To captivate an audience through audiovisual storytelling, some of the best brands in the world have honed techniques that make their stories unforgettable.
Thoughtfully produced podcasts and videos can deliver on the promise of brand storytelling. But success is far from a given.

These efforts typically play in crowded, noisy spaces where it’s hard to get discovered. Without a compelling hook, your target audience might tune out or scroll by. And if you fail to tie the story to a real-world value, your business may not achieve a happy-ever-after outcome.

These six brands recognized at the 2024 Content Marketing Awards or Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity spin a yarn into marketing gold.

Here’s a guide inspired by them to help you elevate your own brand’s narrative.

Lesson 1: Put a Unique Spin on a Familiar Story

Award-winning brands know that a story doesn’t have to be entirely new to resonate—it just needs a fresh perspective. Take a well-known theme or scenario and add your brand’s unique angle. Think about how you can add unexpected twists or shine a new light on a common experience.

By connecting familiar emotions to new insights, your brand narrative will feel relatable yet distinctive, engaging audiences on a deeper level.

Example: How To Use Bayer’s Digital Asset Management System

The How To Use Bayer’s Digital Asset Management System video starts as a standard explainer on DAM systems and their benefits. But the sales pitch quickly cuts to a charmingly animated story. In it, “marketing warrior” Alex must navigate a maze of disconnected tools and file systems in search of the rights-free image she needs for a campaign.

Fantasy genre fans will recognize some characteristics of quest-based storytelling — heroes, magical incantations (i.e., marketing buzzwords), and an arrogant dragon that mocks Alex’s attempts to retrieve the asset with competitors’ tools.

And the video, a finalist for Best Topic-Specific Video at this year’s Content Marketing Awards, has one more plot twist for viewers: Before the final scene, it cuts to the narrator for a detailed online demo of Bayer’s DAM solution.

By jumping between factual insights and a fictional parable, Bayer skillfully blends message-driven education with engaging entertainment. It’s a great way to get viewers’ attention on the critical details while hooking their viewing interest until the video’s end.

Lesson 2: Sustain Engagement with Serialized Content

Serialized storytelling can keep your audience coming back for more. Think of your brand’s journey as a story told over multiple chapters or episodes, each one leaving a lasting impression and building anticipation.

By structuring your content as a series, you can gradually develop your message, deepen emotional connections, and make your audience feel like part of an ongoing adventure. Each installment should offer something valuable, making viewers eager for the next “episode” in your brand story.

Example: Murder in HR

Murder in HR isn’t another trendy true-crime podcast. It’s a clever, star-powered send-up of the genre, scripted to organically weave corporate wellness brand Gympass (now Wellhub) into an episodic thriller.

The plot centers on Jemma (voiced by actor Kate Mara) — an HR executive at a tech company who uses her people skills to investigate a death at a corporate retreat. As Jemma interrogates potential suspects, the audience learns about their use of the wellness services offered through Gympass. Customized ads aired during story breaks provided more information about Gympass benefits.

Teased out with a weekly release schedule, the podcast concludes when Jemma solves the crime. With the help of promotional activations across marketing, media, and sales, the show earned more than 1.1 million downloads and reached No. 1 on Apple’s list of top fictional podcasts. It also won the 2024 Content Marketing Award for Best Podcast.

Lesson 3: Show the Impact of Your Intentions

It’s one thing to tell people what your brand stands for; it’s another to show it in action. Capture moments that reflect the positive change your brand aims to bring about, whether it’s through powerful testimonials, real-life applications, or tangible results.

Showcasing the real-world impact of your mission or values builds trust, reinforces your credibility, and invites your audience to see the deeper purpose behind your products or services.

Example: Dear Jackie

Volvo, the world’s leading manufacturer of industrial vehicles and construction equipment, promises to become a fossil-free company by 2050 — and help its customers do the same. The urgency of achieving those goals is as clear as the blue stream in its Content Marketing Award-winning video, Dear Jackie.

It starts with a young couple in 2023, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the titular baby girl, Jackie. Viewers get to see the baby’s life unfold as she transforms from a sonogram image into a thriving adult about to welcome her own child into the world.

In the accompanying voiceover, a narrator reads Volvo’s letter to Jackie’s future self, setting its climate-change ambitions against the milestones in Jackie’s life. The company pledges to make one-third of its fleet electric by the time she starts school and be fossil-free when she completes her education.

By illustrating how they’ll work together to shape “the world we want to live in,” Dear Jackie embodies Volvo Group’s commitment to doing the work today so tomorrow’s generation can reap the benefits.

Lesson 4: Support Personal and Professional Success

Today’s audiences want brands that care about more than profits—they look for those that uplift and empower. Your storytelling should illustrate how your brand contributes to people’s personal or professional lives.

This could be through the skills they gain, the confidence they build, or the new perspectives they acquire with your help. By positioning your brand as a supportive partner in their journey, you foster loyalty and goodwill that can last a lifetime.

