Crafting Your Brands Signature Story with David Aaker

Published: May 28, 2018, 10 a.m.

b'"Digital is content, content is stories." Listeners of the podcast know that I am a big fan of storytelling as a brand building tool. And I\'m not alone. David Aaker has had a storied career in branding and marketing, as both an academic at UC Berkeley and Vice-Chairman of Prophet. He\'s also the author of 17 books including his latest, Creating Signature Stories. We discussed all of this and more on this week\\u2019s episode of the On Brand podcast.\\nAbout David Aaker\\nDavid Aaker, the Vice-Chairman of Prophet and Professor Emeritus of Marketing Strategy at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, is the winner of four career awards for contributions to the science of marketing (the Paul D. Converse Award), marketing strategy (the Vijay Mahajan Award), the theory and practice of marketing (the Buck Weaver Award), and Brilliance in Marketing (NYAMA Marketing Hall of Fame). He has published over 100 articles and 17 books including Strategic Market Management, Managing Brand Equity, Building Strong Brands, Brand Leadership (co-authored with Erich Joachimsthaler) Brand Portfolio Strategy, From Fargo to the World of Brands, Spanning Silos, Brand Relevance, Aaker on Branding, and his latest book Creating Signature Stories.\\nHis books have sold well over one million copies and have been translated into eighteen languages. Named as one of the top five most important marketing/business gurus in 2007, Professor Aaker has won awards for the best article in the California Management Review and (twice) in the Journal of Marketing. A recognized authority on brand equity and brand strategy, he is. A regular columnist for AMA\\u2019s Marketing News, he writes regularly at Linkedin and davidaaker.com.\\nEpisode Highlights\\nBranding doesn\'t start and stop with your advertising. "Brand has to permeate everything. The most effective thing they (VPs, CMOs) can do is stimulate conversation." Breaking down organizational silos is key to building a standout brand.\\n"Digital is content, content is stories." As the saying goes \\u2014 facts tell, stories sell. As David\'s new book\\xa0Creating Signature Stories\\xa0explores, if you wrap what you have to say in a story it persuades people and is recalled more effectively.\\nWhich brands are effective storytellers? David shared how story helped Barclays rehab their reputation after being the least-trusted brand. He also points to soap brands Lifebuoy and Dove for their ability to tell bigger stories. "That emotion gets transferred to the brand."\\nLooking back on a long career in marketing, what would David say to marketers today? "The principles are the same \\u2014 segmentation, positioning, putting consumers first. The levers are different. Social media has changed everything. That\'s a problem and an opportunity."\\nWhat\'s one key skill that marketers today need?\\xa0"I was a statistician for the first 15 years and there\'s a lot of potential there today with analytics. And if you have a flair for strategy and creativity."\\nWhat brand has made David smile recently?\\xa0"Knoor Soup did this marvelous promotion all about flavor." The soup company hypothesized that people with compatible flavor profiles have a better chance of falling in love.\\xa0Talk about telling a bigger story!\\nTo learn more,\\xa0check out David\'s blog posts at davidaaker.com and his book Aaker on Branding, which he describes as the Reader\'s Digest\\xa0summary of all of this writing.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'