Theoretical bases for analyzing the organic process of collective narrative and storytelling in advertising

Abstract

Collective narrative or storytelling in advertising is a new form of narrative in which each fragment gives meaning to the whole story at the same time as conveying brand identity to the consumer. These modern collective stories build a narrative using bases which are similar to those used by our ancestors. This article presents a series of elements which constitute the beginnings of a standard methodology of study in the construction of a collective narrative as a sales communication tool. These distinctive components form a conclusive part of the similarities and differences observed in the processes of collective narrative throughout history and the possible applications of storytelling in advertising. In order to do this, we have revised the history of collective narrative from its most primitive form through to the present day. We have also analyzed the connection with current transmedia storytelling in order to look for similar features which allow us to identify basic patterns, as well as the interest in knowing about developments from the origins of group stories through to storytelling in advertising today. In the second part of the investigation, four examples of collective and transmedia narrative processes were examined: The Button Experiment, Twitch Plays, Pandemic and Decode Jay Z with Bing. As a result, we have defined three common stages in the building process of collective narrative, including storytelling in advertising, and we have generated application models which differentiate group stories for sales purposes from general collective narrative with the intention of building a useful guide for studying these systems from an academic perspective. The results may be presented in a simple form but their usefulness in confirmed and they provide a base on which to continue the investigation.