Example: The Path To Owning It

Doctors and other health care providers receive medical training, but that doesn’t prepare them to run a practice. Sharpening the business acumen of current and aspiring medical practice owners is the goal of Provide — a health-care-focused division of Fifth Third Bank, N.A., and the purpose of its The Path to Owning It podcast.

Each episode offers guidance on financial and operational decision-making, such as choosing whether to build or buy a practice or hiring the right care team. While the goal is to ease the transition from caregiver to practice leader, the discussions aren’t all business. They also delve into more personally resonant concerns.

In one episode, veterinarian Sarah Baker, owner of Lane Veterinary, touches on the mental health struggles of veterinary practitioners and the need for more female representation in leadership. Inspiring health professionals to advocate for their own well-being as they care for their patients makes The Path To Owning It a B2B storytelling standout. It earned recognition from the Content Marketing Awards as a finalist for Best Podcast.

Lesson 5: Express Your Unique Voice and Views

The most memorable brands are the ones with a distinctive voice. Don’t be afraid to share your brand’s unique take on issues, trends, or values. Use language, tone, and visuals that reflect your brand’s personality, making it clear who you are and what you stand for.

By expressing an authentic point of view, your brand will stand out and attract audiences who share your vision, building a more meaningful connection.

Example: Play It Safe

You may not be familiar with musician, actor, composer, and comedian Tim Minchin. But you should recognize the Sydney Opera House — the architectural landmark visually synonymous with his home country of Australia.

To celebrate the performing arts center’s 50th birthday, Australian agency The Monkeys (a subsidiary of Accenture Song Sydney) enlisted Tim to star in a four-minute musical ode.

Tim sarcastically sings the virtues of playing it safe and sticking with formulas to attract an audience. Yet, the accompanying sights and sounds of renowned artists, architects, and performers show that the opposite rings truer.

More than a birthday celebration of a building, the spot serves as an uplifting homage to the artists taking creative risks inside the structure. More importantly, the video proves that unique storytelling can amass a stronger following than calculated mediocrity.

The judges at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity certainly got the message. The mini film split Grand Prix honors with another inspiring effort that you’ll see in Lesson 6.

Lesson 6: Shift Perspectives to Change Minds

Effective storytelling has the power to shift how people see the world, and award-winning brands aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. Through your storytelling, offer fresh perspectives that invite viewers to see familiar topics in a new light.

By opening up new ways of thinking, your brand narrative can inspire audiences to question, reflect, and even change their minds, fostering a deeper sense of engagement and loyalty.

Example: La compil’ des Bleues

This video campaign, produced by Orange (a French telecommunications company), highlights the stunning athleticism exhibited by France’s men’s national soccer team.

Or does it?

The real story is cleverly revealed halfway through: The footage was digitally altered. All the remarkable plays shown were made by members of the women’s national soccer team.

While many deepfake videos are designed to deceive to damage someone’s reputation, Orange’s use of visual effects tools does the opposite: It challenges the common (mis)perception that women’s soccer is less exciting and view-worthy than games in the men’s league.

Did the ruse achieve its purpose? In a follow-up case study video released by Orange, the impressions left by the video (in the media and on viewers) are made clear: The most viral French video ever sparked a global conversation about the entertainment value of women’s professional sports and led to broader discussions about gender inequality.

Tell Your Brand’s Story

Each of these lessons underscores the art of storytelling as a powerful tool for connection, authenticity, and influence.

By weaving these strategies into your audiovisual content, you can tell stories that not only capture attention but also leave a lasting impression—one that echoes the success of award-winning brands.

All people loves movies.

In the newest analysis, 84% of entrepreneurs say they use movies — that’s an 11% soar over the earlier yr.

But executives, managers, and others nonetheless clamor for extra movies. You’ve in all probability sat in a gathering the place the CEO says the corporate wants extra movies. Or obtained a forwarded TikTok hyperlink with a word from a gross sales supervisor saying, “We must be doing this.”

However making extra movies as a result of folks in your group need them isn’t a adequate purpose. Nicely, a CEO request could be. However even then, you want a method behind your video selections to get essentially the most worth out of them.

Bean Porter, supervisor of name and content material manufacturing at Grainger, and A. Lee Judge, co-founder of Content material Monsta, lately joined CMI Stay to share recommendation on how entrepreneurs ought to method video at their manufacturers and supply sensible ideas for creating high quality movies.

Construct a video technique to your prospects

“All the time consider the client first,” Bean advises.

To do this, ask these two questions:

• What is going to entice an viewers to observe a video?
• What does the model need the viewers to do after viewing a video?

By figuring out the target and the decision to motion in the beginning, you’re extra prone to create an efficient video for viewers and your model.

To satisfy Grainger’s model recognition goal, for instance, Bean and her group created Everyday Heroes, a video collection spotlighting numerous Grainger prospects.

