PRESS RELEASE Research

CoolBrands and 3DAccountability shows:

STORYTELLING CAN DOUBLE BUYING INTENTION

New York - Amsterdam, November 7th 2011 Storytelling can double the buying intention. As is shown by a qualitative study conducted by CoolBrands and research agency 3DAccountability, the latter is based in New York. It shows that consumers dont buy your product, service or idea, but they are primarily interested in the story that is attached to it. In a laboratory setting brands like OMO, Pepsi and KLM were studied compared to their competitors, by presenting these brands by way of storytelling. In all cases there a positive effect was perceived. The most important output: -the net promotor score (would you recommend this brand to others) for OMO (Unilever) increased with 33%; - the buying intention for Pepsi doubled; - the brand attribute I would like to work for DSM increased with 20%; - the brand attribute Is relevant in our society increased with 76%. Behavior change by emotion Maarten Schfer of CoolBrands regarding the results: We already knew that information is processed by the left side of the brain, the rational side. This study has shown that information that is incorporated into a narrative content, triggers emotion and is processed by the right side of the brain. Furthermore it has become clear that emotions can lead to changes in behavior, whereas ratio usually only changes attitude. Anouk Papers of CoolBrands adds the following: Storytelling does not only influence the brand perception of the person who hears the story first hand. Good stories travel further. So the influence of telling a good story to 1 person can go way beyond the brand perception of this individual. This offers huge opportunities for brands in a time in which classical communication, like advertising, is working less and less well. By giving people a message in a narrative way, you make it easier for them to transmit this message to peers, according to Stephanie Lopez of 3DAccountability. Buying behavior is hugely influenced by peer-to-peer communication, 70% of purchase decisions are based on peer-to-peer influence. This study shows that it is worthwhile to invest in storytelling, because this is the driver for word-of-mouth. //// NOTE FOR THE EDITOR: For more information on the research or if you want your story to be tested, contact Anouk Pappers at anouk@coolbrands.org or Stephanie Lopez at Stephanie@3daccountability.com. CoolBrands is an initiative of Maarten Schfer and Anouk Pappers. They also initiated the following projects: CoolTravel, CoolTravel Forest and CoolSustainability. Porter Novelli takes care of all PR and communication for the Cool projects since 2002. The research methodology In an experimental research design, we tested 5 sets of 2 brands, by means of a qualitative market research. Each brand tested was and compared to a competitive control brand. The pretest asked about familiarity, consideration, top pick and net promotor score (NPS). Next to this, we checked some brand attributes to get insight into the brand imagery. After the pretest, the 50 students were part of a guestlecture. During this guestlecture the stories of the 5 test brands have been shared. After the guestlecture, the students participated in the post-test. The post-test checked the same aspects as the pretest, to make comparison optimal. The research has been conducted by CoolBrands House and 3DAccountability, based on a research methodology developed by the latter, based in New York.