Mintel: The power of storytelling
Storytelling has become a key selling proposition for
many companies, big and small. To find out more about
this marketing phenomenon, we contacted David Jago,
Director of Innovation & Insight at Mintel, one of the
world’s leading market intelligence agencies.
David, why are stories and the craft of storytelling so
important
nowadays?
We live in an era of fake news and there’s erosion of trust in
government, the media and regulatory authorities. The real,
the genuine and the true have always been at the heart of
the consumer experience, but our desire for “the real thing”
has now been amplified. In food and drink, that means
consumers distrust “big food”, they want to understand
where their food comes from, how it was sourced, how it was
made, and what exactly is in it.
In Mintel research conducted last year, approximately half
of UK and German consumers and just 30 percent of French
consumers, said that they trusted the food and drink industry
as a whole when it comes to safe consumption. But 73
percent of Germans, 65 percent of French consumers and
56 percent of UK consumers said that they are more likely to
trust a food/drink product if the packaging explains where the
ingredients are sourced.
How has storytelling evolved over time and why are writing
good stories such a powerful marketing tool?
Some countries have always had a better “heritage” of
storytelling. France and Italy, for example, with their strong
cultural and local ties to food and agriculture, have long
exploited the power of narrative in marketing speciality
foods at home and abroad. In the wider context, this trend
started out among small, local companies, in particular craft
brewers, and remains more common in categories that have
a more direct connection to the farm (dairy, meat, cereals).
But all brands have an opportunity to explore and share
the heritage of their own products, especially those with a
compelling narrative.
10
David Jago,
Director of Innovation
& Insight at Mintel
It’s about reassurance, but more importantly it’s about
romancing the consumer, engaging with the consumer on
an emotional level. And in today’s digital, instant-response
realm, that emotional connection is even more important
– enhancing the food experience for the consumer who
is bombarded with information and images, struggling to
discern what’s “real”.
Is storytelling within the food industry different from other
industries and if so, in what way?
The last few years have seen enormous growth in craft and
artisanal values in food markets, and not just from smaller
players. Big companies, even multinationals, are leveraging
local and artisanal values to make their brands and products
more “real” for consumers. They do this through storytelling,
through providing information on provenance and
processing, through reassurances of a product’s ethical and
social values.
The food ingredients industry, too, must provide transparency
and add value through a story. Successful ingredients
suppliers don’t just sell ingredients, they provide solutions in
partnership with their customers, providing a story that adds
value through the supply chain and helps deliver a fullyrounded
consumer proposition. Indeed, we could argue that
the latest evolution of the clean label trend is transparency
and provenance of the ingredients, not just the elimination
of villainized additives. This works because consumers are
looking for the “plus” – a focus on the positives of what is in
a product rather than the negatives, of what is not – and the
story justifies the added value proposition and price.