We still get involved in great stories. We live characters' lives, root for them during their journeys and development. And most of all - when they take up a challenge, fail and get back up.
Now that is the secret sauce to lifting your PR campaign from simply good to terrific - digital storytelling.
Sounds great, but how to rock it, to really stand out?
Get inspired by nine digital storytelling examples below and learn how to work with digital stories to make the most of it.
- What is digital storytelling?
- Why does digital storytelling matter to PR?
- 9 real-life digital storytelling examples of big PR campaigns
- How to track the performance of your digital storytelling campaigns
- Level up your PR with hashtag campaigns
Looking for a way to research your competitor's work stories? Check out Prowly's monitoring tool and keep your fingers on the pulse.
Telling your own digital stories requires you to follow a few rules. But first, let's focus on its core – what is it?
What is digital storytelling?
Digital storytelling uses technology and all of its advantages to share your story with a wide audience.
Instead of traditional methods like books or oral tales, digital storytelling combines words, images, sounds, and videos to create a more engaging and interactive digital story.
Digital storytelling examples and types
What type of content can you choose to create your digital story? The sky's the limit but below you can check out the several most common types:
- Brand Narratives through Visuals
- GIFs and Memes
- Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
- Podcasts
- Behind-the-Scenes Content
- Data-driven Stories
- Press Releases and News Updates
Why does digital storytelling matter to PR?
Emotional Connection
Via your digital story you can create deep emotional bonds, enhancing message retention and brand loyalty. When it comes to PR, it's all about connections.
Personalization
Craft stories customized to a particular audience to enhance relevance and resonance. Tailoring narratives to specific groups ensures a more personalized and impactful connection with more diverse audience groups.
Real-Time Updates
You can provide live story updates to promptly respond to unfolding events. Keep your audience updated, but in a fun and interesting way.
Interactive Experiences
Quizzes, polls, and virtual reality help make narrative and immersive journeys that invite people to actively interact with your content. By delivering quizzes and polls, you can stimulate real-time involvement, encouraging audiences to reflect on the narrative. All while virtual reality adds a layer of experiential depth, transporting them into a dynamic and memorable storytelling environment.
Data-driven Storytelling
Improve your message’s credibility, tailor communication to your target audience, and measure its impact for strategy optimization. By integrating data into their narratives, PR professionals can build trust, tailor messages effectively, and demonstrate the tangible value of their efforts.
9 real-life digital storytelling examples of big PR campaigns
1️⃣ Rebuild the World by LEGO
Launched on September 20th, 2021, the LEGO Group's Rebuild the World campaign is all about celebrating kids as creative problem-solvers.
The heart of the campaign is a cute video showing a Knight's journey, where a diverse town works together to overcome challenges and bring friends together. The focus is on how playing with LEGO sparks creative problem-solving skills, teaching important life lessons like resilience and effective communication.
The campaign is full of funny visuals that showcase clever solutions using LEGO bricks, highlighting the awesome power of playing together. It's one of those digital stories that's enjoyable for both kids and adults!
Storytelling lesson: Use hashtag campaigns to engage social media users. Make a buzz about your story and let people create some of their own social media storytelling connected to your tale.
2️⃣ Monty the Penguin campaign by John Lewis
Have you met Monty? It is an adorable penguin, the best friend of a young boy, and the main character of the campaign. And an icon of John Lewis' storytelling.
The story unfolds as the boy observes Monty feeling lonely, leading him to realize that Monty needs a companion. The heartwarming tale culminates in a Christmas morning surprise when Sam (the boy) introduces a female penguin named Mabel, who is waiting near the Christmas tree, to Monty.
As if your eyes weren't watering enough yet, John Lewis decided to support the WWF's efforts in Antarctica, where they are trying to protect the home of Adélie penguins like Monty and Mabel.
John Lewis shoppers were also encouraged to help by either purchasing Tom Odell’s single (which is used in the ad), or by adopting an Adélie penguin with WWF.
