Two weeks ago I wrote about brand storytelling and started to break down what that really means. I received some great feedback on the article, and one provocative question, which I will address today: does every brand actually have a story?

My immediate answer was “yes!” and then the discussion devolved into a debate over whether brands focused only on lowest price or brands that don’t focus on their own brand at all (but rather focus on the major brands they sell) actually have a story.

So I decided to write about it this week. I still maintain: every brand has a story, and every brand has an opportunity to tell a story. But in order for that story to be accepted by consumers, they need a few prerequisites, which I will lay out today.

Every brand can tell a story. To do so, the brand needs to do two simple things:

Stand for Something

 This is usually some kind of value proposition that is wrapped up in the concept of “brand”. Some examples (and these are all my perspective as a shopper and industry observer, not necessarily exactly what these brands are going for):

• Target – cheap, chic, and practical
• Walmart – lowest price, always
• Burberry – tradition and trend with a British attitude (I admit, I got some of this from their website)
• Chipotle – fast, fresh, sustainable
• REI – active, outdoor, environmental

Prove It

 It’s one thing to stand for something. It’s another thing entirely to devote resources and time to supporting it. This is much more than paying lip service to an ideal. For example, let’s say I was a hypothetical very large, efficient retailer and I had built my brand on the idea of lowest price. If I were to tell a brand story built on lowest price, the story I would want to tell is “We help you afford the things you need” (perhaps phrased a little more inspirationally, but you get the point).

But in order to be genuine about telling that story, my company would need to embrace that philosophy at all levels. That means it would be very difficult to get away with promoting “affordability” when, say, a portion of my workforce received state welfare benefits. Or, say, my negotiating power with suppliers was such that a portion of the vendors who did business with my company ended up going under. I would want to bolster my claims to “affordability” by exploring offering low cost health care clinics and other typically expensive services in my stores, like vision, hearing, and maybe even dental services – beyond the basics of food, clothing, and general merchandise. I’d want to explore offering clinics on budgeting and financial planning, and maybe even day care services.

In other words, I would need to demonstrate that I care about affordability to the point where my company lives it top to bottom, and not just in the relatively easy way out of promoting it in my stores. I would need to demonstrate to my customers that my company represents much more than affordable products – that it represents affordable living. And that I care whether my customers are achieving that goal – that I’m taking steps to help my customers achieve that goal.

So, yes. Every brand can tell a story. But only if they’re willing to do what it takes to mean it and to live it. Especially in this connected era of customer control and digital media, a sense of sincerity and authenticity is vital to being able to tell a brand story. It’s so vital, it’s a prerequisite.