Had a great session with the folks from Levi Strauss & Co. – here are some of the thoughts.

Storytelling can be a way to take a customer new a new level of affinity by sharing brand experiences. Levis does a great job of this on many levels; there are stories about the denim, the people, the jeans lost in a time long ago when minors would wear two pairs at a time to protect themselves…. The way these same jeans came to be found, and the people who collect them as treasured items.

Stories are what connect brands with the customer and takes them to a new level of relationship. When telling powerful stories, use memory hooks that will take the listener to a place in their mind where they can paint a powerful picture. Mapping the audience to a place when telling stories will let them share more deeply in the experience. 

In telling powerful stories, they must represent something, they must have characters. Souvenirs can be left with the audience to take them back to the story long after it has been shared with them.

Imagination is perception in reverse.