Brand Storytelling Book



Brand Storytelling: Integrated Marketing Communications for the Digital Media Landscape.

Inspired by the latest research, professional practice, and ancient wisdom.

Brand Storytelling Quesenberry Coolsen
Exam Copies for Instructors Available from the publisher.

The book draws from Aristotle and Shakespeare to neuroscience and our own research and professional experience to reveal a formula for crafting powerful brand stories. A practical five-act story structure is presented to apply to all IMC media from public relations, viral advertising videos, and content marketing to social media, print ads, and in-store experiences.

You’ll be guided through a step-by-step process from brand to buyer, illustrated with template worksheets and case studies demonstrating brand storytelling in action. Our storytelling method is uniquely presented within an IMC campaign process from marketing strategy, consumer insight, and creative brief to media mix, creative execution, campaign pitch, and analytics for evaluation and optimization.

We bring a distinct perspective based on our four decades of experience in the marketing research and advertising creative fields working for start-ups to Fortune 500s combined with our academic research on what does and doesn’t work in marketing and what decades of storytelling research have revealed.

The text presents a balance of research and theory with practical application and case studies within a classroom-friendly framework for undergraduate or graduate courses. Also a great book for marketing professionals seeking a guide to integrating storytelling into brand communications.

A distinctive modern approach presents the strategic plan and campaign process from a digital- and social media–first perspective. Digital and social media perspectives are not add-ons or afterthoughts.

TV and radio include connected TV (CTV), streaming, and podcasts. Outdoor includes digital boards, mobile devices, and geotargeting. PR includes earned, shared, owned, and paid media. Digital is baked into every chapter for the reality of digital ad spending surpassing traditional media. New technologies Web3, NFTs, cryptocurrency, and the metaverse, are also addressed.

Legal regulations for truth in advertising and Federal Trade Commission guidelines on digital and social media, such as influencer disclosures, are explained.

Professional ethics are presented from a real-life perspective with examples students and professionals may face in their careers.

A chapter presents analytics and advanced methods of conducting descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive research for IMC campaign planning and measurement.

“A comprehensive guide on creative and compelling storytelling that informs and inspires marketers. The authors not only share how to formulate powerful brand stories but also present a multitude of examples across various media channels. This book should be required reading for any marketer or marketing student seeking to strengthen connections with consumers.” —Dawn Edmiston, College of William & Mary, Raymond A. Mason School of Business

Features include:

  • A step-by-step process from brand to buyer is illustrated with templates and case studies demonstrating brand storytelling in action.
  • Each chapter includes an intro. to discipline foundations through key figures;  explanation of concepts with stats, examples, template worksheets, a main case study, questions, and exercises.
  • Key terms are bolded and defined throughout and featured in an alphabetic glossary along with an index of key concepts, figures, tables, companies, and cases for easy reference.
  • Instructor resources include chapter outlines, learning objectives, test banks, PowerPoint slides, forms, downloadable template worksheets, example assignments, and syllabi.

Free exam copy and instructor resources for professors at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538176399

New Book Review in Journal of Advertising Education

Brand Storytelling: Integrated Marketing Communications for the Digital Media Landscape offers advertising, public relations, and marketing instructors a useful, readable, and accessible pathway into effective communication for a full-semester course. Students will find the textbook an illumination of the stories they have seen in marketing communication since childhood and develop an understanding that there may be more to the story than the story itself. To the best of our knowledge, no textbooks explore promotional storytelling in an academic context that includes theory and research as well as practical application. Quesenberry and Coolsen’s is the first. –Jay Newell and Erin Wilgenbusch, Iowa State University.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10980482231193981