in new worlds, and to support our longstanding friend and partner, Special Olympics International. Each NFT was created to celebrate elements that are core to the Coca-Cola brand, reinterpreted for a virtual world in new and exciting ways.”

The Friendship Box NFT is a vintage Coca-Cola cooler as a loot box with motion and lighting features. The exterior is covered with symbols of friendship and sharing that fade when opened to reveal a vintage Coke vending machine.

A Coca-Cola Bubble Jacket is made with the traditional metallic red aluminum can color fused with the caramel brown of the drink and illuminated with effervescent fizz and reminiscent of Coke’s nostalgic delivery uniforms. They can also wear the jacket in the Decentraland 3D virtual reality platform.

The Sound Visualizer enhances the highly recognizable Coca-Cola audio cues and sound bites from the opening of the bottle, the sound of the soda being poured over ice, and the “fizz and ahhhh” with the first taste.

Finally, the Friendship Card is a new take on the trading cards from the 1990s, symbolizing friendship and refreshment. These cards add motion, light and 3D features to the traditional trading cards.

The release of this NFT collection coincided with International Friendship Day, with proceeds going to support Special Olympics.

“The metaverse—which is borderless and ‘geo-less’—creates opportunities to connect with others like never before,” said Josh Schwarber, global digital design senior director for Coca-Cola. “We didn’t want to do this just to make an NFT. We wanted to inject the core principles of Coca-Cola and celebrate both our heritage and ties to friendship, while also doing something that hasn’t been done before. It was important to stay true to the brand by bringing people together through unique, surprise-and-delight moments of connection that feel right for Coke. And because NFTs are inherently built to be permanent and not transitory, we intentionally developed dynamic, ‘living’ NFTs that can be enjoyed again and again over time—just like Coca-Cola.”

Nike

Using the Roblox platform, Nike built Nikeland, a metaverse space allowing fans to meet, socialize, take part in promotions and engage in a community.

Since the Nikeland launch in November 2021, the space has had over 7 million visitors. Celebrities such as LeBron James visit the space and engage with fans. Visitors can buy exclusive digital products to decorate their avatar, which can even be used in other Roblox environments and several gaming opportunities within Nikeland.

As a visitor to Nikeland, you also can become a custodian of your own garden (a personal space within Nikeland used to show off your collectibles and personality).

Nike has positioned the brand as a leader in demonstrating that a “sell the lifestyle” ethos works as effectively in the digital world as it does in the real world. As an example, Nike sold 600 pairs of NFT sneakers in under six minutes for over $3.1 million – that’s making a statement.

The sneaker collection, known as CryotoKicks Dunk Genesis, can be customized using skin vials to add special effects and personalization to each pair of NFT sneakers. Obviously, Nike understands its young customer base and their desire for one of a kind and customized merchandise.

Microsoft

Of course, a tech giant like Microsoft would want to get in on the Metaverse opportunity early. Joining with blockchain developer Enjin in 2019, Microsoft built Azure Heroes, a platform rewarding community members with digital badges when they coach, build, and share knowledge with others in the tech community.

Microsoft has several educational games which encourage diversity and inclusion available to its community. In 2021, to celebrate the 6th International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Microsoft launched the game “Azure Space Mystery.” Community members learn the stories of four female scientists while earning Minecraft-compatible NFTs when they demonstrate their technical skills by solving coding challenges.

Campbell’s Soup

In 2021, Campbell’s partnered with street artist Sophia Chang to launch its first NFT collection.

Using the iconic red-and-white can design, the new NFT label magnifies the brand image through visual storytelling and modern graphic design. Using a blend of nostalgia and creativity, Campbell’s continues to provide high-quality products to its loyal customers.

 Louis Vuitton

“Louis the Game” is Louis Vuitton’s mobile game launched in celebration of its 200th anniversary. We invite players to learn about the brand story while having fun in the game. The game builds through six imaginary worlds using immersive storytelling.

Players customize their characters with Louis Vuitton designs while learning about the history and culture. With over 200 postcards, various memorabilia, and 10 embedded Beeple NFTs, the game can be rather addiction and adventurous entertainment.

With over 2 million downloads since its launch, Louis the Game is effectively connecting with the younger generation and engaging its new community base with brand storytelling.

Kantfish Universe

But it is not just big brands taking advantage of storytelling and the metaverse. Emanuele Giusto, aka Kantfish, is an Italian artist promoting creative content through storytelling by publishing text, articles, photographs, and videos. He strongly believes cryptocurrencies will revolutionize how people around the world share their values with each other.

Using the metaverse to promote his artist talents, the CryptoJungla Universe is a book collection of Kantfish along with NFT collectibles allowing fans and artists to better interact with each other.

Our Theatre

Our Theatre is a contemporary theater in Taiwan focusing on folk culture and ordinary local citizens using the metaverse. A recent performance, The State and Denki, tells a story of a girl meeting the only man on earth that still knows how to speak Cantonese in 2220, a futuristic world where humans have lost their abilities to speak their mother tongue.

Our Theatre worked with MINTVERSE to create a literature NFT encouraging people to go to the theater and learn the importance of cultural preservation. Audience members received airdropped NFTs for the project.

The performance featured a respected indigenous Hla’alua tribe elder, Amalanamahlʉ Salapuan, reciting 1,077 words in Hla’alua (Saaroa), a critically endangered language according to UNESCO. The NFT campaign earned abundant media coverage. The result was more young people learning about Our Theatre and a renewed determination by the community to preserve local dialects.

Edenhorde

Edenhorde is a collection of over 8,800 NFTs in a richly imaginary world meticulously crafted by its community over several years. As players step into this universe, they will immerse themselves in an epic adventure involving dragons, magic, and drama at every turn. The game is designed for players who enjoy rich storytelling, lore-heavy games, exploration, combat, and anything else involving dragons!

“The story begins with a group of friends who find themselves caught up in an adventure that will change their lives forever. As they discover more about their world and each other, they uncover deeper mysteries about their own pasts and learn there are forces at work trying to control them. They must overcome these forces if they are to save themselves, each other… and maybe even all of existence!”

As an Edenhorde NFT holder, you can use the rights to your NFT image commercially to do what you want, such as building a personal brand or sales of merchandise. “There are no limits on what players can do with their own Edenhorde.”

New puzzles, quests, characters, and environments are add monthly to keep the experience growing.

What’s This Mean To You?

Anyone, from well-known brands to small associations and even individuals can harness their storytelling and imagination skills in Web3. The sky is the limit on what can be done and how you can share your personality with the global community.