The brands that stand out are those that have a real personality and know how to tell their story! 📖 Between founding myths and contemporary issues, storytelling is a science that shapes imaginations to anchor them in the collective unconscious.
How to build a memorable brand image? 🤓 This is the question that the We Are COM team went to pose at Severine Charon, semiologist, professor and consultant, specializing in brand storytelling. For her, successful storytelling is not limited to a story, it must create meaning, coherence and above all emotion! 👀 Ready to explore the inner workings of brand imagination?
Hello Séverine, as a specialist in brand imagination and narrative, what is your definition of storytelling?
Storytelling is what we could translate as peddling information. Even if the initial speech comes from a brand, from any entity, its diffusion depends on word of mouth, on a collective word which circulates, evolving and transforming according to sensitivities. This is why brand storytelling often eludes its creator. It is therefore imperative to establish a solid narrative framework in advance, serving as a matrix, to ensure the consistency of the language elements.
The brand story often escapes its transmitter.
How does one become a brand storytelling expert? Can you tell us more about your background? What drives you on a daily basis?
Literary by training, I have always been fascinated by the power and density of languageBy undertaking studies in semiology, I turned even more towards the word and its power of mental suggestion, to put it at the service of my clients, whether they are beauty, fashion or luxury brands, but also cultural places and geographical territories.
Based on the principle that what is not named does not exist, my expertise consists of determining common references to bring a brand message to life, developing unique, frank and desirable universes.
Exactly, what are the ingredients of a memorable and desirable brand story?
First of all, it is appropriate to give the transmitter a personality. How does he speak? What does he say about himself, whether obviously or implicitly? I like to refer to Jung's archetypes: by adapting them to brands, we can create real psychological profiles.
Once this personality is defined, it is necessary to clearly communicate the brand's mission and the benefits it brings to customers. This is what I call a quest scenario, a bit like in The Lord of the Rings, where the brand becomes the one who launches the quest, like Gandalf. 🙂 In fact, the customer, who is the protagonist, must instantly understand which of his needs the brand can satisfy, which of his problems it can solve. It is up to the product, service, event to allow the quest to be fully realized.
Finally, a story must bring about transformation. To remain memorable, in a world where speech is saturated at the risk of becoming volatile and inaudible, it is essential that storytelling materializes into a brand experience to bring the consumer to a real evolution, with no possible turning back.e. With every connection, interaction with the brand, something must happen…
I like to refer to Jung's archetypes: by adapting them to brands, we can create real psychological profiles.
Between founding myth and contemporary issues, how can we guarantee the consistency of a brand narrative?
To formalize language elements and ensure consistency, The technique I recommend is the funnel technique. This consists of a division of communication into three layers, from the most concrete to the most abstract, from the incarnation of the brand to its founding myth. The surface level, called discourse, brings together the emerged, visible, easily identifiable elements. The narration level corresponds to the quest scenario, it is the place of connection between a brand and its targets. Finally, that of the story operates in the foundations of the brand, its conception of the world, its values…
By ensuring the consistency of the information in each layer, This funnel-shaped reflection makes it possible to align the speeches emitted with the speeches perceived. It is a relatively simple method to implement, which can protect brands from serious strategic accidents.
Do you have a successful brand storytelling case to share with us?
I was seduced by the Diptyque brand's Christmas initiative! The idea? A collaboration with artist Lucy Sparrow to create a festive grocery store, entirely made of felt and handmade. No classic products were put on sale. This operation communication against a backdrop of Christmas tradition, was a poetic invitation to discover the brand in a sensory and unique way.
And have you heard of the "bathroom" from the same Maison Diptyque near the Madeleine in Paris? Once again, It is by taking a step aside and inventing a new word that the brand transports us into a hybrid, inspired and embodied universe.
And conversely, do you have a fiasco you can tell us about? How could it have been avoided?
A few years ago, it was the luxury house Tiffany that made headlines. Remember, the brand revisited the tale of Alice in Wonderland in a commercial A slightly kitsch film starring Zoé Kravitz. She played the role of an unfulfilled saleswoman, suddenly sucked into the magical backstage of the jewelry store, before returning to her shop and her unenthusiastic routine.
