How to Find Your Brand's Story

Today we're going to talk about the most

important part of storytelling for your

brand, the plot. You have to understand

plot to create a strong brand narrative,

which in today's world, the core story

is what it's all about. The biggest

artists in the world are using

well-defined, compelling plots with

their brands and storytelling. It's a

big part of why their brands connect

with millions of people. If you want to

grow your artist project and build a

real connection with your audience,

you're going to need to understand brand

plot. Many artists may have a rough

sense of what their story may be, but

the difference between them and top tier

artists is the top tier artists know

exactly what their plot structures are

and are applying them to their brands

every day. Brand plot is how to engineer

your storytelling to get a viewer to

care about you, your project, and your

story. If you can properly execute one

of the plot structures that we'll talk

about in today's video, and combine that

with a strong identity and great music,

the sky's is the limit on how far you

can take your project.

So, who am I to even talk about this? I

have a longer video on the neighborhood

art supply channel that goes into my

backstory and my 20 years working in the

creative arts. But I'm Chris Alba. I own

a niche creative agency called the Cole

Creatives where we help artists and

creative companies help better tell

their stories. We've done tens of

millions of dollars in business over the

last 10 years. And we've worked with

many household names in the music

industry as well as Fortune 500

companies. Over the last 10 years, we've

written brand stories for hundreds of

artists. and plot and what the story is

about is always one of the key elements

that we spend a lot of time building out

and defining. Today, I'm going to walk

through the seven main plots we look at

and how we apply them to the artist

projects we're working on. So, in terms

of structure, how I'm going to structure

today's video is I'm going to explain

each plot type of the seven plots. These

are all taken from Christopher Booker's

book, The Seven Plots, which is regarded

basically as the Bible when it comes to

plot structure. It's 800 pages and it

took him 30 years to write and you'd be

hardressed to find any new plot

structures out there. So, I'll discuss

the plot type and its structure and then

I'll talk about how this plot could

potentially be applied to your artist

brand and your content strategy. Because

in terms of content, the plot structure

is as important as the brand personality

archetype. So, before we dive into the

different plot structures, let me

explain why plot matters as much as it

does, and why posting your great art or

great music and making a few creative

content pieces may not be enough to

really bond someone to you. The bond or

the connection is what makes them

curious to see what you do next. They're

interested in you and they want to see

where the story goes. There's a deep

psychology to why having a structured

plot surrounding your brand gets more

people interested in your story and the

things you have surrounding it. The

first and main reason plot works the way

it does is psychology. The human mind

craves finding patterns. It's how we're

genetically wired to learn and it's tied

directly to our survival. A plot creates

a recognizable arc, beginning, middle,

and end, and moments that our brains are

wired to follow. It gives us a sense of

anticipation on what's to come next. The

second reason plot works is tension and

curiosity. Plots introduce problems,

stakes, or mysteries. They create

curiosity loops for the mind. The

audience sticks around to find out what

happens next and how it all resolves.

When you open a curiosity loop, the

person viewing is primally wired to see

how it ends. It's why that cliffhanger

keeps you there through the adbreak. The

third reason plot works is emotional

engagement. A well-crafted plot connects

us emotionally to characters and

situations. We feel their struggles,

growth, and triumphs which keep us

invested. There's another video on the

neighborhood art supply channel that

goes into the psychology of why fans

will follow your artist project. So, if

you haven't seen that yet, it's worth

checking out as it'll pair nicely with

the information I'm going through today.

But understanding why someone may be

following your project can help inspire

where you go with your plot and your

storyline. The fourth reason that plot

works is comfort. It's comforting when

there's a plot that we consciously or

subconsciously recognize. Structure

makes information more easily

understood. Instead of random events, a

plot organizes content into a meaningful

sequence. The more confusing a story is,

the harder it is to pay attention, and

it takes more brain power. We're

genetically engineered to protect our

cognitive load for the things that

actually matter. So, if your story is

confusing, you may be losing a huge part

of the people who may love your art, but

they just don't want to spend the time

to decode your complex or confusing

story. And the fifth reason that plot

works is identification and reflection.

Plots often reflect universal human

experiences. Things like loss, growth,

love, revenge, triumph, making it easier

for the viewer to see themselves in the

story. When someone sees themselves in

your brand or what they aspire to be,

the brand means more to them because now

you represent who they are or who they

seek to be. It's a totally different

kind of bond than somebody who's

casually listening to your music or

viewing your art. So these are the

reasons why plot is so important in your

storytelling efforts and why it must be

a foundational element that holds up the

rest of the project. Okay, so let's dive

into the structures and before we get

into each one at a high level, what are

the seven basic plots? All right, so

plot structure number one, overcoming

the monster. So overcoming the monster

is our first classic plot type in which

a protagonist or hero faces a great evil

and overcomes an antagonist or monster.

The monster can be literal,

metaphorical, or symbolic, or could be

anything representing fear, oppression,

or inner demons. I had a brand we built

a few months back that was a hero brand,

and the antagonist was the music

industry. We made the artist the hero,

and the villains in the story were the

different gatekeepers and expected

stereotypes for artists. It gave his

story a very clear villain, and it gave

us something to be heroic against so the

audience would understand that he was a

hero brand. And right now, if you're

asking what's a hero brand, there's

another video on the Neighborhood Art

Supply channel titled Addicting

Storytelling that has good information

on brand archetypes. So, if you don't

know what those are yet, I'd suggest

going and watching that. But for plot

structure of overcoming the monster, it

goes like this. First, there's a call to

action and a threat emerges. The

protagonist becomes aware of a looming

danger or challenge. Second, there's an

initial defeat, which leads to then

preparation. Third is then

confrontation. The hero faces the

monster either in a physical or symbolic

battle. Fourth is near defeat. So the

monster seems to be winning and the hero

hits the lowest point in the story and

then finally it ends in victory where

the hero overcomes the monster and then

emerges transformed or empowered. So

let's take this plot structure and run

it against an actual movie. And for this

I'll use a quiet place which has a

literal monster or monsters to be

defeated. So first was the call to