For Brand Storytelling That Moves People, Optimism is Required
I recently saw a post on LinkedIn from Simon Sinek that wisely posited, “All great leaders are optimists. To inspire requires an undying belief that the future is bright.”
This truth resonates deeply for me. And it also has me thinking about how the best brand storytelling also requires optimism.
A great leader who is an optimist knows that even when their team has a one-in-million shot at beating the competition, there is no other option but to try their hardest to succeed. They will inspire the group’s most valiant effort by focusing on the positive aspects of the challenge. The satisfaction of supporting one another. The knowledge that they are giving it all they’ve got, and then some. The fact that they are courageous. Thus the leader believes that by rising to this moment, there is without question brightness ahead for this team.
And I believe that the second sentence of Mr. Sinek’s statement, “ To inspire requires an undying belief that the future is bright,” is also true of good brand storytelling.
When a message is crafted from a place of genuine optimism — that the brand/product/service/experience will provide positive, even joy-inspiring benefit to its customers — the story inspires.
To inspire through brand storytelling requires an unwavering belief that the people receiving the message will find some sort of honest enhancement from it, if not that day, then one day.
Brand storytelling that connects people with faraway travel experiences is a perfect example of this.
It’s rare for someone to see a resort’s social media post, and immediately book a stay there. Or for someone in North America to come across an article on December 1 about the Christmas markets in Scandinavia and travel there that same month. Maybe they’ll bookmark these for a future trip.
But in the meantime, the photo of that resort’s pastel sunset or the colorful Norwegian village, will inspire the reader. The very thought that one day, they, too, might hold the hand of someone they live while basking in that sunset, or be immersed in holiday hygge with tummy-warming mulled wine in hand, will lift their mood, even if for a moment.
And to get them there, the message has to point toward a bright future.