Never ending story ? Storytelling som en varumärkesstrategi
We were accepted to the field study Dignity and therefore chose to write our thesis in connection with it. Our subject is the oasis of Siwa in Egypt. The society has long been isolated, and therefore, the city has been able to preserve their handicraft methods and values. We chose to study the Ecological and Handicraft Development Center, which is a newly opened center for craft production. We wanted to see how the centre could use storytelling as a marketing strategy. Our main problem is: How can Ecological and Handicraft Development Center use storytelling to promote their handicraft products? The investigation will explore the concept of storytelling related to branding. It will make proposals on an appropriate approach for Ecological and Handicraft Development Center. The market for organic products is also highlighted in the study. To highlight the difficulties, two companies will act as examples. We chose to look at our thesis from a hermeneutic approach because the aim is not to obtain an absolute truth, but to ensure the empirical data from different perspectives and thus get a deeper understanding. The empirical data will mainly consist of soft data and we want to understand the chosen area, therefore we will conduct a qualitative study. The purpose is normative, because the result will consist of proposals for the centre. The focus on our theories is storytelling. Storytelling is a relatively new concept in marketing. Corporate storytelling is defined as storytelling in organizations or businesses, in both internal and external context. The company analyzes its own identity in order to find core values and build the story around them. There are various criteria narrators should be taken into account when a story is built. Each story must have a message, a conflict, characters and plot. It should be short and not too informative since the reader needs space to create his/her own image and thus be a part of the story. Storytelling is according to several theorists a useful tool for branding. Green marketing is the process of selling products or services through the use of their environmental benefits in marketing. Customers today are skeptical concerning green marketing. This is because companies in the 1990s, claimed that they were selling organic products when they did not. However, a new customer has risen through the ongoing environmental and ethical debate. The customers have an ecologically conscience and buy products based on these values. Fair trade is an area in the green marketing, where companies can be certified. It requires that the organization follow predetermined guidelines. Through the research we found that the Ecological and Handicraft Development Center?s core values is their desire to preserve handicraft traditions in Siwa and help the society. The company should use a true story because with a fictitious one it will probably harm the company more. With the continuing debate about ethics and problems in society it is likely that consumers will be upset if the truth is discovered. The company can use either a community story or a story about the founding of the company as a storytelling. Ecological and Handicraft Development Center is a newly established small company, hence should seize the opportunity to use digital storytelling. This method does not require vast resources. It is easy to spread and can be displayed on web sites, conferences, trade fairs or in mobile phones.