THE DUBLIN BUS AD THAT MADE ME CRY. THROUGH THE STORYBRAND FRAMEWORK.

Dublin Bus is a public bus service. Every day, my kids hop on and off their double decker buses en route to school and activities. It’s not a brand that I ever gave much thought to, even though I see tens of buses every day – like I said, it’s the city’s bus company – I take it for granted.

But the other day, I watched the new Dublin Bus Ad (and cried). Since then, every time I see a Dublin Bus, a sort of warm feeling washes over me. A feeling of pride. A feeling of community.

With this ad, Dublin Bus achieves the ultimate goal of empowerment marketing or narrative marketing:

Narrative transportation. Narrative transportation refers to the concept where a person is placed into and immersed in the world of a story (a narrative). Once a person is lost in the story, the story will direct their thoughts and actions. For brands, successful narrative marketing results in their audience feeling connected with their brand which in turn drives loyalty.

In order to tell a brand story that achieves narrative transportation, we must follow the rules of story. Stories are formulaic – screenwriters, for example, follow as many as 36 plot points in order to create the narrative for a good movie. StoryBrand is a framework which brands and businesses use to tell their story so that customers engage. It’s a framework that marketers use to create marketing collateral that compels. The StoryBrand framework consists of 7 distilled plot-points that every story needs in order for it to make sense and be compelling.

In this post, I’m going to look at the Dublin Bus Ad through the StoryBrand framework.

A Character

The character of the story is always the hero and the hero is always your customer, not your brand. A good story always quickly and clearly defines what the character wants or needs. The character(s), or hero, in the Dublin Bus Ad are the customers who at a basic level, want to be able to access public transport. At a deeper level, they want to feel independent and free.

With a Problem

In the StoryBrand framework, there are three levels of problem that the character experiences. The external problem is the physical problem – in this case, the problem of not having easy access or ability to public transport because you are disabled.

The internal problem is defined as how the external problem makes you feel. In this case, the character feels frustrated and unempowered.

The third level of problem is the philosophical problem, which relates to why it’s just plain wrong that the character is facing these internal and external problems. In the Dublin Bus Ad narrative, the philosophical problem is that it’s not right that people with disabilities shouldn’t have independence and freedom – everyone else does.

When a story combines all three levels of problems, it resonates with people. Here’s how I think of customer problems in relation to how much connection or emotion they create:

External level 1 connection. Your customer understands it.

Internal level 2 connection Your customer feels it.

Philosophical level 3 connection Your customer believes in it.

When you speak to all three levels of problem in a story narrative, you create a compelling story loop – the reader (or viewer) needs to know how the story ends – with either a successful or unsuccessful resolution to the problems that have been defined.

If you stop talking about your customers problems, they stop paying attention to your brand.

Meets a Guide

Here’s the part where Dublin Bus nails it. By firmly positioning their brand as the guide, they invite us into a narrative that is about us, not them.

Roger, the highly relatable, down-to-earth, infinitely human Dublin Bus travel assistant is the guide. As a guide to your customer, there are two things that your brand in its role as the guide must communicate:

1. Empathy

Dublin Bus take empathy to next-level in this ad. We are shown that Roger has blindfolded himself and undertaken the task of boarding public transport. In other words, he knows how it feels. The Dublin Bus ad identifies strongly with their target customer – Roger is one of us, he gets it.

2. Authority

Roger is hugely experienced as a travel assistant and his authority or credibility is marked by the deep connection that his customers have with him and the fact that he absolutely loves his job.

Who Gives Them a Plan

So far, your customer is the hero who has a problem or a challenge to overcome. The hero meets a guide, which is your brand.

Your brand must give the hero a plan so that the hero can win the day. Roger has a plan. He connects with his customers, forms a trusting relationship with them and guides them to freedom and independence.

And Calls them to Action

We must call our customers to action, otherwise they won’t know how to do business with us. Dublin Bus tell us clearly,: ‘we have a travel assistance scheme, you’ll be guided by an empathic and expert guide, come get the freedom you deserve’.

That Results in Success and Avoids Failure

Every story has to have an ending. The story loop must close. In a great brand narrative, the ending will speak to the success that the customer will achieve if they engage with your services. The Dublin Bus ad does this expertly – the ending is emotive and inspiring – Dublin Bus can give you your freedom back, there is no need for you to forsake your independence.

So there it is, a look at a Bus ad that made me cry through the StoryBrand framework. StoryBrand is a messaging filter created specifically for brands that highlights the key plot points in every good story. The creativity is then up to you – storytelling is part art, part science. But one thing’s for sure, by inviting your audience to be the hero in your story, you will develop brand loyalty and maximise engagement.

Consumers are driven by unconscious urges, the biggest of which is emotion.