At first glance, this is just an ordinary drinking water tap. But Stanford University has made it something meaningful.
A sign above the tap reads:
This drinking water originates from the Tuolumne River watershed in Yosemite National Park and is conveyed to the Bay Area by a regional water system. The Tuolumne River watershed is the homeland of Indigenous peoples, especially speakers of Sierra Miwok and Northern Paiute and their descendants. These people have cared for and revered this land since time immemorial. We invite you to seek deeper knowledge about the water you draw from this tap.
A simple water tap, something people might otherwise overlook, becomes a reminder of history and respect. Story can enrich everyday experiences, making the ordinary feel significant.
Stories fascinate people and are often more easily remembered than facts. Much has been written about the power of stories in branding, but very little empirical evidence exists of their effects on consumer responses. In the present study, we investigate how a firm-originated story influences consumers’ brand experience, by comparing the brand experiences of two groups of consumers. One group was exposed to the story and one group was not. An existing brand was used in the study, which had not been launched in the focal country. In-depth interviews were conducted with individuals in the two experimental conditions. The comparison revealed remarkable differences between the two groups. Consumers who were exposed to the story described the brand in much more positive terms and were willing to pay more for the product. The study contributes to brand management research and practice by demonstrating the power of storytelling on consumer experiences. The results are also important from a managerial point of view. They demonstrate how brand stories can be used to create and reinforce positive brand associations. A review of past research in combination with the findings demonstrates that more research is needed on the effect of stories on consumer brand responses.
Like me, people may like a brand more strongly when they happen to know the story behind the brand. Here, the story behind the brand could be about how an advertisement was shoot like NTT DoCoMo. Alternatively, it could be about how the product was manufactured like Apple Watch Gold.
Or, the story behind the brand could even be the information about the person who started a winery and raised grapes. One study showed that people are confident and more likely to buy a wine when they read the name of the wine maker on its back label.
I believe a story behind the brand could be anything like a simple marketing process. When consumers are exposed to this kind of story about a brand, they will like the brand more, in particular, when its quality is difficult to be judged (e.g., wine, painting, quilt, cheese).
This paper investigates whether including authentic information on the back labels of wine bottles enhances consumers’ confidence and purchase intentions about wine; it also assesses the moderating role of involvement and knowledge about wine. We conducted two experimental studies. Study 1 generated three findings. First, when the back label had authentic information, subjects showed higher confidence levels. Second, this effect was hold for subjects with low levels of involvement. Finally, we did not observe this effect for subjects with high levels of involvement. Study 2 extended study 1’s findings and identified the moderated mediation effect of confidence. The findings highlight the important impact on wine choice of authentic information. However, the findings also suggest that authentic information may not be sufficient to attract people with high levels of involvement and knowledge. This study’s findings provide wine producers with practical marketing insights.
Appendix 2a. Experimental stimuli for study 2-Label Grape.
Appendix 2a. Experimental stimuli for study 2-Label Authentic.