Storytelling lesson: Evoke emotions and create excitement around the wait. John Lewis knows how to make Christmas ads and now each year we impatiently wait for more.
3️⃣ #LikeAGirl campaign by Always
In 2014, Always rocked the advertisement world and launched the #LikeAGirl campaign which challenged gender stereotypes.
At the core of this awesome campaign was a video where people of all ages and backgrounds were asked to do things "like a girl." It showed how puberty can impact how girls see their own abilities. Younger girls rocked these tasks with confidence, breaking stereotypes, but older participants sometimes approached them with hesitation or a sense of weakness.
The whole idea was to change what it means to do something "like a girl" and boost confidence in girls of all ages. It raised a discussion – within 24 hours the #LikeAGirl hashtag was tweeted over 4k times.
The campaign touched the core of womanhood and girlhood and rang a bell about how stereotypes shape the world around us.
Storytelling lesson: Allow clients and users to share their own stories and embrace authenticity. When individuals see themselves reflected in characters, it creates a resonance within their minds and hearts, ensuring that the story and its message endure in their memories for longer.
If you are looking for inspiration or an interesting user story, use Prowly's Media Monitoring tool. Thanks to this, any intriguing story won't miss your attention.
4️⃣ Visit Norway storytelling and the #SheepWithAView viral video
Any fans of Scandinavia here? If so, you've probably seen a now viral video by Visit Norway – a digital story about sheep living their best lives in Norway.
It took only seconds to create some compelling digital storytelling that shows Norway in all its glory. With beautiful landscapes and nature – it shows the country through the eyes of its natural inhabitants.
The video consists of an introduction that presents four sheep guides: Kari, Lars, Erik, and Frida. Each has its video in which they present the country from a different angle.
There was also an official Instagram account, where you could follow each sheep's life, and an interactive map on a dedicated page to help you dig deeper into the topic and learn more about each sheep's region.
Storytelling lesson: Create suspense. The sheep were introduced to the public but in order to learn the digital stories of each, people were forced to wait. This built curiosity and engagement.
5️⃣ Spotify Wrapped 2023
Spotify is a great example of multimedia storytelling that works. They know how to engage people and make their digital stories interesting to their audience.
Each year people impatiently wait to see their Spotify Wrapped playlists. In 2023, Spotify decided to play a game and reveal The Global Artist piece by piece (literally, there were puzzles (banners) in different locations).
People got involved in this digital story. They united around the world, searching for clues while awaiting the big reveal.
P.S. Taylor Swift, congrats!
Storytelling lesson: Gamification and connecting digital storytelling with real-life banners. Mixing digital stories with real-life actions is a great way to engage people and boost their curiosity. This is one of the most popular and working digital story examples.
6️⃣ Spotify Only You
Spotify really nails the art of digital storytelling, and they did it again with the Only You launch.
This cool campaign celebrates each user's special music taste by using in-app experiences to show off their unique listening habits and connect them with fellow fans. The whole idea is to tell listeners, "You're one of a kind, but you're not on your own," making the bond between Spotify and its users even stronger. It's all about feeling special and part of a music-loving community!
Throughout the campaign, users engaged with their personal stats, such as Your Song Year and Your Topics, and shared these with others, enhancing the overall user experience. Only You is one of the most well-done and famous storytelling examples performed by Spotify.
Storytelling lesson: Put a spotlight on your users. Let them feel special and create something they can share with others. This is how a digital story is written.
7️⃣ Storytelling art: Wes Anderson for Prada
Wes Anderson's campaign for Prada is a perfect answer to "What is a digital story?" They not only created a great piece of art for a Prada commercial but also paid tribute to Federico Fellini at the same time.
It is an eight-minute film for Prada called "Castello Cavalcanti," which features Jason Schwartzman as a racecar driver crashing into an Italian village. It pays homage to Federico Fellini, showcasing Anderson's meticulous style and referencing Fellini's films. Despite being an ad, Prada's logo is subtly integrated, avoiding overt branding.
