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The methods behind the analysisGuidesAnalysesActionsAssistantsMaterialExploiting competitors' weaknessesSectionsSource basis and methodology00Brand archetype01Tone-of-Voice02Brand values and purpose03Brand Identity Prism04Brand assets05Semiotic analysis06Distinctive assets07Positioning08Audience alignment09Employer brand10Narrative analysis11Digital and channel execution12Brand harmony13Brand index14
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Section 11

Narrative analysis

Joseph Campbell · Gustav Freytag

Brands that communicate as a coherent narrative create stronger emotional resonance and memory structure. Campbell's hero's journey and Freytag's dramatic model provide the structure.

Applied to brands: the hero is the customer – not the brand. The brand is the guide. A good brand narrative always has an antagonist: the outdated mindset, the market problem or the status quo the brand challenges. A narrative without conflict has no tension and no reason to exist. brandvju assesses narrative consistency across all touchpoints and narrative differentiation relative to the category.

The hero's journey – Freytag's dramatic arc

Everyday lifeThe call and conflictClimaxThe transformationNew realityThe customer is the hero · The brand is the guide

Climax (orange) marks the moment where the brand introduces itself – not as the hero, but as the guide that gives the hero the necessary tool.

What brandvju assesses

The hero
Who is the hero – the brand itself or the customer? Strong brands make the customer the hero and themselves the guide.
The antagonist
Is there a clear challenge the brand addresses? A narrative without an antagonist has no tension.
The transformation
Is there a clear before/after – a transformation the customer can identify with and aspire towards?
The red thread
Is there narrative coherence across website, cases, about-us copy and campaigns?

What the analysis is based on – and what it points towards

Narrative analysis assesses existing communication. The analysis distinguishes between weak narrative due to lack of strategy and weak narrative due to lack of implementation – but both cases require a strategic conversation to be fully clarified.