Elevate: Looking Back and Forward
Jordan P. Kelley, Content Director, BrandStorytelling
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As the business of brand storytelling continues to evolve, Elevate, BrandStorytelling’s annual summer retreat, provides a space for industry leaders to connect, reflect, and shape the future of content-driven marketing. Last year’s event in Sundance, Utah, brought together the brand storytelling community to discuss the evolving role of content, the challenge of differentiation, and the impact of planning at every stage of the storytelling process from ideation to distribution.
Attendees heard from leaders in the space at Questus, Marriott, PG&E, Hyperquake, Microsoft, Northwell Health, Story + Strategy, Immersion: The Value Measurement Company, Logitech, Passion Point Collective, Digitas and Rock the Vote. Screened at the retreat were notable films and series including The Dairy Diaries from MilkPEP, The Power of Travel from Marriott, All That is Sacred from YETI, Kokopelli Strong from Competitive Cyclist and Backcountry, and The Crux from The North Face. The culminating effect of thought leadership and content yielded key insights and observations with which participants could act on how to better their own storytelling efforts at every level.
As we gear up for Elevate 2025, set for July 14th to 17th, let's revisit some key insights from last year that continue to shape how brands win with stories.
How Brands Win with Stories
Traditional advertising alone no longer drives engagement. Today’s audiences seek compelling narratives that resonate on a personal level. Behavioral data and neuroscience confirm that effective storytelling fosters brand advocacy, positioning customers as the most powerful messengers. Successful brands aren’t just telling stories—they are empowering their audiences to carry those narratives forward.
Influencing the C-Suite
One of the biggest hurdles in brand storytelling is securing executive buy-in. A panel of experts explored strategies for aligning storytelling initiatives with business objectives and overcoming internal skepticism. The key takeaway? Clear communication, addressing leadership pain points, and proving ROI are essential to integrating storytelling into broader marketing strategies.
The Future of Immersive Brand Experiences
Brands are increasingly turning to immersive storytelling to deepen audience engagement. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and interactive experiences, companies are crafting impactful brand narratives that merge digital and physical experiences. Last year’s discussions underscored the growing importance of experiential marketing and its ability to leave lasting impressions.
The Science of Immersion
Understanding audience engagement at a neurological level is transforming content strategy. Research demonstrates that attention correlates directly with impact, and advancements in neuroscience now allow brands to measure real-time viewer responses. These insights help refine content, ensuring it not only captures but retains audience attention.
The Human Component
Authenticity remains at the heart of effective brand storytelling. A compelling case study from last year highlighted how brands can drive real-world change by addressing societal issues through meaningful narratives. The session emphasized the role of representation and how brands can use storytelling to inspire action beyond marketing.
The Power of Purpose-Driven Storytelling
Beyond selling products, brands that integrate social responsibility into their storytelling can amplify their impact. Industry experts explored how intellectual property and strategic partnerships can enhance brand narratives while tackling pressing societal challenges. Purpose-driven storytelling isn’t just a trend—it’s an opportunity for brands to build deeper connections with their audiences.
Brands and Civic Engagement
The intersection of storytelling and civic engagement took center stage in a fireside chat on digital strategies and brand collaborations in mobilizing young voters. With the increasing influence of digital-first initiatives, brands have a unique opportunity to shape political participation and awareness through compelling, informative content.
Key Takeaways and Challenges
Great Storytelling: Consumers Want It, Brands Need It
In an era where consumers encounter approximately 5,000 branded messages daily, crafting distinctive and authentic brand narratives has become essential. Research indicates that 85% of buyers prefer storytelling as a means to connect with brands, yet only 10% of marketers believe their brand's story is compelling. This disparity underscores the necessity for brands to develop unique narratives that not only capture attention but also foster emotional connections, setting them apart in a crowded marketplace.
Navigating Budget Constraints
Marketing budgets are getting squeezed - dropping from an average of 9.1% of company revenue in 2023 to 7.7% in 2024 - making the conversation about where to put those dollars even more intense. Brands are feeling the pressure to justify every spend: how much should go toward brand storytelling? How much should production cost? How do you balance creative excellence with distribution needs? Across different touch points of the retreat, these were recurring topics of conversation from which one clear idea emerged: if brands want to keep budgets flowing toward storytelling, they need to be able to clearly demonstrate its worth against its cost. Conversations both on stage and in workshops armed storytellers with tools to speak to leadership, derive compounded utility out of projects, and measure outcomes after a project’s release.
Measuring Brand Storytelling’s ROI
Quantifying the return on investment for brand storytelling remains complex due to its intangible benefits like enhanced brand perception and customer loyalty. While traditional metrics may not fully capture these outcomes, integrating data analytics with narrative strategies can provide deeper insights into storytelling's impact. From focusing on physiological outcomes like improved immersion and emotional response early in a project’s production to tracking elements like engagement and minutes viewed further down the content life cycle, tools and techniques are available to better assess the effectiveness of brand’s storytelling efforts and make informed decisions to optimize future campaigns.
Looking Ahead to Elevate 2025
These insights and takeaways remain valuable, but new challenges and opportunities have presented themselves for brand storytellers since last summer. As with every year at Elevate, the retreat's curriculum is designed in partnership with its participants, ensuring that the most pressing opportunities and pain points of today’s landscape are front and center. BrandStorytelling is set to initiate this collaborative effort with the first town hall discussion ahead of Elevate 2025, which will take place on April 9th. There, currently registered participants will openly discuss the topics most important to them, beginning the discussion that will help shape the content and focus of this summer's retreat.
Join us at Elevate 2025 to be part of these critical discussions and shape the future of brand storytelling. Register today and ensure your voice helps define the content topics explored at this year's retreat.
Questions about Elevate? Ask us here!
About Jordan P. Kelley
Jordan P. Kelley is a branded content trend watcher and thought leader, serving as BrandStorytelling's Content Director and curating the festival portion of BrandStorytelling: a Sanctioned Event of Sundance Film Festival. A Forbes contributor, Kelley co-produces The BrandStorytelling Podcast 'Content That Moves' as well as various video series for the BrandStorytelling YouTube Channel.
