“Stop being Switzerland!” This could sound like vague advice but it’s so important today. Translated it means that your brand can’t be neutral anymore. There’s so much noise you have to stand out. To help, marketers and serial co-authors Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio have penned the new book The Laws of Brand Storytelling, which launches this week. Both joined me on the On Brand podcast to discuss.

About Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio

Ekaterina Walter is a globally recognized business and marketing innovator, international speaker, and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Think Like Zuck and coauthor of The Power of Visual Storytelling. After pioneering social media and digital strategies for Fortune 500 brands such as Intel and Accenture, she cofounded a start-up that was acquired by Sprinklr, a customer experience management platform, where she served as Global Evangelist. She now helps global organizations build customer-centric digital transformation strategies.

Ekaterina’s thought leadership has been featured on CNBC, ABC, NBC, FOX News, Forbes, Fast Company, TechCrunch, CNN, WSJ, Inc., and Huffington Post, among others. She’s been consistently recognized by the industry and her peers for her innovative thinking: she was number three on Forbes’s World’s Top 40 Social Marketing Talent, and Fortune magazine included her on the list of the most impactful business people on social media, alongside Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington, Warren Buffet, and others. When Ekaterina is not writing about digital and business innovation, she and her nine-year-old daughter coauthor children’s books. The first of a planned series, Amber and Sapphire: The Magic Spell, was published in 2017.

Jessica Gioglio is a recognized digital and social business strategist and the coauthor of The Power of Visual Storytelling. She has spent over a decade leading transformative marketing, public relations, and social media programs for best-in-class companies including Dunkin’ Donuts, TripAdvisor, State Street, Comcast, and Sprinklr. From advising top companies on social media and digital business transformation, to leading an award-winning public relations and social media program for Dunkin’ Donuts, or providing disruptive communications programs for TripAdvisor, Jessica thrives on delivering customer-centric innovation and growth acceleration.

A recognized thought leader and sought-after speaker, Jessica was named one of the top marketing leaders to follow by LinkedIn, HubSpot, TopRank Online Marketing, and the United Kingdom’s We Are The City. Jessica’s thought leadership and industry commentary has been featured on CNBC, USA Today, PR Week, ComputerWorld, Chief Marketer, and more.

Episode Highlights

How is brand storytelling different? Ekaterina kicked off the show by reminding us that we need a new definition. “When people hear ‘storytelling’ they assume you mean marketing. Or content. Content was really storytelling 1.0. It’s not just for marketing anymore because your brand is built by what other people say.”

How do you embrace taking a stand? “You have to align advocacy with authenticity. Everyone has brand style guides for what to do visually. They don’t always have guidelines around values.”

Who’s doing this really well? Ekaterina and Jessica pointed us to GE who’s focusing on 50/50 representation of females in STEM roles by 2020. We also discussed Nike and Honeymade with some good reminders on how to launch and execute campaigns like this.

What brands have made Ekaterina and Jessica smile recently? Ekaterina told a story about a funny cease and desist from Bud Light while Jessica used Land Rover to reinforce the power of brand storytelling.

To learn more, check out The Laws of Brand Storytelling on Amazon and visit Ekaterina and Jessica’s personal websites.

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