A Study On Storytelling In Digital Advertising Campaigns

The topic of advertising effectiveness has been debated for decades as the practitioners tried different approaches when creating adverts.One of such approaches was argumentative advertising which is based on factual information and focused on the product.Later,it was replaced by the narrative approach that relies on storytelling –crafting an emotionally-laden story around the product.Soon,the practitioners realized that the narrative approach and storytelling generate more sales and cultivate a better attitude towards the adverts themselves.Currently,there is a lack of understanding of how successful narrative campaigns are structured.Understanding the narrative structure would contribute to the knowledge database regarding narrative advertising.For practitioners,a matrix of successful narrative campaigns would provide a ‘blueprint’ which they can use when creating future campaigns.Against such a background and intention,this research seeks to find case studies of brands that used storytelling in their campaigns,determine the structure of each campaign,find any patterns between the structures and discover any similarities or differences between them.The research also proposes the three hypotheses.The first hypothesis states that the narrative structure of successful advertising stories in campaigns conducted on social media contains components such as plot,character and style.The second hypothesis states that in the narrative structure of various successful advertising stories lies a pattern.The third hypothesis indicates that patterns that exists between the narrative structures of advertising campaigns is a variant of a meta-narrative matrix that lies in the relationship between the advertising,media and product narratives.The theoretical framework of this research includes the theories that are pertinent to substantiating and understanding this research.It also includes the framework that suits the requirements of this particular paper.The theories that are used are: the mediation of reality theory,the hidden message theory,the imitative desire theory,the magic of meaning theory and the framing theory.The hidden message theory and the magic of meaning theory are used to substantiate the structural component of plot.The imitative desire theory helps substantiate the component of character.The stylistic element is explained by the framing theory.Finally,in order to take the medium of the advertisement into account,the mediation of reality theory is used.The conceptual framework– one that is built for the needs of this particular paper –lies in the separation of every selected case study into its structural components.The components include: plot,character,style and medium.However,solely determining what a narrative structure of a successful campaign is would limit the application of the research results.Therefore,each campaign is then put in the context of external factors – world events,trends,inventions,etc.,in order to see how the adverts performed.Methodologically,the research relies on the qualitative methods.The particular qualitative research method that is used is secondary research,which refers to the collection of existing data,in particular,case studies.The primary data used in secondary research is the information about case studies.The secondary data are reports and related literature.The study type is a descriptive type as it deals with describing the case studies.The primary data analysis method is discourse analysis,in particular,multimodal discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis.A multimodal discourse analysis allows to view the case studies as a sum of the modes used.A critical discourse analysis allows to view the case studies in the context of external factors.The type of sampling that is used during a market scan is purposive and nonprobability,in particular,judgmental sampling,as a number of requirements is set before the selection of case studies.These requirements include: the type of brand,the type of campaign,success and time frame.As the findings show,the three pillars of plot,character and style are present across all case studies,thus proving that the first hypothesis is correct.Upon the comparison of the case studies’ structures,it becomes apparent that the choice of tools the advertisers use varies,though the content within one campaign tends to rely on the same ones.The eight patterns between the structures: plot – character-style;linear narrative – single narrative– one narrator – three-act structure – no interactive features – no interactive narratives – no branching narratives;archetype – hero’s journey;no animated characters – no celebrities;time not specified – third-person POV – dynamic location;action – classifactory conceptual resource;gaze(offer)– horizontal perspective(oblique)– vertical perspective(medium);information value(center/margin)– salience(foreground,size)have also emerged.This shows that the second hypothesis is also correct.To fulfill the final objective of the study – to present different components across various campaigns as a variant of a meta-narrative matrix – the researcher utilizes a critical discourse analysis and views each campaign in relation to the outside factors.The findings show that the usage of prior scientific research that might support a particular advertising campaign is used in almost a half of case studies.A celebrity presence is also leveraged in the majority of case studies,though it is important to note that the celebrity’s image must be in coherence with the brand.The existing brand reputation has not been leveraged in most cases.Industry-related developments and related world events have also not been utilized in the majority of case studies.Having conducted the critical discourse analysis,the research shows that the third hypothesis that states that a pattern between the successful advertising campaigns lies in the relationship between the advertising,media and product narratives is also correct.Apart from testing the three hypothesis,the research also proves that even post-modernistic advertising has structure.This opposes the argument made by some researchers who suggest that current advertising is too ambiguous to have a structure.Overall,the findings of the study show that even when creating narrative advertisements,brands want to amplify their presence with logos and products.The products,however,tend to be incorporated into the emotionally-laden narrative rather be the sole focus of the advertisement.The findings of this research contribute to filling in the three scientific gaps identified during the literature review: the narrative structure of social media and influencer advertising campaigns;the semiotics research in the field of social media advertising;the media,advertising and product narratives in the conditions of social media and influencer advertising.