Brand storytelling isn’t just a marketing tactic. It’s the book that sears a brand into culture and memory.
In a country where community and connection are deeply valued, telling a story that resonates emotionally is the equivalent of a best seller. Or a cult classic. Or a literary staple.
And brand storytelling isn’t so different from telling any other story. As writer and brand innovation veteran Dan Salva puts it, you have your setting, your characters, your plot, your conflict, your resolution, and your transformation (not ending).
After all, nobody wants their brand to end.
This won’t be a literature class in any way, shape, or form. But we’re going to dissect what makes a brand story and pick the secrets that enrich your brand’s narrative.
But First, Why Does A Brand Story Matter?
The obvious answer: because you’re a brand catering to people.
Here are the facts:
- As of 2018, more and more Filipino consumers found ads intrusive
- Stories are remembered 22 times more than facts alone (General Atlantic Professor of Marketing Jennifer Aaken, Stanford Women’s Studies).
- This is supported by a 2019 study: people remember stories more because dopamine fires like crazy when experiencing events or hearing stories that are emotionally charged.
And most importantly:
- The Philippines has 97.5 million Filipinos using the internet – even in many remote areas in the country. (Digital 2025: the Philippines)
- Filipino adults spend around 6-8 hours in front of screens. (Rolling Stone)
- Trustworthiness is significantly important in whether or not Filipinos buy something from platforms such as TikTok. (Philippine Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, January 2025)
In order to establish trust among Filipinos, you have to start with a brand story. Given how huge the market competition is both online and offline in this community-oriented country, sounding like a corporate robot can be your brand’s death sentence.
On the other side of the coin, being repetitive enough with catchy ads will get you a forum of Filipinos finding your brand annoying, not compelling.
What’s the sweet spot?
A good brand story: the difference between sounding like a corporate robot wanting to churn money and being a brand that matters to people.
Here are a few secrets that can create a brand story that captivates, converts, and leaves lasting impact.
1. Character: Your Customer Is the Hero
Every unforgettable narrative begins with a hero—and in brand storytelling, that hero is always the customer. Not your brand.
Your brand is either their mentor or their boat, guiding them on their journey. How can you help your customer on their journey?
We can answer this through your brand story’s conflict.
2. Conflict: Meet Where It Hurts
Every story hinges on conflict—the challenge the hero confronts.
What are the problems or life events your customers are usually facing?
Present your conflict carefully and with empathy, not sensationalism, or jargon, or anything that would be perceived as tone-deaf.
A good PR agency specializing in Filipino markets can help with this.
Here’s an example.
Example: Vicks
Vick’s VaporRub’s Just a Boy commercial follows the story of Agnes and her adopted son, a child born with HIV. In the ad, everyone avoids her son because of the stigma around HIV.
Vick’s “shameless” plug here isn’t shameless at all. There’s a scene where the mother rubs Vicks all over her son’s body without any fears of touching him–something most Filipinos can resonate with.
All this while telling us, the viewers, that she wants her son to be treated like everyone else.
Vicks drives the message home by saying that “everyone deserves the #TouchOfCare, especially children who’ve been left helpless and become ostracised because of their illness.”
3. Plot: Guide the Journey
The plot is the path the hero travels through your brand.
How does your customer get to your brand, and what does your brand do for them on their journey?
Before coming up with a plot, it’s best to start with your customer journey map. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer.
In the age of digital marketing, there’s more than one way anybody can buy from you.
- Are all your touchpoints (Website, Facebook page, billboard, store) coherent?
- Do all your channels connect to each other?
- Is there a possibility your potential customer could get lost along the way
A PR agency with an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) approach can best help you map out your customer’s journey. Through IMC, your campaigns and messages aren’t siloed and isolated from each other.
PR Advice:
When you’re done mapping out your customer’s journey to you, you can start building your brand story plot. Use frameworks like “Context > Action > Result (CAR)” or “Kiss” (Keep it Short and Sweet) for clarity and impact (Reddit).
4. Resolution: Make Your Story Feel Fulfilled
The resolution is essentially how your customer solves your conflict–with or without your brand.
It’s less about your brand’s features and more about the emotional impact it has on your customers.
Award Winning Example: Globe x Rogue One
Here’s a heartwarming example. This ad by Globe starts out with a girl wearing a stormtrooper helmet to school, with her father or brother. She gets looks but nobody seems to mind her helmet… until the next scene.
It turns out that this stormtrooper had a lung problem. Instead of making her feel bad, everybody at school–the students and teachers–all wore stormtrooper helmets to make her feel less alone.
This heartwarming resolution was so touching, it won as the ‘Best Short Form’ at the Brand Film Festival last 2017, in New York.
5. Transformation: Show the “Better After”
True stories don’t stop at a resolution. In every brand story is a transformation, or the “after” that came before your customer came to know your brand.
How did your customer transform after your brand?
Think of it as the makeover. Or the sweet ending that just leaves some room for imagination.
Classic Example: Lucky Me! Magnifico
Lucky Me! cemented itself as a FIlipino staple thanks to its brand of story-telling.
A classic example is how this boy transformed from a failed basketball tryout into such a great orator just after eating soup from Lucky Me!
It’s a sweet message: figure out your strengths, and eat while you’re at it!
PR Tip:
Tap into cultural truths like resilience, hope, or community.
Does My Brand Story Have to Have a Sob Story?
Well, no. You can make it funny or witty! GIGIL is an award-winning Filipino firm that wins awards off of nonsensical ads–with surprisingly great stories!
A great example: RC Cola’s ads. NGP helped amplify those ads with a connected social media plan!
To End (Or Not To End) This Story
Still lost on finishing your brand story? Don’t worry. You don’t need to write it alone.
NGP‑IMC’s “Tell‑Share‑Connect” approach demonstrates storytelling that strategically connects to other people. If you want your narrative to pack a punch yet stay cohesive, and memorable, you can contact them here, or book a meeting here.
Kriztin Cruz is a recruitment and digital marketing professional, freelance writer, hobbyist painter, and frustrated sociologist–with too many things to want and too little time to spare. She graduated with a Psychology degree in 2019 at De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde Antipolo. When she’s not drafting a corporate letter or working on anything digital marketing, you can find her doing the following, but not in this order: reading a good book, scavenging for a good book, sketching, painting, journaling, junk journaling, obsessing over an obscure Czechoslovakian surrealist film (or anything by Miyazaki or Del Toro), cooking, finding a cafe to relax in, and creating new things while a nice documentary plays in the background.