Why doesn't this narrative work? Because the transformation phenomenon necessary for any memorable brand story is nonexistent. The viewer, transported for a while, ultimately finds himself back where he started. He is thus confronted with an experience of frustration, a deceptive campaign that generates no desirability. Conversely, the end of this spot even harms the brand, since the Tiffany saleswoman returns to her dreary daily life after fantasizing about jewelry she will never be able to afford. All of this gives off an image of inaccessibility, even cynicism, which can tarnish the brand. It reminds me of Andersen's terribly sad tale, The Little Match Girl.
More recently, It was the Jaguar brand that lacked vigilance in the design of its new visual identity. By crystallizing ideological issues through its graphic choices, the brand appeared to be moving away from its intrinsic imagery. The lack of coherence is, as was the case here, often perceived as a form of opportunism.
What are the current trends in brand imagery? Why and how can certain words inform the brand experience developed and nurtured by communicators?
More and more, imaginaries are embodied in places of comfort. Brands are placing basic pleasures at the heart of their stories, appealing to the consumer's senses. For example, many cosmetics brands are now partnering with Michelin-starred chefs and top jewelers to create a form of recreational indulgence. As for the color of the year 2025, do you know what it's called? "Mocha Mousse." This warm, almost regressive shade evokes a contemporary need for softness and sensuality that doesn't exclude a subterranean, caffeinated energy.
Another trend is confirmed, the bias of connivance. By designing Offbeat, intriguing or enigmatic campaigns, brands arouse curiosity and are making people talk about them. On the walls of the Paris metro, a few weeks ago, large minimalist black and white posters bearing only the word "re" could be seen. Before the public understood that this initiative was promoting season 2 of the series Bref, the Social Media have given rise to the most outlandish speculations. Far from the old logic of top-down communication, brands are now creating real dialogues with their audiences.
How do you see the future of storytelling? What will be the major challenges of the coming years?
Emotion has become crucial! Storytelling is no longer limited to informative and argumentative content; it has become a simple emotional narrative. Increasingly, brands are going beyond their prerogatives by communicating in seemingly altruistic ways. Cultural, philanthropic, practical, entertaining... ephemeral content is multiplying today to engage audiences and create a bond of affinity.
There's a lot of talk about the end of storytelling. It seems to me that we're actually witnessing the end of the self-centered discourse controlled by brands, in favor of a collective discourse, that of communities, which is part of a specific moment. Brand storytelling now feeds on small, occasional resurgences of identity to be combined with this immense story-making machine, this uncontrollable sounding board that is the Internet. The danger perhaps lies in the temptation to fall into a permanent, dizzying spectacle, which would cause us to lose sight of the essential: what is worthy and respectable in beautiful brands.
It seems to me that we are witnessing the end of the self-centered discourse controlled by brands, in favor of a collective discourse, that of communities, which is part of a specific moment.
Finally, do you have any final advice regarding brand storytelling to deliver to We Are COM readers?
Stay in control! When working on a brand narrative, it's important to always refer to invariants capable of circumscribing its territory. Developing a powerful matrix by surveying different audiences (employees as essential brand ambassadors), and anchoring the brand in an intangible way, avoids any fragmentation.
4 things to know about Séverine Charon
His sources of inspiration? Steve Jobs said that creativity was about importing the codes of one sector into another. Like him, Séverine thrives on everything. For her, it's by gleaning from everywhere that we manage to reinvent ourselves every day. She advocates the hybridization of inspiration.
His favorite COM campaign? Apple's 1984 ad, for its unsettling questioning, its grandiose execution, and its ardent, feminine spirit of resistance. Remember this Ridley Scott spot, inspired by George Orwell's novel?
His commitments? Séverine supports entrepreneurs from the French Fashion Institute, in France and as far away as Benin, towards more responsible creativity to shake up a maligned sector that has never so clearly demonstrated its affinity with art. Without constraint, no creativity " she says!
His word of the moment? "Regenerated." It's about revisiting the past without losing sight of the present, making something new out of something old, and more broadly, recreating desirability without denying oneself. This issue is central to many brands, those "sleeping beauties" just waiting to wake up, and whose original brilliance remains brilliantly timeless.