Nonetheless, if the target had been to inspire a viewer to purchase a product, Bean says a five-second YouTube bumper selling the product and driving viewers to a touchdown web page would make extra sense.

Mix buyer concerns and model aims to information selections

An audience-first video technique will naturally result in a mixture of video content material, from topic to tone.

Video size can even differ. Brief or lengthy? The reply goes again to the viewers.

For instance, folks gained’t watch a two- to three-minute video a couple of product. “Make it quick. Make it fast. Seize their consideration straight away, and you understand what you need them to do — click on to buy,” Bean says.

Discover longer-form movies if you wish to join emotionally, which is commonly useful for top-of-the-funnel aims. Bean suggests 12- to 15-second clips that includes Q&As to assist a middle-of-the-funnel viewers get to know extra about what your small business does.

“There’s a artistic method to make use of several types of movies with completely different lengths to proceed to inform the story and take them down that funnel,” Bean says.

You can also use the identical video content material in a number of methods. For instance, you could possibly publish a two-minute video telling the story of your model or of a buyer to YouTube and embed it on a touchdown web page.

Then, create shorter cuts from it to submit on social and drive visitors to the touchdown web page. You possibly can lead the prospect additional down the funnel by linking to movies for a particular product from that touchdown web page.

 “Inform the entire story to maintain your buyer engaged together with your model,” Bean says.

Use storytelling to strengthen your human-centered video content material

Whereas size, tone, and topic will differ, your movies ought to at all times resonate on a human stage.

“Each model has a narrative to inform, and each product can have that emotional ingredient to it,” Bean says.

Say you promote hammers. It’s not a horny product. Individuals simply decide it up and use it, proper? How doubtless is it {that a} demo video of a hammer would seize an viewers?

However for those who give attention to the individual behind the hammer, folks will reply, Bean says.

Do a video story concerning the buyer who has the hammer. Did they purchase it? Did they get it handed all the way down to them? Who else used the hammer? What did they use it for? How does the present proprietor use it? How do they prefer it?

“You’re creating that human reference to it and emotional reference to the viewers using video as a platform,” Bean explains.

Amongst her different concepts for creating movies that join with audiences:

• File the sound of a product being created to attraction to ASMR-oriented audiences. (Autonomous sensory meridian response movies are widespread as a result of the sounds can set off a tingling sensation in some listeners.)
• Undergo the step-by-step course of to make the product and provides recommendations on its makes use of and options.
• Observe a day within the lifetime of a product or an worker.
• Do a Q-and-A with a product specialist or buyer who makes use of the product.
• Use a drone to fly over the constructing as workers enter for the day and repurpose it in a number of movies.

“There’s no scarcity of tales,” Bean says.

Devise a distribution plan

With many platforms obtainable to distribute your movies, the selection can appear overwhelming. However Bean says, simply return to your authentic technique — the viewers.

“You wish to meet your prospects the place they’re at, in order that they’re really participating with the model and constructing that relationship over time,” she says. “You don’t wish to be creating video for a platform that you just’re not getting a return on.”

Conduct a check by publishing the movies to each platform the place your viewers views. Peel again the outcomes to actually perceive which, if any, movies entice and have interaction your viewers. See which of them are most certainly to impress responses to your calls to motion.

With that knowledge, you may cease publishing on platforms that don’t ship outcomes and give attention to those who do.

Suggestions for producing higher video

Together with your technique documented, you and the group can start manufacturing. Bean says Grainger shoots horizontally, so the full-length content material can dwell on YouTube. Then, they edit the content material to raised match the viewers on vertical platforms.

Content material Monsta’s Lee Decide provides these further tricks to produce higher high quality movies that work to your model and viewers:

• Undertake a listening tempo: While you converse to speak, that you must gradual your tempo, regardless that it gained’t appear gradual to you. Take the time to enunciate and get your level throughout, so the listener can course of what you’re saying, Lee says.
• Give on-camera power: Watching his early movies, Lee realized that when he learn a script, his eyebrows by no means moved. “That’s not regular. In a dialog, you get excited, your eyebrows transfer, and issues occur. It was a telltale signal I used to be studying, and I didn’t have the proper emotion.”

Flip up your feelings a little bit so that you seem extra pure. While you’re engaged, not solely will your eyebrows transfer, however so will your arms and even your smile.

• Attempt throwaway takes: While you encounter topics who aren’t comfy in entrance of the digital camera, plan for an additional take. Lee says his colleague Marc Raco at Content material Monsta lets the individual comprehend it went properly, however he asks them to do yet one more. “Overlook all the principles. Simply be your self, and let’s give it yet one more take,” he tells them. That second take is nearly at all times the one they use. “At that time, he’s already educated them. He’s already instructed them the way to do sure issues, they usually’ve change into extra relaxed.”

Take time to craft your video plan

If you wish to create movies — and also you in all probability ought to — be considerate about it. Map out a method for a way you’ll use video all through the client journey.

“You wish to make content material that’s related and a terrific illustration of your small business,” Bean says.