The film serves as a treat for cinephiles, blending Anderson's style with nods to Fellini. Prada successfully combines auteur artistry with advertising, engaging fans and generating goodwill.
Watch it here, you won't regret it.
Storytelling lesson: Mastering digital storytelling may also mean using classic storytelling in order to be remembered for years. Here, Wes Anderson has created art, delivering an interesting story, an ad and a work of art at the same time.
Want to keep up to date? Monitor digital media with Prowly. Be the first to cover interesting, fresh stories and join the conversation on time.
8️⃣ #HereForYou Instagram campaign
In 2017 Instagram launched the mental health support campaign, #HereForYou. It includes a video in which users of Instagram speak about their issues, like eating disorders or depression.
It highlighted how this social media platform took part in their journey of getting back on track – the community played a crucial role. As a public advocate, actress Troian Bellisario spoke about her battle and how vital it is to have people who understand this journey nearby.
This video includes highlighted hashtags commonly used in mental health-related topics, ie. #MentalHealthMatters, #RecoveryIsPossible,and #EndTheStigma.
Storytelling lesson: Instagram launched digital storytelling that created a positive online environment and supported a good cause. Moreover, from a purely business point of view, they nailed the leverage hashtags for the movement.
9️⃣ Patagonia "Don't buy this jacket" campaign
Patagonia’s storytelling is a well-known case. The "Don't Buy This Jacket" campaign, launched on Black Friday in 2011, featured a full-page ad in The New York Times discouraging consumers from purchasing one of their best-selling jackets.
Sounds not very sales-y, doesn't it?
The campaign promoted conscious consumption by raising awareness about the environmental impact of consumerism. Patagonia, known for its commitment to sustainability, used this campaign to spark a conversation about responsible and thoughtful consumer choices.
Despite the counterintuitive nature of discouraging purchases, the campaign successfully aligned with the company's values and highlighted the importance of environmental awareness.
Storytelling lesson: Value-driven stories can make digital storytelling useful for good causes. Creating a buzz about important topics and your brand may be a win-win. If you want to monitor them, use Prowly's Media Monitoring tool.
How to track the performance of your digital storytelling campaigns?
Once you let your digital storytelling campaign shine, you should start following the metrics. What are people saying about it? Do they share, like, comment?
You can use a Social Media Listening & Monitoring tool to learn how your campaign is doing and see all the most important data in one place.
Monitoring the hashtags of digital stories campaigns
With Prowly’s “follow hashtag” feature, you can choose the hashtags you want to follow and keep your fingers on the pulse of what people are saying about your digital storytelling.
Follow the mentions that include your chosen keywords as a hashtag, eg. the name of your brand.
Use cases:
👉🏼 social impact campaigns, raising awareness about certain issues, and promoting a hashtag
👉🏼 cooperation with Instagram influencers and brand ambassadors tagging their posts in a certain way
Although it’s very useful to track mentions of a particular hashtag in social media digital storytelling, you can take it one step further.
▪️ Follow variations of the hashtag, as people often make silly errors by mistake, such as misspelling your brand’s name.
▪️ It’s also good to follow related keywords in case users forgot to add the hash # sign.
Tracking the engagement and sentiment of your digital story
Even if your media coverage is excellent in important outlets, there's a chance that social listening might reveal less favorable comments and sentiments on various social platforms.
Consider social monitoring as a comprehensive approach to see the world from all perspectives.
When you have more information you can form more comprehensive conclusions and react in no time to prevent back flash. After all, that’s also what PR is about.
Level up your PR with hashtag campaigns
From masterful ideas to impactful execution, these cases show how organizations can effectively leverage the online space to craft engaging narratives. Each of them may provide a great benchmark while creating your own digital story.
If you want to learn about more up-to-date digital storytelling examples, check Prowly's Monitoring Tool and follow topics that may interest you.
